Ray took this picture of his wife and daughter with a Nikon D50 with Tamron 18-200 lens. He back lit the shot with a south facing window. The shot was converted to black & white and cropped using Capture NX and further adjusted in CS2.
Matt Hunter says:
“Great composition with the Mother-Baby emotional tone. It could be improved with a little less of a close-crop on the mother’s face. Expanding the crop on the right would relax the image with the space of the Mother’s face from the edge of the photo. The expression and attention of both was gracefully captured. A fine photograph with its fittingly soft tones. The baby’s eyes are particularly beautiful how they shine.”
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and tell us what you think.
4 Comments
Composition is really quite lovely, except it is cropped a little close. While this way does really focus the subject on the baby, the cropping could be loosened up a bit without losing that focus. The tone and contrast is excellent, especially the fact that the only thing close to black are the baby’s eyes. Overall I’d say you did a spectacular job. This is also wonderful proof that you can’t underestimate a camera like the D50.
Thanks Matt and Dave for the kind words. Funny about what you guys said about the cropping. Sure enough, this is the left 2/3 of the original picture. I cropped it to bring the focus to my daughter. I guess I didn’t need to do that :). Thanks again!
I agree with Dave and Matt that the cropping was too tight; however, posed or not, this is a very natural and relaxed portrait that, to me, is overflowing with what most of us hope to capture, not just a mere moment in history but a moment in history with meaning and emotion. The conversion to black and white has the viewer focused on your daughter’s face and, secondarily, your wife’s face; had it remained a colour photo, the colour would have been extraneous and distracting. A photo well worth being proud of.
Thanks Ken, original picture is now posted here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40069990@N03/3684412055/