life on the beach.

[petefontaine15]

I just started shooting about a month ago, this is with an 18-135mm. I took the photo and didn't make any enhancements other than a saturation increase to boost the colors. I really want to learn the tricks and trade so point out what would make it better and feel free to comment. Thanks.

[Mr Yuck]

for me, the composition, depth of field, and exposure work well, the colors are good, but I find that item at the tip of the book distracting.

Nice shot

[swmdrayfan]

Hi Pete, and welcome to PR.
I really like your wide crop. I don't see much of those here, and I think it works marvelously for this shot. I think the shadows on the lady's face could be reduced though, and like Yuck says, that little item on the top of the book's page distracts. Easily cloned out, though. Also, there's a portion of someone's body in the lower left corner that needs to be cloned out as well. All in all, a decent capture.
John

[petefontaine15]

Thanks guys, I never even thought about those things, but I'll take it into photoshop and clean it up. Thanks so much for the comments, and i'll repost with the final product later today.

[petefontaine15]

Okay, I've been playing with it in PS and I'm having a hard time adjusting the shadow on the woman's face... I put an omni light at about 40% opacity to try and lighten the shadowed area, but then it made the colors look off and the photo was unbalanced. So I played with colors, but I think I might have just made it worse? :idea: :idea:

I did the cloning idea, and thanks, that makes it look a lot better.

[Don Schaeffer]

I think the edited photo is perfect. Great portrait.

[Greg McCary]

I agree that some distractions should be cloned the chair bothers me the most and also another person in the lower left of the frame. An arm or something? Also apply a little sharpening to it. But I agree that the crop and subject are fine. You will learn quick here so keep them coming..

[GB1]

Seems that it came out decent. You got a nice shot of her doing the summer beach thing. Probably could use a more exciting background, or perhaps one with less clutter. DOF is good.
GB

[petefontaine15]

Don, Thanks its nice to hear that after I was stressing on the lighting issue for so long.

Greg, Thanks man, I took that cloning advice and got rid of some of the clutter.

GB1, Thanks again, unfortunately at the time I took this, I didn't understand the concept of multiple angles. I'll work on it though.