Hello Everyone

[2menelo]

I am of course new today. I have been looking around and it really looks like an excellent site. So many sites do not have the members that are eager to help or that are interested - I hope to learn alot from everyone. I am a new photographer. Me and my wife have started including photography with our video business and it has become a love / addiction.
The attached file is one I took of my little girl last night out in the front yard, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,

[Cyber Cat]

hello 2menelo and wlcm 2 retouchpro. i'v been fan of b&w photography for a while. simply love this photograph. if i didnt know any better i 'd think its a studio shot. nothing else to add. keep 'em coming.

[Duv]

This to me is a great shot! One of the things you learn in photography is the power of thirds. Please notice that the most important feature, the eyes, are placed almost precisely in the thirds position. Well done!

Dave

[2menelo]

Thank Cyber Cat & Duv for the comments. I cannot take credit for the eyes being in the thirds location, I just cropped to avoid a huge flyaway with her hair. I will take luck anyday though. Thanks again for the comments and the remider of the rule of thirds, which to be honest, I forgot about........

[Kraellin]

welcome to retouchpro, 2menolo.

The attached file is one I took of my little girl last night out in the front yard, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

lock her in her room until she's at least 18

great shot. however, i disagree a bit with duv on this one. one of the things i always found was that when you have a person looking in a direction, like yours the girl is looking to our left, you move her TO the right and leave a bit of space on the left. so, it's like a reverse thirds that duv is talking about. so, i'm only partially disagreeing here, duv

but my question to you, 2menolo, is what did you want advice, critiquing on? you want it on the photo itself or on possibly touching it up with a graphic editor?

Craig

[2menelo]

Kraellin, I was just looking for any advice possabile. Im just starting this week to print at home and have not had enough experiance with the end result, what I think I see is not what a trainned eye sees. Im pretty proficiant in PS in general but translating that to a finished product that will appeal to the buying customer is difficult. Simply looking to improve in any way I can, from setup to completion.
Thank you for replying,

James Tuminello

[goose443]

2menelo,

Your photograph is beautiful. Both the tonal range and the composition are great. Some advice on printing would be to try oversharpening slightly for the prints. On screen in may look a little overdone but it should help improve the sharpness of prints. This helps especially if you have to deal with dot gain.

[Caitlin]

Originally Posted by Kraellin

great shot. however, i disagree a bit with duv on this one. one of the things i always found was that when you have a person looking in a direction, like yours the girl is looking to our left, you move her TO the right and leave a bit of space on the left. so, it's like a reverse thirds that duv is talking about. so, i'm only partially disagreeing here, duv

Craig

Good point Craig - this 'eye room' rule was certainly what I was always taught when in film school, but I think applies just as well in still photography. This rule, and 'rule of thirds' are principles that at the end of the day should just 'feel right' though.

This is a lovely photo, but could be improved with some 'eye room' I think.

http://www.egusd.k12.ca.us/franklinh...tingbasics.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/u...mposition.mspx

[byRo]

A very nice pic!

Originally Posted by 2menelo

.... I cannot take credit for the eyes being in the thirds location, I just cropped to avoid a huge flyaway with her hair.........

But you did recognize a good result - so much so that you posted it here!

Fanning the flames of the thirds / eye-room discussion, I did a "What if?" version. I put the eyes on the golden mean (the mathematical purists version of the thirds ) and gave it the eye room.

(also did my little "rounding" trick and sharpened the hair)
Tip for 2menelo - when doing greyscale (B/W) images you can and should use the full black-to-white range and don't be afraid to up the sharpening a notch.

Rô

[Duv]

Craig, Caitlin, I couldn't agree with you more. Thirds Squared is even more powerful. Roland puts the words to action. Idea's to make a very good image better..it's what's it's all about! Good stuff everyone!

Cheers
Dave

[2menelo]

Thank you to everyone that replied. The feedback is better than a histogram. I just printed a 16 by 20 and my wife almost cried...... Job well done.
I hope to continue to learn from this forum, and possably contribute as well.

[Kraellin]

excellent, byRo. exactly what i meant!

and you're welcome, 2menelo.

Craig