Paige.jpg
by sheapod

Comment:
Laura, I agree you did a nice job on a pretty subject with the exposure here. There is good tonal range. There are some nice clean whites and some nicely saturated blacks. The girls face (obviously the subject) is well exposed with nice defining shadows which allows her personality to shine through. Good job.

If you wanted to tweak it slightly, you could bring up the brightness and contrast just a bit to emphasize the face a little more. In Photoshop try 1) Brightness (+10) / Contrast (+15). It's really not necessary and would be only a marginal improvement.

This appears to have been taken with natural light mostly coming from the right side of the frame and maybe a little above. About the only thing I can think of that would make it better would be some catch lights in her eyes, but I honestly can't think how you would have done it under the circumstances.

Was this taken on automatic? Or did you make adjustments to your camera? If you made adjustments, why did you make the ones you did? If on automatic, why do you think the camera did such a good job all by itself?

doing your own thing
by buzzmom

Comment:
I actually like this quite a lot. I love the lighting. I like the triangular comp (light plus the two people).The focus isn't great but okay enough. Excellent choice of color. Fantastic perspective on the scene. What spoils the image for me is the gradient border. Some may like it, I suppose. But it doesn't resonate with me.

Where is dad?
by garlic

Comment:
This photo has a huge emotional payload I quite like. The stark contrast is very good. Focus is good. DOF is good. I like the woman in the background juxtaposed with the kids in the foreground.I am sorry to see the overly blurred sky and the post processing artifacts along the fence line and the roofline.

Family Business
by madison461

Comment:
Excellent photo. Composition is very good. Color saturation, too. Well meets the challenge. Diminished by overly soft focus/DOF.

A game of Hearts
by Mark

Comment:
I like the concept and execution. Clever.

best man and best dad
by tomzinho

Comment:
If focus were stronger this would be in the top 20 I think.

gone out to play
by p2jvr

Comment:
Meets the challenge. Well lit, exposed and focused. I might have cropped it to either get all of or exclude topmost instrument. Nice reflections. Rotating the image diminished it in my opinion.

Big Kid, Little Kid
by scalvert

Comment:
I like your sense of humor. Points for that.

Sunday Best
by DeniseBernadette

Comment:
Beautiful photo. Superbly composed. Nicely saturated. There is something about the post processing that softens the focus too much for my taste.

Family Games at the Cabin
by dwterry

Comment:
Great concept. Well composed. I like the choice of sepia. Background on the deck is a bit distracting.