Newbie needing help

[bighoss]

I am just a beginner and any help you can give would be appreciated. The first picture is before cropping. Thanks

[h2oskierc]

The cropped picture looks great. My advice would be to frame it like that right off. If that isn't an option, I prefer that the subject looks into the 2/3 portion of the picture when using the rule of thirds. Or, put another way, that the subject looks into the picture, not out of it.

I am no professional, very far from it in fact, so take it for what it is. I will say the the crop looks great, and that you seem to have snapped the shutter at the perfect moment. With children that is usually the hardest part.

[Sebastian]

The crop is wonderful.

Photography is as much choosing what to exclude as it is choosing what to include. The first shot has many elements that do nothing but distract. The toys on the left, the blown-out foreground, the faucet and hardware, all take away from the subject. The cropped shot clearly shows a child in a bathtub, the bubbles and expression tell the story. Just enough elements to get the point across, composed in a way that keeps the eye moving.

The advice about the rule of thirds is valid, but don't ever think it is a real rule, or that the thirds are exact. They are merely guidelines to help with placement of elements in the image, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, it's up to you to make them work, not up to the rules to make yoru image work...if you get my meaning?

Anyway, good luck, you seem to be off to a great start.

[gahspidy]

You did a fine job taking the shot and then did good again in your crop. The cropped photo is a keeper and one to be proud of . Nice.

[Chunk]

I am just a beginner and any help you can give would be appreciated. The first picture is before cropping. Thanks

Nice shot, especially the cropped version. If you hadn't said newbie in the subject line, I wouldn't have thought it.

The photo has a bluish cast to my eyes and seems a little washed out. I hope you don't mind my messing with a copy of your shot to demonstrate what I think could be done for that. In Paintshop Pro I used Colors/Adjust/Curves to add contrast by giving the curve an 'S' shape. This also resulted in warmer skin tones. I also lowered the output on the white end to make the washed out side of the tub seem a little less so. If you want to read a little about using the curves adjustment, here's a good link.
http://www.naturephotographers.net/a.../tg0203-1.html

[Old Timer]

You may be a newcomer to photography, but this is no newbie image. It is first rate. Very nice job. Please share your equipment and photo data with us.

[bighoss]

I appreciate all the help and kind words. My equipment is an Olypmus Camedia C4000Z. I did play around a little with Photoshop on trying to warm up the shot a little, but wanted to get feedback from the pros first.

Thanks again.