Father and Son reflected over a lake... could be better?

[debis]

Yesterday I went for a walk at a park with a bit of time before the sun was going to set. I saw a little kid being dangled over the lake by his dad and thought it was a pretty beautiful setting, especially with the reflection over the water.

I don't know if I'm disappointed with the picture, but I do feel it's sort of missing something. Do you think I could have improved the shot at the time of taking it or maybe there is some room for improvement with a bit of post-processing?

Tips and criticism are welcome regardless of if you are a beginner or pro. Thanks for looking!

Camera:	Canon PowerShot S90
Exposure:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture:	f/4.0
Focal Length:	15 mm
ISO Speed:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire

Father and Son, Reflected on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[konrad]

really interesting situation and great reflection in the water! I have to agree that I miss something while looking at this picture and I think that the issue is in the angle from which the picture was taken. Maybe, it would look better if you got a little lower wit your camera, even to the level as if you were laying on your stomach but also being able to capture the reflection in the water - I think this way a picture would have a greater impact. Furthermore, I would definitely do extra work in the post-processing: I see black spots (dirt on a lense?) and I think that the shirt of the man takes too much attention and doesn't have enough details - I would bring down the highlights on it.

I hope this helps!

[wal]

Nice photo, but i "FEEL" when looking at it is, too much empty space.. My eyes tend to scan the background more than the subject. father and son seems to get lost in the scene. Perhaps considering the angle and composition next time.

[debis]

really interesting situation and great reflection in the water! I have to agree that I miss something while looking at this picture and I think that the issue is in the angle from which the picture was taken. Maybe, it would look better if you got a little lower wit your camera, even to the level as if you were laying on your stomach but also being able to capture the reflection in the water - I think this way a picture would have a greater impact. Furthermore, I would definitely do extra work in the post-processing: I see black spots (dirt on a lense?) and I think that the shirt of the man takes too much attention and doesn't have enough details - I would bring down the highlights on it.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for the feedback. I agree, it really felt like an interesting situation and I think I got a bit nervous to catch the shot in time and also to not get noticed by them. I also see what you mean about the blown-out shirt, it really is distracting. I'll see if I can figure that out in photoshop.

Nice photo, but i "FEEL" when looking at it is, too much empty space.. My eyes tend to scan the background more than the subject. father and son seems to get lost in the scene. Perhaps considering the angle and composition next time.

I definitely missed getting the right angle/composition. It's actually good to know that you guys agree. I'll try and do better next time.

Thanks a lot for the feedback so far. If anyone else would like to comment, I'm open to hear some more.

[Sterling]

I feel like if this shot was cropped right down the center it would look fine. It would be an unusual crop but it might still look better. I feel there is too much empty space on the left. We can see from behind them that it is a large body of water so the empty water on the left really adds nothing to this shot, imo. The people and their reflection demand a vertical crop. Why not go all the way?

[stevoarnold]

Originally Posted by konrad

Maybe, it would look better if you got a little lower wit your camera, even to the level as if you were laying on your stomach
I hope this helps!

this approach would have probably resolved the decapitation situation with the line of sand in the distance threading straight through the guys neck.

I like where you are going with this shot but it probably does lack a bit of intimacy with so much empty space. I would fix that with a test crop firstly and see where that takes you

[StevenPG]

For me I like the picture but would just try and crop more of the father and son and less of the left side of the picture. I would even try and see if you can just crop the reflection to see if that would make a cool (different) shot. Just a thought. But good picture, I know that at times in the park these pictures just happen so fast that you have to take them and not think about where you are or all the million settings on the camera, but from the way you say it, it was just someone in the park and you thought it looked like a good shot.

So I would say great shot for the spur of the moment!

If you just shot these people in the park I hope you let them know that you had a shot of them and maybe they would like to get it from you... Possible $ made???

[debis]

Originally Posted by Sterling

I feel like if this shot was cropped right down the center it would look fine. It would be an unusual crop but it might still look better. I feel there is too much empty space on the left. We can see from behind them that it is a large body of water so the empty water on the left really adds nothing to this shot, imo. The people and their reflection demand a vertical crop. Why not go all the way?

Heh, cool idea! I just tried it but in my opinion it looked a bit strange, very thin horizontal picture. I think I'm coming to the conclusion that my angle just wasn't great.

Originally Posted by stevoarnold

this approach would have probably resolved the decapitation situation with the line of sand in the distance threading straight through the guys neck.

I like where you are going with this shot but it probably does lack a bit of intimacy with so much empty space. I would fix that with a test crop firstly and see where that takes you

I didn't even notice the decapitation but now that you mention it, its very obvious. I had read about how we need to be careful about that, I'll train my eye to avoid that happening again. Thanks, great observation!

Originally Posted by StevenPG

For me I like the picture but would just try and crop more of the father and son and less of the left side of the picture. I would even try and see if you can just crop the reflection to see if that would make a cool (different) shot. Just a thought. But good picture, I know that at times in the park these pictures just happen so fast that you have to take them and not think about where you are or all the million settings on the camera, but from the way you say it, it was just someone in the park and you thought it looked like a good shot.

So I would say great shot for the spur of the moment!

If you just shot these people in the park I hope you let them know that you had a shot of them and maybe they would like to get it from you... Possible $ made???

Hey Steven, thanks for the compliment! It was spur of the moment, and I'm still kinda awkward/nervous/excited when I see a natural situation where I don't want to miss the shot (or get noticed hehe). I'm guessing that having more practice and experience under my belt will let me be more comfortable behind the camera so that even under pressure I'll naturally do better.

About offering them the picture, I actually didn't let them know that I even took it. I think I'm a bit nervous of how the person would react. I don't have experience in that field, I should probably try that in the future because I think you're right, a picture like this could be a real gift for someone.

Thanks again for looking, everybody.

[debis]

Alright, since everyone said there was too much empty space I tightened the crop a little. I also did my best to fix the underexposed shirt, remove some of the black spots that was probably dirt on the lens, and attempted to bring out some of the colors.



This is probably the best I can do from the original shot. I'm still not in love with it but it's not too bad.

[LeeR]

I'm sorry, but you are not being bold enough in your cropping. I have run this through PS and I can tell you that some very good things happen if you crop this down the middle or a little more. Please give it a try.