The Carefree Run

[keanula]

Here's a recent shot of my little gal,

Would like to know how's the composition made?

Still have not master the sharpness on my daughter whenever she's moving. Is there anything favourite setting for such shots without compromising the background?

Or is it because of the kit lens that I'm using is not as good?

Hope to gather some useful technic for my next shoot...

Thanks guys....

 

[ezestan]

Hi,
Just my personal opinions if you don't mind.

1.) She is a cheerful little girl but the dark sky seems too overwhelm for her cheerful look.

2.) Vast amount of space seems available in this place. Try getting your widest angle for a more paranomic view. or position your subject nearer the end of frame and crop for a wider view.

3.) Girl is too near the centre of the frame. Observe rule of third.

4.) Can go lower to the ground for a better view.

5.) Try a shallower DOF if possible to make the structure behind her seems further away. This will create a optical feel that the area appears much bigger and further for the girl to play.

Thanks

ezestan

 

[keanula]

thanks ezestan,

1) the sky that day is really quite bad that i can really do nothing with it... maybe i can pp to see if i can change the color of the sky... but i doubt so. any idea how can this be done?

2) will take note on this...

3) ya... always have this problem taking my little girl as i always try to focus her with the centre dot. but if i do it wide, then i can crop and bring her to the side... point noted.

4) create a shallower DOF..?? how can this be done? zoom out to max? pardon me for asking as i'm still quite new to photograhpy...

Thanks.

 

[ezestan]

Hi,
I saw that you have a Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 lens in your possession. Thus to get a better DOF, you can actually zoom out to 75mm max and using aperature priority at F2.8. You should be able to achieve maximum DOF for your shot. But the issue i see it that is you shoot at 75mm, then you will not be able to get the panaroma view point.

To observe the rule of third, the focus need not always be the centre. You can put it to the side focusing and anticipate her movement and shift your position such that she falls into your frame.

To help lighten the sky, you can use adobe element and use the adjust color to change the hue and saturation of the sky a little bit.

Thanks

ezestan

 

[wildsoyabean]

love the sky, change the title to the carefree run despite the forth coming storm

personally, i dun like the background-
1) position her such that she dun block the shelter, such that the shelter dun exist in the picture.
2) alternative have shallower depth in ur shots so that more focus will be on her and not on the background.

as for sharpness...do u mean that there is motion blur? i dun see any in this photo.

 

[Octarine]

4) create a shallower DOF..?? how can this be done? zoom out to max? pardon me for asking as i'm still quite new to photograhpy...

Read: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm
It's about aperture and the distances between camera to object and object to background.
Regarding your moving daughter: use the AI Servo mode, it will track your daughter. Select a single focus point, not necessarily the center one.

 

[keanula]

in fact when i zoom in a little, i can see that there is a little motion blur and she don't looks sharp... maybe should try using the AI mode next time.

i should be using the f/2.8 rather than the current f/8 to blur out the background, didn't have the habit to change the f-stop everytime when i take pictures.... think i had use the f/8 for landscape and thereafter, when i shoot my little girl, i didn't get it back to f/2/8 to create the bokeh effect...

the background really look distracting... thanks guys... keep going... think that's how we improve....

 

[calebk]

...
To help lighten the sky, you can use adobe element and use the adjust color to change the hue and saturation of the sky a little bit.

Thanks

ezestan

Correction: hue and saturation does not correct for the contrast or darkness of the sky. One should be using the dodge tool.

 

[ortega]

a quick and dirty edit of your photo

some exposure adjustment, less DOF
crop away unnecessary elements in your composition
give the girl some space to run into
less gloomy sky
less of everything that does not add to your composition

eventually what i see is a cute and happy girl running in a field

so must have girl, field, happy exposure and less of everything else

 

[denniskee]

my view is :

1) would be much better if can pop a flash onto the cute girl.

2) too much empty space to her left side.

3) i am ok with the gloomy sky, if coupled with (1), i think it shows the innocence of a happy little girl running.

4) if can reduce the DOF better.

 

[Octarine]

i should be using the f/2.8 rather than the current f/8 to blur out the background, didn't have the habit to change the f-stop everytime when i take pictures.... think i had use the f/8 for landscape and thereafter, when i shoot my little girl, i didn't get it back to f/2/8 to create the bokeh effect...

No need to use f/2.8, depending on your lens you might not be able to use it (e.g. kit lens) or the image might be a bit soft (only a very few lenses are sharp at f/2.8). F/4 is enough, use the longer end and you'll get your daughter sharp and the background nicely blurred. Actually, the background is already quite nicely blurred. It can be recognized still but the subject is sufficiently isolated.

 

[keanula]

thanks for editing the images for better illustration. indeed, the blur background now makes my little girl the main of attraction... really need to be very alert on the setting before taking every shots... i'm still trying very hard to getting use of adjusting the setting for every new shots....