I despise basic editing! I had this shot in mind and convinced my 4yo to help. He "helped" for less than a minute before the shoot was over. In that time I hadn't managed to get my wife and 2yo out of the frame, adjust my position to obscure the house in the background, or get the camera settings correct. The end result is having to explain the person in the background via the title and a horrendous time editing with an image that started off being underexposed. I never quite got it right.
I bribed him to redo it the next day but he insisted on a stripped shirt and wouldn't wear the goggles, hat, or ear-muffs. The sun was also out in force so there were harsh shadows everywhere. At least he's starting to be receptive to modelling.
As for the shot, right from the start I thought of this sort of POV and this shot isn't far from the vision. It's just the editing that gives this a look I'm not that thrilled with but I can't seem to get the skin tones correct and have the rest of the shot look ok too. Even B&W doesn't look good. A selective desat was an ok option but it didn't fill my vision. I figure my wife in the background (trying to catch the 2yo, not weeding) will cost 0.5 a point and the dubious editing will cost another. I'll be happy if this shot ends up in the 5.5+ range.
Statistics
Place: 5 out of 139 Avg (all users): 6.2166 Avg (commenters): 7.2000 Avg (participants): 6.0847 Avg (non-participants): 6.2658 Views since voting: 2835 Views during voting: 398 Votes: 217 Comments: 16 Favorites: 1 (view)
Greetings from the Critique Club.
Hello Gerry, I’m Alan.
With a 6th place and a 6+ score I think you found a connection with the majority of the voters, that I personally found to be a creative take on a somewhat boring challenge. Your child’s facial expression is perfect as well as the sky. Improvements? Except for the sky the colors look a tiny bit flat. I also feel your wife is but a minor distraction, explaining her in the title was unnecessary, a more creative title might have bumped the score a tiny amount. One other thing “I” would have done is apply a bit of Topaz Detail (disclaimer; Some topaz products are legal some questioned in basic, please check with SC with anything you do with this product) Free trial on the Topaz website (No, I do not have any association with Topaz).
All in all, had I voted I would had rated a 8..
If you have any questions on my insights please feel free to PM me.
Alan.
Great perspective! The clouds look a little odd around the edges of the trees and I think the image is a little underexposed (especially on his face), but overall I love this photo :D
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