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This is a personal family shot that I captured over Memorial Day weekend. I thought it was pretty cute when I first converted it to black & white, but based on the overwhelmingly positive response I've gotten on my Facebook fan page, I am now considering adding it to my professional portfolio as well.
I have to give props to my mother-in-law for assisting with the posing, because getting two energetic toddlers to pause for a sweet moment like this certainly takes more than just one person. Plus, you have to worry about one or both of them falling off the dock, so there are some additional safety concerns as well.
I'm always my own worst critic, so when I look at this shot I still wish my nephew's head was turned a little bit more toward my daughter. I also wonder if perhaps a slightly shallower depth-of-field might have produced a more pleasing result. But in the end I think it still works pretty well, and I'm sure I'll be making a print or two from it.
So what are your thoughts? Do you think I'm being overly critical with my assessment of this shot's weaknesses? Are there other areas where you can see room for improvement? Would more of a sepia tone work better? Please sound off below.
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7 comments:
Don't you dare change a thing! This is beautiful. I love everything about this pic.
Hey, This is a lovely picture.Please consider the following as a feel of the picture from a layman and not as a critique. I feel that the black levels in the picture is a bit too high. I understand that you would want the viewer attention on the subjects. However, the rest of the picture appears too dark (dare i say a bit off balance?)IMHO. I feel that this picture could do with better overall balance or perhaps just cropping to reduce the darker portions? Appreciate your sharing such wonderful pictures with the community.
@Marla: Thanks for your feedback! I tend to agree with you, although I have received quite a few suggestions from other photographers on things that should be done to improve it. One photographer sent the image back to me with a square crop to remove the excess negative space at the top. Others have suggested different post-processing tweaks to improve contrast and tonality.
@LIFE_REFACTORED: As I mentioned above, your comments are right in line with others I've received. As a result, I'm still a bit torn on what to do with this shot. I'm definitely gonna think about it some more before making any final decisions, but I really appreciate your comments and critique, as always. :)
OK, I'm no professional . . . not even close. BUT, what I am is a mom who loves to see interaction of my children in photos, and this, my friend, is about as pure and emotionally captivating as any mother could ask for. The images that I always love the most are the ones that tell an emotinal tale and you've captured that here. I think that any mom would LOVE to have an image like this of her children.
I completely agree with you, Marla. I love to see real moments of tenderness and a genuine connection between people. Oftentimes it's really hard for me to separate my heart and my head when it comes to analyzing photos of my own child. Obviously, you're gonna love pretty much any photo of your flesh and blood, but that doesn't mean that they're all great shots from a purely photography perspective. So that's why I was so surprised at the reaction I got on this one-- at first I thought it was just a really cute shot of my daughter and her cousin, but other folks' reactions are what really turned the tide for me. So thanks once again for your comments....coming from a mom, it really means alot! :)
Excellent photo, and great idea going black & white on this - it really adds to it!
Thanks for your comment, Rich!
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