Will you please critique this linked photograph?

The only thing have to say is I would love to see it BIGGER.

I love how the…what is that…screen? sort of shades her face. But you can still see her perfectly blissful expression. And that black shadow on the right is placed nicely. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but it actually balances the whole thing well.

BIGGER, though!

I do like the texture of the picture.

@aviona :) Here ya go! Well, that is my granddaughter and we took her to camping at the lake one Saturday night….she and her Mom are my two favorite people subjects! Her Mom is absolutely beautiful, and makes the most breathtaking pics. Brande, my granddaughter, has masses and masses of curly blond hair and huge blue eyes. This particular evening I took 67 pictures of her a the lake!! The shot wasn’t set up “per se” but I did see the potential and took about 15 pictures of her behind the pop up camper screen. This was the best. Brande loves it when I take pics of her. You’d think she’d spent years learning how to pose professionally!

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/Dutchcat1/BrandeTheBest-1.jpg

She and the photo are lovely, but I don’t like the little shadow and the highlight at the end of her nose; it seems to make that area the focal point. Since you have this exquisite child in your life, I would try for perfection.

And her eyes are deeply shadowed also. It would be nice to show the blue eyes along with that Raphael-like hair.

@gailcalled O! I see what you’re saying! I quite agree….what about this one? (Poor kid…I’m hollering “DON’T MOVE!!”) As I look at my pics now, I’m thinking about the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 rule, and the tic-tac-toe lines rule…and wonder if they’re…within those parameters….like, was I doing that unconsciously? Because this shot seems to come within the grid parameters, I think.
http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc207/Dutchcat1/BrandeSunset.jpg

Putting my photographer hat on…

I totally agree with gail.. it’s a very visually interesting shot, but the white shadowy overlay on her face steals the focus. The second shot is lovely, as well, except it’s a bit blurry and that also steals some focus away from the rest of it. It’s right on the line where you may be able to save it by using a sharpening script or the like (in Photoshop or Gimp).

:)

The second photo is great.

I love the first photo as well I do have a suggestion:

The greatest area of contract draws the eye.

In this image the greatest contrast is the right side long dark shape. When I look at it my eye moves the the shape then down and off the image.

I would recommend that you either lighten the area and soften the contrast or that you use this shape to draw the eye toward the subject by keeping the sharper edge that points to the face and softening the contrasting edge on the rest of the shape.

I also agree with @AlenaD in that a bit more contrast or sharpening on the face would be stunning.

edited by me and lack of reading other posts

I really like the first picture. It would be nice to have a little more detail on the child’s face, but it’s great as is.

The second one didn’t seem to be in focus. The white balance seems too warm (probably because you’re near a fire) and the lighting is bad. The subject matter and composition are really nice, though.

Don’t feel silly for taking a million shots, by the way.. that’s really the way it has to be done. I do it and professional photographers do it, mainly because it gives you a wider selection of shots to pick from in terms of finding the perfect one in a series. I also find that with a digital camera, it can be hard to tell on the little LCD screen whether a shot is in focus or not, so I like to take a bunch at a time so that when I put them on a big screen, I have a better chance at one of them being in focus.

I personally do not like it. It is busy and seems difficult to concentrate on the subject. . It would work in a story board though if you were telling the story with multiple pictures.

Thank you all!! Yes…the second shot is blurry—I was holding the camera by hand, and it’s virtually impossible to tell a 4 year old not to MOVE for at least 5 seconds…I’ll play with it tho…

@dutchess12 I would make sure also for the second photo you shoot at your highest ISO.

I saw something entirely different here. I don’t know what that means.

What I saw was a closet of men’s clothes, jackets, an old man’s tweed jackets hanging in a closet, and a child’s pensive face superimposed. To me this gave a vision of a girl thinking wistfully and lovingly of an old man whom she misses; I imagined a dead grandfather.

So the shadow to the right didn’t bother me. I saw that as the outline of the sleeve and shoulder of the nearest jacket. And it would have been fine if the whole right side had been a little darker, though not as deep as that shadow. Also the shadow over her own curl on her nose was fine and just gave volume to her curls.

In terms of technique, I thought I was looking at a double exposure (and wondering how you do that any more).

It was only after a more analytic look that I realized she was being seen through something and that it was not a double exposure and those were not jackets. Too bad. I liked my first impression a lot.

As someone who is prone to seeing elaborate pictures in wood grain, bathroom tile, and dirty snowbanks, not to mention clouds, clumps of shrubs, and carpet stains (hello, Rorschach?), I guess I just filled in the picture that struck me on first glimpse, whether it was there or not. Don’t you think the image I saw would make a good picture?

The second one certainly shows a beautiful child, and the golden effect of the campfire light is very nice, but as a photo I don’t think this one is special.

@willbrawn I still need to play with it but it pretty much sets the ISO automatically….

@Jeruba Wow…come to think of it, that’s kind of what I felt when I saw it…only I didn’t see the clothing because I took the pic….I love your take on it tho! (BTW—I see possibilities in the dangdest things myself….not so much pictures but ideas.:)

@Dutchess12 best advice i can give, shoot in Manual mode and experiment. Best of Luck.

@willbrawn I tell you, I so LOVE digital cameras! Once upon a time I had a beautiful 35 MM…but I’d be so afraid of “experimenting” because the film was expensive, not to mention the developing. I’ve been messing with it more and more….

I can’t wait to have my own darkroom. With access to hand developing/printing equipment, it’s way less expensive and much easier to feel free experimenting.