my twins

[TwinsInParadise]

Hi! Wanted to share this shot I took of my twins playing on the beach the day we took our Christmas photos. Comments are welcome.... I was particularly hoping for any cropping ideas. Thanks!

[iclayton]

Hi TwinsInParadise

You have very beautiful daughters.

I am still a beginner so keep this in mind while reading my opinion.

Firstly the photo needs to be sharpened at least on my monitor is seems I bit blurred.

I would then crop it close to the left/top/bottom as there is nothing of interest there and keep the left showing their shadows in the sand.

But then I could also be totally wrong.

Iain.

[JK_Photo]

Hi! Wanted to share this shot I took of my twins playing on the beach the day we took our Christmas photos. Comments are welcome.... I was particularly hoping for any cropping ideas. Thanks!

Here's another crop.
I agree about the sharpening.
It's a great shot any way you look at it.

[BamaFru]

How did I miss this? They are adorable! What a fun fun picture. The sharpening done here really works well. I love the interaction between them. Sorry no further cropping ideas, these are all great.

[Photo-John]

I like JK_Photo's crop. I wouldn't want it to get too tight. I think the two diagonal shadows are important compositional elements. They work to keep drawing my eye back to the girls.

I sure wish that you had of caught this a hundredth of a second sooner. The biggest problem I see is the shadow on the left girl. I want to see two perfectly lit little twins. They're really like a mirror image. It's very strange and wonderful. But the shadow on the left girl is a major distraction for me. I understand that this is one of those photos where luck plays a large part. But you have some control over luck. Preparation and knowing your equipment are the keys to having more luck.

I don't know how useful my critique is, since you can't redo this or *fix* the problem I'm pointing out. I guess the thing to do is think about why that shadow is there and what you might do next time to avoid it. And that's a tough one. If you'd posed them you wouldn't ahve the wonderful spontaneity that makes this photo what it is. The only thing I can think of is having a fast capture rate and holding down the shutter release. But that's not really a very practical solution, is it?

Hope you can find something useful in my post. I really like the photo, in case that didn't come through. In fact, I love it. I just wish it didn't have that shadow. Next time!

[JK_Photo]

Good comments/suggestions Photo-John.
I think that shadow could be opened up with some localised dodging.

[mjs1973]

I agree with PJ that this is a wonderful moment that you captured here. My first impresion of this photo when I looked at it was that it looks like a mirro image. My second thought was that it's soft and needs to be sharpened, which is an easy fix. I do find the shore line to be distracting tho. I think it needs to be there to help set the location of the photo, but the fact that it runs right thru your daughters head, I find distracting. Perhaps a lower higher camer angle would help to move it out of the way. A great capture none the less!