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I am not sure this photo lends itself perhaps to being black and white as the original aim was to capture the fun of painting but my aim with the conversion was to see what it would come out like and to pull out the brightness and sharpness in the eye.
I'll upload the colour version as well so you can see the comparison.
| Brand: | Canon |
| Camera: | Canon EOS 500D |
| Lens: | EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 |
| Recording media: | RAW (digital) |
| Focal Length: | 28mm |
| Lens Max Aperture: | f/4.2 |
| Aperture: | f/4.0 |
| Shutter Speed: | 1/25sec |
| Exposure Comp: | 0.0 |
| ISO: | 800 |
| Exposure Mode: | Aperture-priority AE |
| Metering Mode: | Center-weighted average |
| Flash: | On, Fired |
| White Balance: | Daylight |
| Title: | Having fun |
| Username: | 
zigga |
| Uploaded: | 29 Oct 2012 - 7:55 AM |
| Tags: | Black & white, Paints, Playing |
| VS Mode Rating |
100 (45.45% won) These stats show the percentage of wins and the rating score that your photo has achieved. You can go to the VS Mode by clicking on this icon. Signup to e2Signup to e2 to see which photo this has won or lost against in the vs mode |
| Votes: | Voting Disabled |
 | Critique Wanted |
| Modifications Welcome (Upload a Modification) |
Comments
Good infant action shot with great focus on the eye. I look forward to seeing the colour version for comparison. Is there room for a colour popped version too?
The conversion is fine, but the hand covering the eye spoils it for me. I also find the flash quite hard, so underexposing slightly on the flash compensation would soften the image a little - you have a little blur because of the ambient exposure being close to the flash one, so you've got sharp and blurred mixed. Just a hint, if using mixed light sources like this, better to use second curtain flash sync so the blur happens before the sharp, rather than after. That way, it suggests natural movement better.
I think the whole premise of painting fun is the colour, and the fact that the child is covered in it, so converting to black and white robs the image of a lot of information. I'm not sure a selective colour version would necessarily work...what would you choose to leave coloured, child or paint?
Nick
An image the parents will love.
Im with Nick on the blocked eye, - cant get past that. The connection with the image to the act of painting is lost in mono, - so perhaps you can upload the colour version as your own mod so we can see what you started with.
In AE mode, the Canon will reduce the flash power automatically to act only as a low power fill, - but you can still reduce it further. Very good suggestion from Nick re the second curtain flash. The control for this is in the Control Function menu, so you may not have seen it.
regards
Willie
I've loaded the original colour version of this image.
Thanks for the feedback as always and take into account all the comments. My thoughts around the eye were only that it was unusual to only the one eye in the shot and the fact he was waving the glue stick around made it somewhat different but totally appreciate what you are saying about it.
I hadn't even thought about 2nd curtain, although I have read a little about it I've never really known how and when to use it so I will study that a little bit more - thanks for the suggestion. 
I, too,would like both eyes in there. Possibly a slightly tighter crop too. You obviously wanted to use ambient with the flash and I think that works. The second curtain comment is interesting, but in a shot like this, it will depend which way the hand is moving.
Paul
like it a lot and with one eye ,would not have the same impact with two for me
Looking at the original, I prefer the colour version. It needs lightening which will help bring out the colours, and you could slightly desaturate the background, but I love the random colour splashes all over him. It conveys the fun more than the black and white version.
I agree the curtain sync isn't so important in this shot, but most shots with movement look better if the sharp image is at the end of the movement blur rather thn the start.
Nick
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