Watching Mommy's Makeupby
DougPazComment by Koriyama: *From the critique club*
Greetings!
I like the different expressions on the two faces - the serious intention of the mother and the playful learning of the kid. The three heads form a good visual line across the frame, and there are a number of strong lines present here which add to the punch of this candid snapshot. The colours are clear with no serious cast. The kid's face being brighter helps support the message of the title. You've chosen a good dof to highlight the foreground people at the same time as blur the background, but not so much as to destroy the context.
Being a members' challenge, you could have burned a little on the mother's face. The darkness takes away from the overall frivolity. The challenge is 'mirror', and you felt compelled to add quite a lot of the mother's hair on the left. I feel that this detracts somewhat from the composition. Too much front of focal range in the foreground gives a slightly messy feeling. Maybe there could be another way to include the mirror without this.
I have to say that the capture of the girl is simply wonderful. The expression, the skin tones, the lighting are all spot on. I suspect that you centred that in your composition and left the camera to do the rest, leaving the mother darker. Oh well.
I'd have given a 5 or a 6 for this, had I voted, but if the crop had been to the right (to include some right hand mirror) and closer in on the girl, probably a 7 or 8.
Please feel free to contact me about this critique.
Jim.
Photographer found comment helpful.
