Takin' a break

[evatgirl73]

This is one I shot of my daughter today while she was playing dress-up (being Cinderella) and she flung herself down on the couch that was covered by a sheet from her baby sister's photoshoot (LOL). This image is really growing on me and it's becoming my favorite of the ones I shot today. What do you think? How can it be improved? I tried cropping it so she's not so centered, but I don't want to crop out too much of her hair as I like the tusled, "just dropped here" thing it's got going on. The one thing that bothers me about this image is how grown up she looks (she's almost 3!!), not sure if it's the "pose" or what...?
As always, all comments appreciated, I learn so much from here!

Take care,
Eva

[PuckJunkey]

As Cartier-Bresson might say, you've captured an important moment here. The fact that your daughter is so relaxed and "being herself" at that moment really makes the picture more than anything else. On a technical level I really like this as well. I think the only thing that might need a little work is the area of her face that's in shadow.

It's not so much the shadow itself but rather that there seem to be some warm tones showing through the shadow. It might be more effective if you were to very carefully desaturate the orange-ish tones from those areas and/or test out Highlight & Shadow on the image. This will bring out a little more detail from the shadow but also make it a little more of a contrast to the "colorful side" of her face.

Alternately, this might just work better as a B&W (rather than fooling around with all the color stuff).Definitely worth a look.

[evatgirl73]

Thank you PuckJunkey for taking a look and offering help! I hadn't even seen the orangey area in her face, that's what I get for using a cheap LCDmonitor late at night..! ;-) I had thought about converting it to b/w, so I went ahead and did that. Better? Thanks for commenting!!
Take care,
Eva

[MaxPower]

I just did a quick and dirty Photoshop technique on your picture just to play around with the B&W and soft blue of her dress.

[Chunk]

This is one I shot of my daughter today while she was playing dress-up (being Cinderella) and she flung herself down on the couch that was covered by a sheet from her baby sister's photoshoot (LOL). This image is really growing on me and it's becoming my favorite of the ones I shot today. What do you think? How can it be improved? I tried cropping it so she's not so centered, but I don't want to crop out too much of her hair as I like the tusled, "just dropped here" thing it's got going on. The one thing that bothers me about this image is how grown up she looks (she's almost 3!!), not sure if it's the "pose" or what...?
As always, all comments appreciated, I learn so much from here!

Take care,
Eva

What a nice portrait. You can see the fun she's having in the whole of her face and especially her eyes.
Before making those 11x14 prints for all the relatives, take a look at softening her dress and the sheet.
Teriffic shot.

[Chunk]

I just did a quick and dirty Photoshop technique on your picture just to play around with the B&W and soft blue of her dress.

I know this is kinda personal, but are you the same MaxPower who wrote "However I really like the fact that you didn't play around with the images in Photoshop. I'm a purist at heart, and I really don't believe in Photoshoping film. To me that means you can take a so so picture and make it good wit little or no effort" in stripesnspots "Which do you like better" thread?
Which do you like better?

What's up with that?

[MaxPower]

I know this is kinda personal, but are you the same MaxPower who wrote "However I really like the fact that you didn't play around with the images in Photoshop. I'm a purist at heart, and I really don't believe in Photoshoping film. To me that means you can take a so so picture and make it good wit little or no effort" in stripesnspots "Which do you like better" thread?
Which do you like better?

What's up with that?

The same one.

Regarding Photoshop, I just feel that using Photoshop with film, the photographer could come to rely on using that instead of really taking the time to compose the shot properly. That is using Photoshop to adjust levels, or to crop an image to make it better. Things the Photographer should be able to do without the aid of Photoshop. However, adding effects like the one I did below is something that cannot be accomplished with the camera.

Now don't get me wrong, I do use Photoshop, but I try not to rely on it to create good photos.

I realize I'm new here and I really hope I didn't rub anyone the wrong way with my post.

[Chunk]

The same one.

Regarding Photoshop, I just feel that using Photoshop with film, the photographer could come to rely on using that instead of really taking the time to compose the shot properly. That is using Photoshop to adjust levels, or to crop an image to make it better. Things the Photographer should be able to do without the aid of Photoshop. However, adding effects like the one I did below is something that cannot be accomplished with the camera.

Now don't get me wrong, I do use Photoshop, but I try not to rely on it to create good photos.

I realize I'm new here and I really hope I didn't rub anyone the wrong way with my post.

Thanks for answering. I see better what you mean.
You didn't rub me the wrong way, although I do feel differently than you about the subject. I guess seeing your view being described as one of purist implies mine is somewhat impure and I don't think it's any less valid than yours. Conversly, I don't think yours is any less valid than mine - just different and one of many things I will probably never understand.

Do you think it's ok to make those kind of decisions (using Photoshop to adjust levels, or to crop an image to make it better) in a processing lab or darkroom? For most people the descissions on levels, color balance, brightness, etc. are being made by people other than the photographer. I'm happy that PS and similar programs put the decissions back in my hands. I also don't think that whatever proportions that some camera designer picked for collecting the image in my camera is going to give the optimum composition for all subjects that I wish to shoot.

[MaxPower]

Thanks for answering. I see better what you mean.
You didn't rub me the wrong way, although I do feel differently than you about the subject. I guess seeing your view being described as one of purist implies mine is somewhat impure and I don't think it's any less valid than yours. Conversly, I don't think yours is any less valid than mine - just different and one of many things I will probably never understand.

Do you think it's ok to make those kind of decisions (using Photoshop to adjust levels, or to crop an image to make it better) in a processing lab or darkroom? For most people the descissions on levels, color balance, brightness, etc. are being made by people other than the photographer. I'm happy that PS and similar programs put the decissions back in my hands. I also don't think that whatever proportions that some camera designer picked for collecting the image in my camera is going to give the optimum composition for all subjects that I wish to shoot.

That's quite an interesting point. Perhaps we should start another thread dedicated to this topic rather than getting off course of the intended subject of "Takin a Break".

However, in the meantime I'm going to give your reply some thought.......

[evatgirl73]

Thank you MaxPower and Chunk for your comments! Chunk, I almost as a default soften the backgrounds behind my kids, so it's funny that the one image I didn't do it to I get just *that* as a suggestion, LOL! That's definitely something I will do, just haven't had the time yet. Same thing MaxPower, I do a lot of the b/w partially re-colored images, so I wanted to post something here that *wasn't*..! ;-) I did think about it, since I do like the blue in her dress and Junkey was right too, her face etc looks better i b/w...
Take care,
Eva

[Chunk]

Thank you MaxPower and Chunk for your comments! Chunk, I almost as a default soften the backgrounds behind my kids, so it's funny that the one image I didn't do it to I get just *that* as a suggestion, LOL! That's definitely something I will do, just haven't had the time yet. Same thing MaxPower, I do a lot of the b/w partially re-colored images, so I wanted to post something here that *wasn't*..! ;-) I did think about it, since I do like the blue in her dress and Junkey was right too, her face etc looks better i b/w...
Take care,
Eva

You're welcome Eva. I'm sorry we hijacked your thread with a side discussion.

You must have a lot of pictures with such a pretty model.