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This is my daughter and niece playing a form of hide and seek and are tentatively going through the gate in case the boys are waiting in ambush.
Taken in the gardens leading up to the apprentice house at Quarry Bank Mill. Lens used wide open to achieve shallow depth of field.
All thoughts on the shot welome.
Phil
| Brand: | Nikon CORPORATION |
| Camera: | Nikon D90  Check out Nikon Nation! |
| Lens: | Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D  Check out Nikon Nation! |
| Recording media: | RAW (digital) |
| Date Taken: | 29 May 2011 - 11:52 AM |
| Focal Length: | 50mm |
| Lens Max Aperture: | f/1.7 |
| Aperture: | f/1.8 |
| Shutter Speed: | 1/1250sec |
| Exposure Comp: | 0.0 |
| ISO: | 320 |
| Exposure Mode: | Aperture-priority AE |
| Metering Mode: | Multi-segment |
| Flash: | No Flash |
| Title: | Through The Gate |
| Username: | 
Philo |
| Uploaded: | 16 Jun 2011 - 3:06 PM |
| Tags: | National trust, Portraits / people, Quarry bank mill |
| VS Mode Rating |
Unrated 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
If you'd shouted BOO! just before you took this, they'd have jumped out of their skins and there's no telling what kind of shot you would have got!
As it is, I rather like it.
A tad more contrast perhaps. Maybe a slight "S" curve and that orange jacket could do with turning down a bit but as a capture of two happy, healthy children doing just what they should be doing, it's hard to beat.
Bren.
They do look nervous Phil, don't they? It is a splendid candid shot and one to be treasured 
I've done a mod cutting out what I considered, rightly or wrongly, to be superfluous, to concentrate on the girls. Their body language says that they are expecting something to happen and will be almost disappointed if it doesn't. So I felt that focusing entirely upon the girls and the gate would draw the viewer into the scene. I've lifted the contrast slightly with curves, which as Bren suggested, works nicely.
See what you think.
Jack
Thanks again guys for the feedback.
Your suggestion could have worked really well Bren, wish I'd thought about it at the time. I did apply a s curve, but perhaps not enough, as this crops up often with critique on my shots.
Thanks for the mod Jack, I do like the idea of isolating the kids but I feel the crop is just a bit too tight.
Cheers,
Phil
Quote: I did apply a s curve, but perhaps not enough, as this crops up often with critique on my shots.
Hi Phil,
Now that you mention it, there does seem to be a slight 'flatness' to some of your shots.
It could well be though, that there's a slight loss of quality somehow during your upload rather than something you're doing wrong in the first place.
I always have trouble when I upload a mod. to here. They very often look quite different to the version I've saved and then sent. So much so, that I often deliberately overdo the alteration or whatever I'm doing to compensate. Which sounds just like what you might have needed to do here.
Perhaps you could upload two (or more shots). One that looks right to you and another, deliberately, slightly overcooked version and see how they fare?
Just a thought.
Bren.
This is a really nice shot Phil.
I dont see a lot to complain about re flatness, - though it does benefit a little with the blacks being a tad blacker. What I do notice is thats is a little cool/blue looking, - contrary to many of you other shots which can be warm.
I love the whole scene, the hint of secrecy and excitement so the timing is terrific.
the eye is certainly drawn to the person top right even though theres a lovely soft fall off, - and largely because he/she is wearing red, which had that quality if attracting the eye immediately. I tried canging the colour of the kacket, but it looked better to me with them both cloned out, and a slight crop.
Thats all Ive done, - colour cast, clone and crop. I assume you know about removing colour casts, - you can Google, - I know you dont use PS so you might have to dig a little.
Its actually better to perform a threshold and curve adjustment if you use PS, rather than simply apply ab S curve, - which can be quite arbitrary in how it affects the image, - and Im sure theres a way to this this in yur software.
Hope this is helpful,
regards
Willie
It's not flat, just deeper colours due to diffused lighting. A very nice candid. You need to do something about the orange jacket and white shopping bag - top right. They are the strongest colours, even quite soft. Cloning could be a chore, so select and with desaturate or change the colour.
Paul
Thanks for the mod Willie, as always you have done a fine job. I do use PS but it is Elements 7 rather than CS so I can readily change wb. I will revisit the RAW file and see whether I adjusted it or not. It could be the change to Nikon that's making the difference as you once advised me that the olympus did tend to favour red.
To the best of my knowledge the threshold and curves adjustment isn't available in elements (I did try a tutorial you once sent me).
Phil
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