Another Sports Portrait....

Comments and thoughts wanted:) What do you think of the crop?

Good photo.

Liked the soft effect you have used... it lifts the gentleness from the kid's face.

Good one.

Thanks Mandar:)

excellent shot - love the lighting and his expression

Thanks Amelia:)

Good use of light. Nice contrast of the bright & dark side. Well done portrait, Jason.

Thanks Cherlyn:)

Jason,

WOW .I like it alot!

Elaine Marie

Great sports portrait, Jason! I love the lighting on this. His expression is nice...and the details in his hair are wonderful! If you were closer to Minnesota...I'd ask you to take my son's portraits! Great job, Jason!!!

Elaine and Paula, thanks for taking the time to comment:)

Here is the original.

Stunning portrait, I am amazed at the difference the conversion has made, not just another portrait at all, rather exceptional. Kind regards Peter.

I like the original equally as well as this posting. Just goes to show you have to have something decent to start with! Nice work with both.

Thanks, Kim and Peter, just goes to show if you listen to everyones feedback you may actually learn something. I would like to thank everyone who has given me tips and tricks I have learned alot from everyones feedback!) You know things are working when it looks good in BW and color, I personally like the BW best... IMAO.. haha

Wonderful light-ing and child portrait! only one detail - I see some rest of the background in the upper my right almost corner, till above his hair :) just visible on my monitor!

Biliana

Thanks, for pointing that out, it must have something to do with the jpg lose, the original doesn't have it. I notice a couple other spots on this shot. I have noticed this happening every so often on pictures, I have them set to best quality when I post it, but it is still losing something between here and there:) Thanks for taking the time to stop by and comment:)

Jason- I love your use of light & shadow to dramatize this portrait. I find the skin softening a little distracting, making me want to see more clearly. I also think the light areas on the face just a little too bright. Compositionally it's very nice & his expression keeps my attention. I know you don't mind, easier to show than tell, just what I might do to improve the impact. I kept it large so you could see I sharpened the line of the chin & eyes a little.

Oh, I see dear Jason :( sometimes I have the same problems :( :) I dont know what happens but probably we are loosing some quality over the - save for Web :(

 

Biliana

I saw Jayme`s version, but I think the eye is oversharpened! at least on my monitor calibration!

Biliana

Thanks for your feedback, I have been listening, funny thing about the light spots, I played with it a bit but did not get the affect I wanted so I ended up undoing it, I think next time I need to turn down the intensity value on the burn tool, or do the selective layer erase thing.

 

As for the chin and eyes, you are right, I like the stronger chin definition and I could have went back a bit further probably with erasing the soft eyes off the layer.

 

I have been going back and forth with the soft and hard issue, I like the hair either really hard and well defined, or so soft it looks almost like a cartoon, dreamy look. I just haven't determined my style yet... I like both, if done right:)

 

I always appreciate your feedback, and taking the time to give good constructive feedback!

I also think some of my problem is I shrink the picture down to be more web friendly and always forget to reopen it so see what happened to it. That also affects how the sharpening looks. It may look fine for sharpness, but when shrunk a bit, looks softer or over sharp depending on the picture. Thanks for spending the time to comment I appreciate it:)

A very striking portrait. I love how the detail in the hair contrasts the soft skin tones. You've done a great job on the B&W conversion, too!

Good job , it's so beutiful 7/7

Excelente luz, B/W. y un bello encuadre, saludos cordiales Jason,

IMHO, the overdose of softening has spoiled an otherwise excellent portrait.