My daughter blew hundreds of bubble standing in front of a blue mesh fabric thrown over the curtain rod of the sliding doors to the backyard. I had her wear a blue tyedye shirt just to be certain no one would say "Doesn't Meet The Challenge" :) Very minor color correction / saturation done in Elements.
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I believe from your challenge comments, we have already established the fact that she is cute, so I won't elaborate on that :)
...I read one of your comments mentioning a 'snapshot' quality about the image. What do you think about this? There are definite difference between your average family album shapshots and portrait photos. What could you have done differently with this subject to eliminate the 'snapshot' feel of the image? I am no expert on this subject, so I don't know either :)
Keep up the good work though :)
John Setzler
John -- Thanks for sneaking in a hint of the Socratic method -- it's effective and "inoffensive."
myqyl -- I originally got my camera to shoot snapshots of MY cute kid, but had enough previous (graphic) art experience to try and make it possible to artistically "re-purpose" them.
The most prominent difference between snapshots and "artistic" photos seems to be cropping. This makes sense, since the purpose of the snapshot is usually to record the presence of a person/thing or event at a particular time and location, so there's usually a lot of background and context with a barely-recognizable subject. In more arty photos of people or things, most photographers crop away almost all the background, or make it neutral, or otherwise de-emphasize it versus he subject.
This frame doesn't leave much to crop. If I were to re-shoot it, I would definitely capture the frame with her hand up by her face and the bubble in the process of emerging, from a position about 15 degrees to the left of where you took this one, and maybe even lower. You'd see her eyes, as John mentioned, but they'd be twisted down and in as she concentrates on the bubble (no reflection if you want to use the flash). You'd be able to crop to the back of her hand on the left, her hair on the top and right, and to her elbow on the bottom.
Send me an email if you want to discuss the Art of the Snapshot outside of DPC, and exchange examples...
I believe from your challenge comments, we have already established the fact that she is cute, so I won't elaborate on that :)
The first thing that jumps out at me on this particular image is that it looks like this could have been a great opportunity for 'fill flash' :) Your subject is slightly dark and a minor fill flash would have brightened her up some and probably kept you from having to do any color correction on this image after the fact. I would have also shot about 100 shots of this while she was content with the bubbles :) I may have tried some different angles as well to possibly catch her eyes in the shot :) I read one of your comments mentioning a 'snapshot' quality about the image. What do you think about this? There are definite difference between your average family album shapshots and portrait photos. What could you have done differently with this subject to eliminate the 'snapshot' feel of the image? I am no expert on this subject, so I don't know either :)
neat background but almost distracts from the great subject matter in the foreground. a fill-in flash would help the foreground. if you used one, which looks like you might have, it would have worked a little better if you were closer. if you didn't use one then it might have made the difference.
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