Beauty Amongst Daisies

[gracie_r]

I've debated about posting this for critique, mostly because I can't decide if I like it or not. I don't really know what I don't like about it though! I think I was just hoping for something different. Or something more. Anyway, what do you think?



Also, I had to Photoshop a plant out of her face, is it noticable at all? I can tell - but I know exactly where it is...

[Greg McCary]

I like it but she is so centered. Did you crop this? If you have any I think it would have been better if you could have panned up slightly and lowered her in the shot. It could also use a little sharpened.

[gracie_r]

It is cropped, and I could try that, though I won't have much on the higher side to work with. It wasn't much further to the treeline, so I cropped that out. I'll mess with it some though. Thanks for the feedback!

[SmartWombat]

It's a very difficult, busy environment in that meadow, and without a little gardening of the plants, and placing her in a spot with less tall plants in front, you're stuck with lots of competing (and interfering) natural elements in the way of your subject.

It's very centred, there's a big green out of focus blob just right of centre, the white flowers left of centre in the foreground dominate, she looks to be squinting, there's something odd about the left of her face (her right, image left), only her face is above the flowers, some grass obscures her face, there's no eye detail.

Maybe getting closer is the secret to the foreground, so there's less chance of plants getting in the way. Other than that I reckon you a telling joke, pulling a face, or downright bribery for a smile from her would help a lot

[armando_m]

Great photo!!

it is a wee bit dark, the histogram is not all the way to the right , try increasing the brightness a bit, until the histogram is close to the right edge.

maybe a bit more contrast and saturation will go along well after making it brighter

ditto on her being to center

I can not see where the plant was cloned, very good job

[daq7]

I think it works pretty well. The centering is a bit of an issue, and it certainly would be nice to have the eyes lit up a bit more.

[n8]

If you're familiar with the selective focus effect that you get with lensbabies, this would be a good shot to try that with that kind of effect as it would really tame the surrounding flowers. You can do this pretty easily by applying a layer with a gaussian or radial blur, then masking her with a circular gradient.

[gracie_r]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I'll mess around in photoshop and try out some of your suggestions to see if it helps.

[gahspidy]

I like it as it is but more for its potential. This is a very lovely moment. i like the girls expression and her situated in the field of flowers.
The centering of the subject absolutely works for me. . .perfectly.
There are a couple of things that can improve though.
First, I find it to be underexposed. Increasing the middle slide up to about 1.20 in the levels adjustment tool brings it up nicely. Also, the girl is not lit well enough herself and so does not stand out strong enough, so a bit of dodging her hair and face help bring her exposure up more.
I also felt that this could benefit from a slightly tighter crop as in an 8x10 ratio while still keeping her centered. I think it brings her out even more while keeping the surrounding field of flowers still there.
Here is a quick edit with some of those ideas mentioned. I thought it improved an already pretty nice shot.

[draymorton]

Cute!

The comp works for me. I don't think I would like it nearly as much if she weren't centered.

The original is flat and underexposed, however, as Gary mentioned.

This shot has such potential overall. I'd love to try some things with it, if you don't mind.

[GB1]

Gracie - Hey very nice idea. I like her as the model and think she looks very much in place there Technically it needs some work - exposure, sharpness, etc - but you can fix that the next go around. Nice composition too.

G

[gracie_r]

Thanks Gary, draymorton and GB1! I like your edits Gary, but ugh, I wish that green plant hadn't been right in front of my lens. My photoshop skills aren't that good...

Please do make some edits dray, I'd like to see what you can do. I love your work!

[draymorton]

Quick n dirty. The idea was to make her the focal point and *try* to remove the Photoshop scars (difficult at such low res). I kind of exaggerated the light/dark effect a little; it should really be toned down a tad.

Again, love the photo.

[Frog]

Been looking at this for a couple of days.
The centering of the girl does not bother me for this shot but I do think she doesn't look very happy and I wish the daisy field was wider. I saw above that there wasn't much more room so don't know what else you could have done. Probably personal taste but just wish she was smaller amongst a lot more daisies.

[n8]

could always open up the liquify filter to bring out the smile a bit.

[gracie_r]

Cool dray, thanks!

Frog, I can definitely go wider. I'll give that a try too. As for smiling, her fake smiles look so bad, I am usually better off just catching whatever expression she has. She's a stubborn one, and if she doesn't want a smile, I am not getting a smile!

n8, I have no idea what that means, but I'll look it up.