Child's Play in Biron

(sigh...) And another with the too-soft focus. Anyway - no more photos from the specific street market that the previous several shots were from (in Issigeac), but there might be more from some of the other street markets that I visited later during the trip.

This shot is from a bastide village nearby, Biron. These little girls were running all over the place when I turned around, and this is the only shot I could get with both of them and the game surface all at the same time.

Any comments or ratings are appreciated!! :-)

A good shot with lots of color and interest, Lou, you have to learn to whistle(LOL) or carry a bicycle horn or speak French. All kidding aside I do like this.

Darn - this is one where I want it sharp! Great color and cute shot. I wonder about experimenting with some effects in PS to rescue it somewhat??

Maybe a faster lens is your answer. When I am disapointed with my pictures for any reason, I use that as a learning tool for what I can do to improve, and repeated lack of clarity is due to my shutter speed being too slow, or my lens not being good quality. (Please forgive me if you have considered these)

 

I love the color and subject you found!

No need to apologize - you are certainly right to point that out, Linda. I missed the moment. I have a VERY unsteady hand to begin with. And, these pictures (from the street market and this) were taken within hours of each other (and only a day before I broke my 50mm).

 

Anyway, I have looked into more expensive versions of my lenses, for example, I considered getting a 1.4 instead of 1.8 to replace my 50mm. But after talking about it with someone at the camera shop (who could only have benefitted from my getting the more expensive lens) convinced me that the only way I'd need the 1.4 would be if I was printing huge scale prints, for the quality. Well, really, the only thing I'm doing with my photography right now is photo.net ... so I probably am better off spending $80 than $330.

 

Someday (over the rainbow) I'll sell some of my photos for big bucks, and then I can buy some really great equipment and have the time to learn to use it. Until then, kiddos, take out your algebra books and open them to page 315...... :-)

Lou Ann, very cute image.Lovely Subject. I have sharpened it with another soft ware I have ( Irfan view). I have answered all you questions, in my Mali Folder.Pnina

 

So here it is,

Even though it's not 100% sharp, it's a cute photo. The colourful clown and the kids so focused on their game they don't seem to note anything what's happening around them.

hello ann,perfect photo,great colors,but the child in the left should be seen more. thanks for critique my photo.(i took it in hongkong,he is my brother)regard.

I like the image. As for the sharp focus issue here is my two cents. First, and as I am sure you know, make sure your camera's focus point is on the subject. In this case the little girls. For some reason, I sense the focus point could have been on the clown face wall.

 

Also, this seems to be a low light situation. So I would have gone to ISO 400 with a fast shutter speed. What was the film speed? From my experience with digital cameras, the camera's are not fans of hand held low light shots.

Yes. Yes. Yes. And, yes. Uh huh. Now - I just checked, and the ISO was set for 100. (Dumb) And I assume that the focus point was set for the center one of seven (I use that as my default). In my own defense (ugh!!), I must say that we were on our way out from a tour of the castle there in Biron and were just walking through the streets, we came around a corner, and this shot was there and gone (the girls ran in the other direction) within a split second. I had about one second to decide to raise the camera, point it and shoot, and knew that whatever I got was whatever I got. Previously I had been shooting countryside from a courtyard in the castle, so the 100ISO, center focus was appropriate, and that's where the camera rested. Ugh! I need to work on my candids ... and Howard, that's why you're my "go-to guy" for this type of shot!! :-) Thanks for the visit.

The is my favorite of the three you have posted. I personally have no problem with the kids being out of focus, it makes the image DYNAMIC!. I think it's more of a movement issue on the kids part than being out of plane of focus, which they also are a bit. The ground is in more focus than the kids. The bigger girl's right foot is more in focus than his moving left foot. The younger girl's dress and back of the neck is also more in focus than the girl's moving arm. I might like this better than if everything and everybody was in sharp focus, really!

 

I would suggest the following crop though, it works better for me. I also cloned out the box on the wall. All in all, I personally like this image Lou. It's playful, cheerful and the colors blend and compliment the colors in the clown so well. It's a fine image of urban kids having some fun.

Cheers.

Cheers.

 

Lou Ann, I'd say go either extremes; motion stopping capture, or with longer exposure to render the boy as a ghostly blur. Pretty neat capture though.

Lou Ann- Have you ever thought it might be the camera & not you? My 10D almost drove me insane, I thought it was me, but come to find out the focus was off. It's focus was off. I sent it back to Canon for adjustment & what a difference!

 

This is cute, nice colors too!

That never occurred to me, Jayme. I think that the problem is this: I often leave the focus set at the *center* focal point (my Digital Rebel has 7 focal points) instead of letting it choose the focus. I had barely enough time to pick up my camera and take this shot before it was gone, so I assume that I didn't change the focal point, which was probably pointed at the clown's cheek or something. I might take the camera to the local shop, though, and see what they think. Thanks for the suggestion.