The Kiss

Woww bravoooo this is so beautiful, so tender, so real :) so lovely! bravoooo

A really wonderful shot and one they will grow up to appreciate in time. Photographically, yes, one could argue the background is distracting but it's the middle ground that matters, and so THERE, is where the photographic marvel lies. well done Amanda a worthy recipient of POW and a good choice by the elves

Amanda, I think very few photos capture " the moment" as well as this one does. You did everything correct, set the lights , exposure, framing,focus and when the moment happened ,you were ready and pushed the shutter at the exact perfect moment. That is really all good photography is, preperation followed by creativity. Well done, shoot more like this,welcome to the POW club.

Absolutely charming! I'm sure these two beautiful subjects will cherish this picture in their adult lives. The natural lighting is superb. But I do agree abut the wall trim, although it's just a minor distraction.

I like the spontaneous feel in this image..

we see that it is a spur of the moment..

not a studio photo.(nothing wrong in that either :)

Beautiful capture, with a very REAL natural atmosphere

Love it

Nice and alive, no doubt. A nice moment, even for someone like me who is not particularly fond of "sweet and cute" kids photos. With that said, I'd like to add a couple of remarks.
First one will be going the same direction as Michael Chang's comment about the gear. I find especially noticeable indeed that the white balance is indeed perfect, but even more noticeable that the iso setting was 640, with no noise at all. I have used the D700 a couple of times, and it's just amazing that you hardly get any noise at all, even with an ISO rating of 1000 or 1600 ! If I'd try the same with my - now old - Kodak 14N, you'd get about as much noise as an old grainy 6400 film. :-) So, in cases like this indeed, gear matters - since this is window light only. As a side-note, it is really worth checking the blue channel of this picture - blue channel is where you'd normally find most of the noise -, and it is just absolutely clean ! Nikon deserves congratulations for this D700 in terms of noise and flexibility at a high iso rating.
Now a note about the picture's colors... They are natural, yes. But does that necessarily mean they are as good as they could be. I had this discussion a couple of times with professional photographers or printers over the years, and generally, what they say is: if white point and black point are right, then colors are right - well, of course, that's technically true, but in my view what matters is the impression you get looking at the photo, and not its "technical white balance correctness"...
In this case nevertheless, I would make no suggestion about any shift of the white balance: it would bring nothing better. But still, the colors in this picture, despite their natural look, don't appeal all that much to me. Pink and grey are the main colors here, then you have the girl's hair, yellowish and bright, and the brown foreground - which I feel should be out of focus, as it is here. I know the photographer wasn't organizing a posed studio session with paid models, but I've got to say that the girl's dress doesn't look all that great. No big deal but it's a bit bright on white side, has a bit unpleasant colors on the darker side, and looks a little crampled. Daily life, so it's ok, but a better looking dress would be even better, I feel. Then, what about this brown in a grey and pink context ? Not too nice, as I see it. Again, since this isn't a posed studio session, it's perfectly acceptable, but wouldn't be my ideal choice if this was a posed session, precisely. So there's no real criticism here, but just a note saying that greater colors would have made for an even better photo, imo.
Finally, and precisely because this picture is mostly great BECAUSE OF ITS STORY-TELLING QUALITY, why not black and white after all...? Not because the colors are a real problem, but just because they don't add much and aren't the best we could imagine, and aren't an asset to the photo... Here's a very simple black and white conversion based mostly on green and blue channels... To me, it's stronger as a black and white. Anyway, nice catch. Best regards.

This is a great picture for the parents of these children. This is a great picture for baby photographers or for those who aspire to be such. This is a great picture for anyone who might want to take pictures of their own kids. But for me, who is none of the above, it is soporific... t

Marc G. you've done wonders with the change to B&W. It makes all the difference in the world, I think. I'm going to have to pay attention to colors more from now on. The colors didn't bother me until I saw your reproduction. Now I think it is a far better image.

Willie the Cropper

Marc, I think the B&W does a great job at addreessing the various objections, but to be honest, I really hate to see it at the expense of the wonderful colors particularly of their faces and hair.

I am presenting a hybrid variation for the purposes of discussion with no claims of improvement over the original or Marc's variation.

This is a nice and memorable photo that would look good in any family album. I'd love the pic if was of my own kids.
I feel that the black & white version is far more interesting, without the distractions of colour

You know how good a capture/picture is when it moves the viewer's emotions, this is one that des, fine work.

I quite disagree with those who criticize the out of focus foreground. It draws you into the frame. The background also does not bother me and - as someone said - it shows it's not a studio set up. It also reflects the movement of the fabric and creates a quiet movement in the frame that balances the moment captured. I really like the light, the color and the sharpness. It all paints a moment captured with an illuminated sharpness. To be honest, I think this could have been just a trite photograph, but it's not. Is it photo of the decade? Maybe not, but it's sweet and lovely.

Here is a edit of the photo with the molding removed and some of the red dialed down, cropped and blurred is certain spots and burned on her shoulder. the excess red could be my monitor though. This was done in a hurry so it is rough.

If this photo was taken for my own family I would think it's wonderful. It's very successful on that level. However, if viewed as a photo in a more absolute, public sense it seems like 1,000,000 pictures I've seen before. I don't see a unique point of view on the subject or anything striking or terribly subtle about the composition. It's a nice moment but no more vivid than many others.
I have to admit that I have a problem with every public forum of this type I've come across. Praise is thrown around like wedding rice, often when a picture is OK but nothing special. I think online critiques can only be valuable to ambitious photographers when a little more tough love is thrown around.
The base issue with a picture like this has very little to do with whether there's a small diagonal element in a corner.

yay, some good meaty responses too (love a bit of HHCC).
Firstly - Marc, thanks so much for writing such a detailed response, I agree with alot of what you've said and your bw conversion is really really good. Just FWIW, I had no say in the children's clothes, even the blanket on the beanbag was the mother's. I simply worked with what I had. I do find my Nikons are on the red side - and I think I may have used the cloudy white balance here, I'm almost certain I didn't do a CWB.
I think my 'style' is very natural and quite traditional. I don't set the world on fire with my creativity. I simply do my best to take a good photo which doesn't need much post processing. I originated from film and still like a clean processed digital image in most cases. I work predominantly with young children and hope to capture emotive images which the family will treasure in years to come.
So, with all that said - any HHCC is very welcome, feel free to pick my work apart - I believe it is through constructive criticism that you learn and that is somethng you continue to do every year that passes in the photographic field :-)

Perfect Picture.

Great timing!

Amanda,
Wow! What a great shot! I rarely takes pictures of people, unless they don't know I'm taking their picture. It seems that people (if they're knowing) will fake a pose...and I don't care for that. But your picture, to me...sparks interest for different reasons. It first shows a simple kiss, and that's love no matter how you photograph it. It shows having th camera ready at the right time. It shows the simplicity of life, whether we are living it, or trying our best to capture that particular moment with the camera. I tip my hat to you.
Lefty

can only think of superlatives... but they have all been used on this one! lovely, sweet, beautiful.

Thanks for sharing!

She looks like an angel watching over the infant. Absolutely wonderful shot!

Kim

This photo touched my heart deeply!! Thanks it is EXCELLENT!!

I find the unfocused area in the foreground destructing. In my opinion the image works better with a focused foreground. Otherwise, it's a very out-standing and powerful image.