First post

[monroe]

Camera - Canon Xsi
Lens - 18-55mm
Speed - 1/20
Apeture- f5.6
ISO- 100
White Balance - Flash
Flash - off
Post Production- MicroSoft Digital Image Pro- 10

Processed to blacken out the right side.

[toddybear]

IMO it is too dark. The only thing that can be seen is the face of your son.
Also I do not like the fact that the subject is centered and you have a lot of space around it. It creates a negative emotion for me, not something that I would expect from the picture of a child.
And lastly the light is strange, there is a small patch that is lighter than the rest.

I think that the original might be better than this version.

[kgb224]

Keep on practicing.That way one will definitely improve with one's photography.Welcome at DPS.

[WooD]

Was there something about this image you wanted critique on?

[MarkyLandon]

you've certainly blacked out the right side .... but you've missed a few bits. There are several little crescent moon shaped white bits (more visible on the large size on your flickr stream) that look like clone marks where you've missed a bit. There are also some muddy grey/brown patches that you could tidy up as well.

If you are going to this length to take a "low key" portrait there are some things you can do to get it right in camera. I'm not sure what "mode" you shot this in?? But go to Av and set metering to "Spot" then meter off a highlight area,and press the * (star) button on your cannon which locks the exposure based off the highlight area. Recompose the image to your liking (think of rule of thirds and don't have the subject centred as another post mentioned too) click shutter and away you go. You should have a resultingly darker image with a more subtle graduation into shadow as you were exposing for the highlights only.

Personally I don't like low key images of kids as they have a depressing feel. High key, bright images have a much happoer and natural feel (IMO)

[monroe]

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I probably should have included the original but I am not sure exactly how to load up several pictures yet. I used the "P" mode. MarkyLandon you were right I did use the clone brush to blacken the area. Thanks for welcoming me to the forum. It is with your help I hope to become better.