IMHO posed portraits of kids always look kinda unnatural, so it was my goal to make a dynamic and non-posed portrait of my niece Amber on her 2nd birthday.
I waited untill she was concentrated on opening a present on the floor, just after she ate a piece of chocolate cake, and wasn't aware she was going to be photographed.
To achieve the dynamic effect, I used a very low Point of View, set the camera in Macro-mode and used a slow shutterspeed.
At the time she finally looked at the camera and I pressed the button, her dad walked into the picture. It wasn't intended, but I think it adds to the whole dynamic of the image.
Besides converting the image to B&W and a little crop at the top and left, no editing has been applied to this photo.
Statistics
Place: 131 out of 135 Avg (all users): 3.7455 Avg (commenters): 4.5385 Avg (participants): 3.7059 Avg (non-participants): 3.7797 Views since voting: 1223 Votes: 220 Comments: 14 Favorites: 0
A great capture of the subject's personality - something every portrait should strive to do. I like the tones and the lighting. My only suggestion would be to ensure at least something in the image is in focus - even if it's just something in the background. It's okay that there's a blur where the subject is moving, but the camera shouldn't be moving too. Overall it's a nice effect though. Good luck!
An interesting crop and the motion blur adds to the idea of an active child. Maybe less DoF, to reduce the interest in the background and the plant sprouting?
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
