Rare catch

[2stroke]

Portraits are tough for me as I find it difficult to get a candid capture plus all the background and *if* I have the camera set correctly...

This is a rare shot of my young redhead not goofing, sticking his tongue out, crossed eyed, etc taken under a shade canopy. DPS has ruined me for enjoying my own shots as I will recognize flaws that would have otherwise gone unnoticed.

On this one I have my critiques but would like to hear others "eyes".

Please critique:
Composition: I wish I had his head and cool cowlick. Should have shot it vertical.
I did crop out a pole from the shade structure on camera right.

Lighting & exposure?



Post production:
Crop and darkened background in photoshop.

Camera: Sony DSLR-A300
Exposure: 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: On
Aperture priority
Sony 18-70 kit lens

[srt]

Hi! I like this shot, very pensive. I do think his face could be a little brighter and personally I like to fix my kids scratches and scrapes up in pp! I also think he needs the top of his head.

[WooD]

I think the lighting, and exposure are pretty good.

I'd like it a lot better if there had been eye contact thou.

[Trader]

I'd like to see eye contact with the camera and the top of his head. You did a good job on making the background darker, I would go even a touch more on that (if it were up to me).

[2stroke]

Thanks for the replies, I too would like to have the top of his head, he has a really cool cowlick that is just barely seen. As for the cuts and scrapes, to remove them from the pics would be removing part of his personality. It may detract as a portrait, but it really is *him*. Candid eye contact pics of him is almost impossible without generous portions of "ham", but I do love those as well.

I wish it was all grass behind him without the bright parking lot (what is sticking out of both sides of his head). I'll try maybe to combine 2 files from the original raw to darken the background and maybe lighten his face a tad.

Ill keep shooting...

I havent checked the shots yet from this past weekends trip to the lake, maybe I got lucky.