Mother & Child

[ederius]

hi all, took this opportunity shot of mother & child as the little monkey peeked out beyond her mother's arm. would appreciate any comments, in particular on the composition and some possible photoshop effects i could use to enhance the photo. the focal point should be the little monkey, but it seems like the mom's face grabs attention first

[night86mare]

composition - you want a tighter crop here. the clutter around your 2 subjects (primary intended child, secondary intended mother) but understand this could be lens limitation. however, what was under your control was the perspective. it is best to note that if you want to take animals and "humanise" them, it is best to take things from their perspective, i.e. a lower level. here you have taken a "top down" approach, it is not going to communicate your idea well nor place your subjects in the most photogenic light.

if you had done that, definitely cropping might help. as for focus on the child's face, it is easy, dump all color since it is a lighter shade than the rest of the picture. if that is not enough, you can always photoshop in vignetting.

unfortunately, because of the initial perspective flaw, all these cannot be done.

i have done something (4:3 crop) to illustrate what i mean, with a sepia tone, but it is probably not the best you could bring away from the scene.



cheers.

[tribal.snake]

like the feel of it, composition is nice.
the elder monkey's face is oof, else would really make a nice print.

[ederius]

Originally Posted by night86mare you want to take animals and "humanise" them

haha agreed. didn't think about that, will keep that in mind. i think it was part of the kan chiong spider mode so i snapped without thinking much

Originally Posted by tribal.snake like the feel of it, composition is nice. the elder monkey's face is oof, else would really make a nice print.

thanks actually i intended for the elder's monkey's face to be oof. but maybe it isn't such a good idea after all.