[stupot]

Here's a picture of our neighbours little girl Olivia who we've taken quite a shine too. quite often the door from our flat and her mums flat are left open and she comes and goes as she pleases. Many an occasion she brings all her toys too .

I played around with a shot and came up with this (inspired by Ian's shot 'Baby Blues') not sure whether it works but had mums permission to put it on here for a bit critique.

[Dabhand16]

I think the letterbox crop does not work here. It accentuates her ears and shoulders, and the light top she is wearing takes my eye away from her.

Got any more to show us?

[stupot]

here's the original

[skipper954]

I am going to be brutally frank here, Stu.

The initial image (letterbox) is not good for the reasons Dab said.

This image is also not very good. Looks like a snapshot, but that being said, I think that it can be improved.

First, I would crop the pole of the swing, actually pretty close to her hair on her left side to put her off center.

One of the problems here is that her face is very pale, but her cheeks are rosy red. I am not sure how I would approach this problem in photoshop, but perhaps others have suggestions.

Finally, she is not in perfect focus. Getting kids in focus while they are moving drives me crazy. I have not yet learned how to do that regularly. But here, perhaps a tad of gaussian blur then sharpening the eyes and mouth selectively would help.

It may also help to decrease the saturation a bit to make the image softer.

So, I have pointed out some problems, with only a few possible solutions. I hope that others on the board can help more.

skip

[nichpr]

There is a lot going on in the original shot - distracting background and colors off to the side. Given that I can see why you cropped the way you did. The crop is creative, effective in that it captures the essence of this little girl and probably makes the most of this snap shot. Like Skip says, I'm sure someone here can work wonders with what remains after your crop.
- Paul

[Dabhand16]

I know this is a bit naff, but i think it works here.

[Victoria]

cropped image
Burnt around Olivia to remove distracting elements
sharpened eyes and increased saturation (didn't seem to change much)
Guassian blur as overlay (my new found skill)
Played with colour balance...

...and here's my interpretation

[stupot]

Thanks alot Graham and Victoria for your pimping, Skip and nichpr for your comments. I like your interpretation Victoria, will show mum I really should get that photoshop book back out and learn beyond the basics.

[Charlotte]

Good job Victoria

Is it only me that can see red-eye here? I'd give it a go, but my own pic's are lining up ...

[nichpr]

Bravo Victoria!

- Paul

[Rob Barron]

There is a VERY faint hint of red in the pupil but nowhere near enough to worry about and extremely easy to clear if needed. I have to squint and use a lot of imagination to even see it so I wouldn't bother frankly.

I like Victoria's pimp most, I am afraid I definitely don't like the letterbox crop and with the head cropped so much, I don't like the selective eyes. The only thing I would change in Victoria's version is to not darken over the hair around the ears, leave all of it showing. Other than that it works fine.

She's got a gorgeous little smile and bags full of character so I would go for another shot similar to the original but try and get it sharper. Posed would make it possible to get a much sharper shot but try to make it semi-posed so she is just playing and enjoying herself as you would not want to lose anything of her lovely smile.

Cheers,
Rob