[wedge]

The focus was a bit off (meant for the person to be in focus, not the bubbles), but I kind of like the way it worked out. Also, I had to do a little color correction in iPhoto (a bit of contrast, saturation, and color temp tweaking).




Full size image

[SpecialK]

Nice shot. The bubbles are the subject, so good they are the focus.

I would crop off about 1/2 the space above her head, and 1/2 the space behind her. Head-in-center is rarely the best composition.

[wedge]

So, something like this:





Full size image

[clark]

in terms of what I would have shot given the situation: would have shot it with the lady blowing the bubbles straight at the camera, large apperture so the depth of field was thin, and just focussed on one bubble


in terms of the image you actually took: cropping definitely helps, and IMO the bokeh is wayyy too distracting, i'd maybe pull down the green saturation too, just to make the purples stand out a bit more on her dress (but if you're editing in iphoto I doubt it has this capability)

[SpecialK]

So, something like this:

Yes, exactly. Way better, and very good.

[wedge]

in terms of what I would have shot given the situation: would have shot it with the lady blowing the bubbles straight at the camera, large apperture so the depth of field was thin, and just focussed on one bubble


in terms of the image you actually took: cropping definitely helps, and IMO the bokeh is wayyy too distracting, i'd maybe pull down the green saturation too, just to make the purples stand out a bit more on her dress (but if you're editing in iphoto I doubt it has this capability)

Thanks for the feedback. This was taken at early dusk, with the bubble blower facing into the setting sun, so moving myself around to face her might have changed things in terms of the lighting and balance. It also would have brought other more distracting things into the background (like my son's swingset and our hideous shed). However, I've seen a number of shots like you're describing and I like that look, it's just not something I've gotten good at yet (and I have LOTS of bubble pictures - my son loves chasing them around the yard with his toy lightsaber).

iPhoto can do some limited amount of color-specific leveling and saturation, but it's something I need more practice with. Or, I need to look at some other PP software. I've played a little with GIMP and just found it overly complex for the minimal amount of editing I do. However, I've never touched the software that came with my K2000, so maybe I'll give that a shot.

[smf]

I like Wedge's presentation, and I would further suggest cloning out the brownish-white circular areas in the background, to the right of the shoulder.
Stu (another iPhoto user)