First Step of Human

Thank you for any input.

The subject/composition really grabbed my attention. Good job. The detail in the hand creates a good contrast of age against the young foot.

 

The only thing I didn't like was that the more I looked at it, the more the "clipped" fingers/thumb seemed to bother me. I wish you could have gotten the whole hand.

 

Never the less, a really nice photo.

It bothers me sometimes that some people thing that in order for an image to be effective the entire image must be present. My boss does that: "Are you really gonna crop off his feet?" and it really bothers me. Of course I am. Who really cares about someone's feet when the photo is focused on his face? People want to see drama and emotion.

 

In this case I think the hand being partially cropped out of the image lends the illution that the hand is even bigger in contrast to the foot. It is so big in fact that it won't fully fit in the frame. I might even have cropped the image to look as it does now even if I HAD captured all five digits on film.

 

Next time you watch a movie or TV look at the composition of the frames. You'll notice that a lot of the time in movies and some TV dramas the forhead and chin are both taken out of the frame and the shot is still pleasing, even more pleasing than if the camera had zoomed out enough to get the whole head.

 

Art is drama. Drama is a distortion of real life and if photography is going to be considered art, then you must let it not be so documentational.

 

on narrowmindedness>

 

 

Thanks for your comment, Daniel. I cropped the original photo so tightly because I wanted to move the small foot a bit more in the middle point just as the title suggests. Yes, the other cropping (almost the original photo format) is not bad at all, maybe even better for some (or for most?) viewers.

 

Patrick, I have just seen your comment that explained my original consideration to crop this photo. Thanks!

At first glance, I though the same than Daniel. But now that I see the "full hand" version, I find it not so powerful as the first one. Definitely: cut fingers version is best.

 

I looked at this photo and thought "How Sweet" Well done.

Having seen the full shot, I stand corrected. I do like the cropped version better.

 

Patrick - I agree with you in general, but sometimes cropped body parts just don't look right to me. My initial impression of this photo was 100% positive, it was only after staring at it a while that I was a little bothered by the clipped fingers. Maybe I just thought about it too long...having seen the full version, I'm now back to preferring the cropped.

 

Larry - once again, I really like this photo. Good job.

Sweet, joyful photo.

I'm sold on it on the basis of nostaligia!

How the heck do you trim those tiny little nails? Classic baby shot-- great addition to the family album. The lighting complements the subject.

B&W better but is a beautiful shot

I like this. The one thing is, I think it might of looked better in black and white.