SOOC: 1/60 f/5.6 ISO 1600 42mm No flashSince I've been "furthering" my hobby in photography, I've ventured into photographing faces more than innate objects. I found it was easier to position, focus and shoot things that weren't moving, but now I think I've got my technique down pretty well with the Manual setting on my D-SLR. I'm so proud of the progress I've made, but I definitely think there is still much more to learn and definitely room for improvement.
Think you know what I should be doing? Tell me about it here. I'd love to hear your feedback. This is my favorite photo of recent. It is my sweet 5-month-old nephew, Marek, and my oldest son, Brandon. Brandon turns into a melty mess when he's with his cousin, and I just love to see the connection between them. I think this shot really captures their doting relationship.
I touched it up a little bit with Photoshop (I have version 7), but I didn't do much because I thought the exposure and focus were pretty dead-on. Natural light is wonderful like that! Here is the after-edit version...
Okay, I've got my bullet-proof vest on, start shooting away!
Please be nice. Pretty please.
13 said blah blah blah:
I love it. You are certainly turning into a pro with the camera.
love,
mom
They are so beautiful! Handsome, I mean. (Really, though, beautiful!!)
You did a great job capturing their eyes.
I think the only major change I might make is to try a close crop on their faces. The baby's outstretched hand is a little distracting. (Nothing major by any means.) More than that, I'm thinking a closer crop would bring attention to their eyes.
How sweet that the two cousins adore one another so much! I can definitely see an improvement in the white balance from the SOOC to your edited fix, as judging by the white blanket background. I know the rule of thirds is often a good one, avoid placing the subject dead center, but in this case, I think there is too much empty space to the right of the boys. Instead of concentrating on the subjects, I find my eye wandering around the pattern of the blanket. Also, using an ISO of 1600 (which I do myself because I will NOT turn my flash on!) results in more noise. You obviously did not have an incredibly bright spot in which to photograph and there will be resulting limitations to the image. If you could have looked around for more light or moved them closer to the light source, you might have been able to reduce the ISO.
It looks great to me. And sherry is your mom? She looks like your sister!
I hope this goes through b/c this is a FABULOUS picture. You are a great photographer. I think that this picture needs a frame.
I think it looks fantastic!
I can't wait to see how your work progresses!
My sister always taught me that the main subject of the picture should be off-centered. This was news to me, and when I tried it, I realized how much better the picture looked.
So that being said, I like how the boys aren't in the center of the picture, but I'd crop just a tad bit more off the right side, mainly because the white contrast of the blanket draws the eye too much.
Also, I think if you crop a bit more of the baby's hand, it will draw the eye directly to the faces, rather than slightly downward to the hand.
I do have to say though, I love this picture, it's a fabulous shot, and even if you didn't make any changes, it's worthy of a place on the picture wall in your home.
I'm late to the party, but I'd just like to say that I agree with what everyone else said...
The main problems I see would be the noise, the insufficient source of light, the distracting hand and the fact that the photo could be cropped better to put more emphasis on the kids.
I have a program that I bought as an add-on to Photoshop that is awesome for reducing noise (but is fairly expensive unfortunately.) If you google "noise reduction" and the name of your photo editing program, you might find some ideas that way on how to reduce some of the noise in this photo.
What a beautiful shot of your kiddos though!
~Angie
co-founder of I ♥ Faces
I love the after edit shot.
Love the light in it.
The hand doesn't bother me a bit.
It is a great shot.
I love this picture -- the giggling baby and his serious, responsible older cousin.
Thats my favorite hand in the whole world...no need to crop it.
-Sis
cute, cute, CUTE!!! I can see why you like this image so well. The boys are darling together. I like your composition (including the hand), I like your white balance adjustment, I like the afghan as a backdrop.
A couple things ... iso 1600 is high and rarely prints well (unless one has a very expensive camera and noise reducing software ... and even then the image will have a more "raw" grainy appearance). I'm assuming you were shooting in a room with tungsten lighting? In such a case, you can try removing any lampshades and/or moving the lamp closer to your subject. If during the day, try moving your subject closer to a window or opened door.
Regarding the afghan ... if I were processing this image, I would probably add a layer with gaussian or lens blur and mask over the faces in order to "soften" or make the afghan less prominent, less in focus.
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