First let me start this post by stating that I am asking for constructive feedback by the members of i heart faces, they are not being mean or if they are I am asking for it. Lol. Every once in a while they do this constructive feedback and only the first 50 people get to do it and I am ALWAYS late to the party so to speak. This time, I think I made it. Here are the things that I need to let people know:
Photo editing software: Lightroom & Photoshop
EXIF Data: ISO 800, 55MM, f/6.3, 1/80 of a sec
What I don't like: It's too dark and the light from the window is drowning her out. I'd like to see more Audrey and brighten her up without getting to much grain.
Original:
My edit. I tried to give it a vintage-y feel so that the darkness might make a little more sense.
I would have moved your shutter speed to 1/20 or 1/25 if she were standing still.
ReplyDeleteAs for editing, this is what I would call a B&W'er. Basically, it is not optimal to edit in color because of the high amount of noise you are going to get up adding a fill light or upping the exposure in a program.
Try doing a desat, play with your curves, and do some color dodging.
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ReplyDeleteWhat editing software do you use? Do you shoot in RAW? <-- If you do, you can fix some of the exposure issues in Adobe Camera Raw.
ReplyDeleteMy feeling is that the photo is just not a keeper ::ducks flying object::
It's way under-exposed and she's not looking at the camera. [not that the subject always has to look at the camera, but there is just no connection here.] Plus, you have a limb-chop. The baby's left arm is cut off and there is no fixing that :O)
It also looks like the camera metered for the light coming through the window behind her.
The exposure needs to be bummped, but you're going to have blown spots where the light is coming through the windows. [Unless you mask]
I'm not a fan of the "vintage" feel because it just makes her skin look green. Also, remember the rule of thirds - her eyes need to be a little higher in the shot - they're a touch too low I think
I have to disagree a bit with the previous post.. I dont think this necessarily needs to be tossed aside.. I like the softness of the face and the expression.. I also believe rules are meant to be broken.. (limb removed and eyes nto exactly in the rule of thirds) Perhaps if you cut a little tighter to bring those eyes up and to the right a bit more (REALLY CUT THE LIMB OFF! j/k) Then you would have a better placement.. I also think the brightness/blow out from the window offers a great contrast to the deeper colors on the child.. I also think this should be B&W if anything to help draw emphasis on the child with the light shining towards them.. but that is just me and so much of photography is personal preference..
ReplyDeleteShe is adorable! I love her curls .
ReplyDeleteLet’s talk about metering.
Your camera’s meter was confused by the bright light coming from behind. So it compensated by underexposing the foreground. What you want to do is control your camera and over expose by about 1-1.5 stops. That will blow the background, but it will improve the light on your subject. And the subject is the important part :). If you google backlighting techniques you can get a lot more information about shooting in this situation.
Two things I would have done differently: 1. Move between her and the windows so the light is on her and not behind her. 2. Get closer. All the stuff around her is unnecessary in this instance.
I like how you are down on her level. And she is seriously cute!
Here are the links to my edits. They really aren’t good for anything because I cropped so close. I just wanted to give you an idea of what it could look like.
Color (too magenta in the shadows): http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/NanasMama/Uneditededitweb.jpg
b/w: http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/NanasMama/Uneditededitbwweb.jpg
Have fun!
Amanda
She is adorable. On a professional level (and I'm not a professional) the image would be tossed. It is so dark but...because it is such a sweet photo you will want to edit it to keep it and it can be done. AJ's edit's are really good and cropping tighter helps a lot. That would be my first step, crop out a lot of the background and most of the window. I would probably edit it for a black and white.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree not to throw this photo out! You can fix it! At least to a usable picture!
ReplyDeleteI don't know what photoshop you use... but you can open it in RAW still with photoshop elements or photoshop. Just go to open as, choose your photo, go down to the bottom where it says jpeg or photoshop, and choose the drop down and change it to raw. Then you can adjust your picture how you want to.
Here are some of my edits. I just upped the exposure on it{in RAW) and then decreased how bright it was a little. I also upped the recovery a little so it wasn't so bright behind her. I also went to filter and reduced the noise on it once. I cropped in too... forgot that! But, you could crop it wherever you want and it would still be great! I think I cropped in too close, but to show you it works!!
As for what to do next time, you have received some great advice already! Good luck... she is a doll!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27138591@N08/4445160535/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27138591@N08/4445161881/in/photostream/
Chritals edits are brilliant ~ I don't think I could do better than that :D!!
ReplyDeleteSo, I started out thinking, "Must...save...picture!" After looking at the other edits done by your kind commentors, I don't think it's worth saving. : ( As adorable as she is, the content, her eyes...I dunno. I don't find the photo very engaging.
ReplyDeleteI think if you really want to save it though, black and white would be the way to go. I feel that if a photo has challenges to overcome, you need to embrace those limitations and work them. I like the b&w edit done by Christal the best. At the same time, it seems kinda grainy and pixelated. The snack in her fingers doesn't bump up the cute factor for me either.
Bah! I sound so negative. Like I said, it doesn't take away from how beautiful your daughter is. It's just not showing off that cuteness in the best way possible.
I completely disagree about throwing it out just because it isn't "engaging". Seriously? She's gorgeous and Christal's edits are INCREDIBLE! What you've done is capture an "every day" moment. I love this picture and it makes me wonder who or what she's looking at. I think it's a wonderful shot!
ReplyDeleteI gave it a go with editing. The fix is posted at my website. Just hover your mouse over the original photo and it will show the after photo. I didn't crop the photo, but it probably would be best to crop it down some. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeletehttp://drewmark19.blogspot.com/2010/03/constructive-feedback-friday.html