corrim Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 So, the parents absolutly loved this picture. And obviously that is the important part. However, When I look at it all I see is problems and flaws. I am relativly new to photography so my question is this.... Is perfection perception? If someone loves the photo does that make it good? Corri Michelle<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gluteal cleft Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 People have "tunnel vision". It's the by-product of a large, advanced neocortex. You no longer are distracted by all of the details, but focus on a central point. It lets you perform more advanced tasks than animals, but also hurts in situations like this. The parents see their child in such a way that it brings out a pleasant emotion in them. (There are LOTS of chemical reactions that take place when a parent even looks at their child, and all of them are designed to make the parents' brains feel good...) Because of that, they love the photo. You, on the other hand, have no emotional attachment to the child, so you look at her, pass her on, and look at other facets of the picture. You notice things that the parents don't. This really bites me in the behind, it's *really* hard for me to pay attention to anything but the subject when I'm photographing anything familiar to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen hazelton Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 So would the parents want to hang it on the wall if it was a baby they didn't know? I suspect not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen hazelton Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 "If someone loves the photo does that make it good?" In many cases, it's just Low Expectations. There are people out there who have trouble pointing the camera in the right direction, let alone little subtleties like not cutting off the person's head, avoiding flash fireballs, etc. To them, any shot of their loved one that's in focus and doesn't crop off a major part is good, and especially so if it's a cutesy shot. What this means is that your friends and family can tell you what a wonderful photographer you are, but when you get around other photographers, it's quite a different story. So you look at the shot and see problems and flaws- that's a good thing, that's how you learn. After you make the same mistakes enough times, you learn not to make them and your pictures hopefully get better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corrim Posted July 30, 2006 Author Share Posted July 30, 2006 Uhhhh...Thank you? I guess I had that coming. Granted, I have connections to the subject and yet I still see the room for improvement. My point is this...I know its not a great picture...however the parents absolutly loved it...want wallets for their family, friends and birthday thank you cards....8 x 10 for grandma, etc etc. Should I be doing this. Do I want my name attached to this. I am a novice photographer, trying to improve with much instruction from members of pn...but even I know enough to wonder..."why??" Are they only seeing a cute face or is there something...anything...appealing to this photo? Corri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelging Posted July 30, 2006 Share Posted July 30, 2006 Corri ,this photo might not be the best photo ever taken using proper photo technique, but you caught the child doing something cute, your focus was good and the expression on the childs face is good as well. You see many photos here on PN that are very well done in a photgraphic sense , but without the soul that your photo has. Seeing the flaws is important if you wish to make your photography better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stwrtertbsratbs5 Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 It's good to be critical of your own work. But also focus on the good aspects - a cute kid captured doing something fun. As for the technical: Framing could be better. I think this would work better if you showed the child's full body. Lighting isn't flattering. You should have used a flash off camera to create an interesting pattern of light and shadows on the child's face. The flash also would lessen the overall contrast so you wouldn't blow the highlights in the background (the white eall behind looks overexposed). Perhaps you could have moved the child and balloon to get a more interesting background, too. Overall, you captured a nice moment - be happy about that. The other stuff you can practice and learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Taylor Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 It's a nice shot. The background is in full sun, while the kid is in shade. This has blown out the BG. It would be better if there was some detail back there. Keep shooting.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank_skomial Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 "It would be better if there was some detail back there." If you could not reposition the child or background, certainly you would not want to show more of it, as there is nothing of interest there. Whatever is there would catch away viewer's attention from the main subject. In this case I would use even wider F-Stop to blur completely the background. Also vertical picture composition would be better. Little children are wonderfully playful, and you can make repeat this and many other valuable expressions easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce_elliott Posted August 6, 2006 Share Posted August 6, 2006 "Is perfection perception? If someone loves the photo does that make it good?" It doesn't make it good. It just makes it good enough. Seeing issues with your own work is really positive. It means you're open to learning and that when you occasionally get a shot like this that isn't quite as you'd like, you'll be better placed to get the shot you want next time. It's always best to get it right in camera, but don't be afraid to play with whichever photo-editing software you might have to get the result you want. I'd be inclined to square crop this one and lose some of the dead space in the background. Attached. Hope you don't mind. Regards, Bruce<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twmeyer Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 over saturated, too. Here I warmed the skin tone and took the flesh colored wall back to some thing more neutral and knocked the saturation back a bit. Use layers and the automask to control local issues independantly... t<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny t. le Posted August 19, 2006 Share Posted August 19, 2006 wow. i've just learned a lot from this thread. thanks Corri for being so brave. and tom, i really like what you have done to improve the photo. i'm excited to take into to photoshop this fall semester. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebeccaskinner Posted April 6, 2007 Share Posted April 6, 2007 As a mother of two I must say I love every photo of my kids but have yet to get one that I feel is perfect! I want to see the rest of her hand and her feet! Definately like the square crop! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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