[Fangman]

Asked by a friend to take some pictures for Mothers Day. Yesterday afternoon with bright winter sun and "blondies". But . . . how much should you crop to get the best image.

[MyPix]

i wouldnt touch it m8,

looks great,
just the right amount of surroundings to provide the right ballance

MyPix

[Marianne]

Aww, a lovely smiley group! IMO I feel that the bright sky is a bit distracting so, although it alters the shape of the image, I might crop as much away as I could but leaving a bit of space above their heads.

[CT]

I wouldn't crop it - it's just about perfect. You might have been able to lose that blank sky by moving slightly to the right, but you're stuck with it now. Draw a freehand mask for the whole of the background above the bench, keeping the mask tight around the kids heads. Then feather the mask by about 14 pixels and adjust the histogram just for the background to reduce some of the brightness and glare. While you've got the mask still drawn, experiment with the gamma and colour saturation of the background too.

It's a lovely shot and one you can be proud of, but I don't think that frame is doing anything for it. All the above work is easier without the frame anyway, so I'd crop the frame out before you start working on the pic and add something more suitable afterwards.

I'm sure the parents will be well chuffed with it anyway.

[Fangman]

It wouldn't touch the sky but darkened background a little as you suggested and cheeted by putting some of the blue back. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Marianne]

it looks better now, my eyes aren't drawn so much to the bright sky. It is a lovely image

[Matty]

its a good one fangman, very impressive

[jewel]

he he, cute bunch! I think it's a wonderful shot as is.


jules

[Sean_Mcr]

It's a tough one that, the only other thing you could have done was to expose for the sky and used some fill flash

The shot is good enough to stand up to the sky, the edit looks unnatural to my eyes, you don't get half white half blue clear sky's


It's a good portrait, of cute kids

[Fangman]

The blue was a quick add in answer to earlier comments - Fill in flash was used as low very brigh sunlight gave very deep shadows. Canon 420 with Stoffel diffuser.