[slocookn]

This is my favorite picture I have taken so far. Besides the white being blown out. Any other comments?....I lost a lot of sharpness to resize to post.

[Rob Barron]

I don't understand why you had to lose so much sharpness to resize it Slo, you took it all the way down to 51Kbs, a quarter of the size you are allowed (200kbs) and so have compressed it a lot more than it really needed.

To the picture itself, the colours seem a bit strong but that might just be the sunlight strength. I would reduce it a bit as it is a bit garish and isn't necessary as the strength of the image is in the position of the boy to his mum. The lad looking down works because of your title though I think it needs the title to work so as an image with no title or comment, it doesn't really feel strong enough to stand alone.

Well done for getting that angle and for putting it up with a meaningful title. The blown out area is very strong and does spoil things a bit but you know about that already. Would be worth dialling in a reduction of about 2 stops in this case to counter that. Nothing you can really do now, blost highlight detail is lost for good but I think it was still worth taking the shot.

You haven't got your camera details listed here so would you mind telling us what camera and things you were using? It's worth us knowing because if you were using a DSLR we can offer practical advice that would be meaningless to someone who used a point n shoot automatic compact that doesn't allow for adjustments.

Cheers,
Rob

[skipper954]

Welcome, Slo

I kind of like this because the vivid colors and patterns remind me a bit of a painting. (note to Rob et at - is that posterization?)

But I agree with Rob that the emotional content isn't there. We don't see mom's face or a gesture indication that the lad is in deep s__t.

But for some reason, this still grabs me. Go figure.

skip

[Rob Barron]

Skip, posterisation is the effect when you compress smooth toned areas and you see bands of colour rather than smooth gradation. So instead of gradually transitioning from, say, red to brown, you get red, a darker red, a chestnut brown and a brown.

It's common on here to see pictures of a lovely deep azure sky that fades to a lighter blue as it gets towards the horizon, we see banding instead of smooth tones.

Hope that makes sense

Cheers,
Rob

[skipper954]

Thanks Rob.

[slocookn]

Rob If you look in my gallery for this picture the info it is all there. My camera is a Nikon D200 with an 18/200mm vr lens. As this is my first Dslr or slr period I have most of the functions set to auto for now as I read up. I am Looking froward to any advise you would be willing to offer.

As far as the picture goes, Mid day sun on a blue bird sky. I understand your comments about not being able to see mom. For me the focus being on just his face with body posture is strong enough for me. Not having to subjects to concentrate on ..my .02

Thanks,
Steve

[Rob Barron]

Slo, it is a good idea to have the 'Camera gear' info available see that we can just click it and see what you generally use, that was what i meant rather than specifically the EXIF details for this shot.

Check out your CP to see how to add this info.

Cheers,
Rob

ps will look again at pic later but am at work so must go

[slocookn]

Here is the link to the uncompressed image!

Picasa Web Albums - steve - email

[Geoff Semmens]

Well done on the captured moment. How was your camera's metering set up. It seems strange that the mum's jacket is so blown. What if you did a subtle overpaint / fill to remove the distraction.

Geoff TWO

[slocookn]

Metering was "matrix"...midday sun and blue bird sky. White sleeve on her jacket...