[SlickYamaha]

Was not a planned shot by any means, really wanted to get a cute shot of her between the railings, but she wouldn't cooperate. Snapped this one off quickly...

Attached Images

 

[thoughton]

Nice pic of a very cute girl! I know from experience that it's difficult to be objective of photos of your own kids. Photographically this has several problems. It's a bit soft, there is no composition to speak of, the fingers behind her head and the shadow behind her are a bit distracting. Any particular reason you chose f16? That might have contributed to the softness.

[Ash]

Hey mate - good family photo, but not one so appropriate for the critique forum. Nevertheless, the image looks life, but has too much space above her head, her right hand fingers are 'hanging' in the frame as she holds onto the ledge, and the frontal lighting is not all that flattering.

[Manel Brand]

Was not a planned shot by any means, really wanted to get a cute shot of her between the railings, but she wouldn't cooperate. Snapped this one off quickly...

Given the circumstances you mentioned, you did a good job. Kids are difficult subjects.

As others have said, a crop will help bringing her beauty to the picture (also helps in removing the cropped left hand out of the composition and disguise the shadow). Color is OK but I would slightly decrease saturation, darken the red tones of the scene, shirt and on her face, and give it a more muted tone overall. There's a minor blemish on the shirt (next to Elmo) that needs to go. A final though for black & white/sepia tone conversions: they work well when color isn't the main thing.

(I tried to upload a small demo file but I'm out of my attachments space quota - 4 Mb?; however, if you are that interested, I may be able to find a workaround and post it here.)

Cheers

[smf]

She's very cute.

Quick improvements might be to crop in from the left and also down, eliminating the fingers behind her head. Although you'll also lose a bit of the top[ of her head, you might find that more appealing than having the fingers there.
Although it doesn't bother me, you might also want to crop a bit from the bottom so eyes don't go to her wrist.

[SlickYamaha]

Hey mate - good family photo, but not one so appropriate for the critique forum.

Thanks for the input all. I knew the lighting was kinda bad going into it. The fingers kinda annoyed me as well. I think if they would have been 3 inches in front of her it would have totally transformed the picture.

Just out of curiosity why is this not suited for the critique section?

[slowpez]

Just out of curiosity why is this not suited for the critique section?



Swyped on my DROID X using TapaTalk.

Yes Ash, I would also like to know the answer to this question. Thanks.

[thoughton]

I think it's just because it's always a bit delicate giving honest, possibly brutal, critique about a photo of a loved one.

[SlickYamaha]

I think it's just because it's always a bit delicate giving honest, possibly brutal, critique about a photo of a loved one.

ah, i see. No harm done. Its the picture that isn't good looking, not her lol

Its not my daughter, its my niece anyhow, if it were my daughter, you would all be reported!


I cleaned up the blemishes on her shirt, cleared a little motion blur i never noticed on the elmo word and picture, removed the green tag on her shirt, cropped, and cleaned up the colors a little, im still not satisfied though.. what am i missing?

[smf]

Perhaps you are bothered by the shadow.

I assume her parents are quite fond of this photo. Unless they are photographers, you probably are much more critical of it than they are. Because you'll learn from the scrutiny, that's fine. But I hope that because you captured such a nice expression in what you told us was a snapshot, not part of a portrait shoot with planned lighting, you'll give yourself the credit you deserve.

Happy new year.