It's apple picking season again. That means pics of kids and apples...

[Todd Patten]

I chaperoned(sp?) a field trip for my son's pre-school today to the local apple farm. Here's one of the shots from the day. Critique away. Here's my shot at it:

- I'm dissapointed that I did not get the shot without the leaves in front of the little girls head. The blur is distracting.

- The original had a bit of a green tinge to it. I did some adjustments to lessen the effect. I think it's left a warmness to it.

- I love how this young lady's eye are focused intently on picking the apple.

- The highlights are decent

- I have a couple other versions of this. One with it softened. Another in B&W. The B&W is quite nice.

[Todd Patten]

Another version...

[ckozo]

i like both. nice.

i like the desaturated image/colored apple--so many possibilities. on my monitor, the apple looks quite orange-colored almost like an orange, not an apple. is this my monitor or did you push the color adjustment a bit?

a thought: in one of your versions, did you play with desaturated overall except for the apple (as you've already done) plus leaving the blue-ish color in her eyes? this may create a nice tension in the composition. then again it may not compliment her at all. don't know until i see it.

[Tuna]

The color version is a cute shot but wouldn't have inspired me to comment. The B&W version is very nice and DID inspire me to comment. The tonal range, contrast and framing complement beautifully the photo of the girl and our finding her crystal-clear eyes amidst the leaves.

Personally, I would leave out the partial coloring of the fruit. It distracts from the true focus of the shot - her eyes.

Nice job!

Tuna

[Clicker]

I like the original color shot, it had me more focused on the little girls eyes, i find that the colorized one takes *away* from her facial expression and had me more focused on the color of the apple, the shape of the apple, the way her fingers looked against **THE APPLE**.... its all about the apple.
Either go all B&W, or all color is my opinion. The leaves on her head don't distract me that much.

[Elysian]

I prefer the color shot over the B&W version, but I have to admit, without that light colored distraction (what is it?) in the background the color shot would have been a lot better.

Thanks for sharing, still a lovely shot, even with this distraction in it. ;)

[Todd Patten]

Thank you everyone for the feedback! You all are going to make me into a better photographer yet I am so glad that you guys pointed out what makes this photo work -- the eyes. I realized, once mentioned, that this was the key to the photo! The colored apple does need to go.

Elysian -- I have been playing with this image quite a bit. I tried cropping, softening, color adjustments and more) and here is one more version (this is the last one ) The white in the background is another body.

[Todd Patten]

Oh, I forgot to mention. The second I saw this little girl this morning I thought she would make a good subject. She just happen to walk into very good light, and did her own thing. I was fortunate enough to capture it.

I'm going to give a print to her mom next week.

[fgottman]

I couldn't figure out why I didn't like the first picture until I saw the third. The big plastic bag and the large shoulders behind her took me away from the focus of the shot. The third version takes care of both problems. The second shot leaves me searching back and forth between her eyes and the apple, and I think the desaturation leaves her forehead and cheeks too warm. I'm not too distracted by the leaves in front of her forehead. I kinda like the fact that you framed one of her eyes with the leaves.

Just my thoughts,
Fred

[cjsoap]

I love the lighting on her face. This is quit an adorable shot, There is nothing like catching a child being themselves. I liked the desaturated , but not the colored apple,was too distracting to me. The third image is the best. The leaves, her hair, her eyes, and the little bit of pastic bag around her fingers is what really work for me on this one. Her mother will LOVE it.
CJ

[Elysian]

Yes Todd, that works much better after you got rid of most distractions, well done.

[shesells]

That little girl is gorgeous and her eyes are just stunning. You did a great job catching it. The lighting is superb and very clear focus. i like the 3rd one but am still drawn to the b & w. maybe you could leave the apple unsaturated and bring out the color of her eyes instead which is a very unique color. Maybe her mother will want to hire you for more photos. i would If I was her mother. Good job.
Kit