Pic of my son ...I'm biased... critique welcome

OK the exposure good and it's sharp enough. But I'm sorry to say there are a few basic mistakes or one mistake three times. There's nothing wrong with your son but he's only part of the image you must think about the whole thing. First there is the door bolt against the side of his face which is very distracting so he nedded to stand one inch to the left to hide it. Second even if he had though you would still have had the crack in the panel coming out of his head so choosing a different panel would of been better. Third problem is the green post down the left hand side but that can easily be cropped out.
So you've got a great young model to work with but you must think of the whole image not just your son. And welcome to Talk Photography.
 
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Now you point it out.....it's sooooooo obvious. Thanks for the feedback, not to self...check background.

I was hoping the turqoise panel would give a bit of a pop but now reviewing it, it's distracting. From the main subject.

Thanks for the feedback
 
I like the idea, next time I will try that. I was limited for space as there as a canal behind my back foot so I was limited on how far I could step back but will try to remember this for the next photos.
 
The blue door looks stranger than someone at a funeral wearing white from head to toe, but apart from that it is excellent.
 
petersmart said:
I would also add to the other critiques is that it would have been better to move him well away from the door so that the main focus was on him and the door blurred into the background.
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Finding_Me_on_the_Road said:
I like the idea, next time I will try that. I was limited for space as there as a canal behind my back foot so I was limited on how far I could step back but will try to remember this for the next photos.
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Hi again Sam I'm not sure what camera and lens you used or your level of experience so apologies if I'm teaching granny to suck eggs. If your lens is fast enough, by that we mean you can open it very wide (low f number like 2.8 or less) that will give you a very shallow depth of field to help blur every thing except your subject (son) but it also means it's much more critical to get the eyes in focus and at the same time harder to do. It is generally a rule that the eyes should always be the point of focus. Although all rules can of course be broken when it suits you. Like the coloured post in the original image you left in deliberately so it wasn't a mistake it was a personnel artistic choice even if others disagree with it.
 
Hi Sam,

Depending on what processing software you are using you would enhance the image by removing the bolt next to your son's head and repairing the crack coming out of the top of his head. Once you've done that I think the image will be much better.

It's a nice shot of your son though :)
 
With the issues Big Andy described you can easily clone the crack and bolt out in PS. Based on my understanding of portraiture work, your second crop is considered a no-no as you've cut his hands off.
 
Thanks for all your feedback,

I am using a Canon Eos 200D with a 24mm f2.8 in this shot. It was shot at ISO1000 24mm f2.8 1/1000 - I was shooting in Av

My son was directly next to the door so I didn't get any background blur. My understanding is, if I bought him closer to the camera I should have achieved a blurred background, is that right?

I am slowly trying to learn photoshop to be able to do this kind of thing, will post if I ever manager to make a good image of it. My first few attempts have resulted in his face blurring slightly where I remove the bolt.
 
Finding_Me_on_the_Road said:
Thanks for all your feedback,

I am using a Canon Eos 200D with a 24mm f2.8 in this shot. It was shot at ISO1000 24mm f2.8 1/1000 - I was shooting in Av

My son was directly next to the door so I didn't get any background blur. My understanding is, if I bought him closer to the camera I should have achieved a blurred background, is that right?

I am slowly trying to learn photoshop to be able to do this kind of thing, will post if I ever manager to make a good image of it. My first few attempts have resulted in his face blurring slightly where I remove the bolt.
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That's a wide lens with lots of depth of field, so even at 2.8 you would struggle to get much really significant blur unless he were a long way in front of the door, in which case you might have problems with other stuff appearing in the edges of the frame too. Really you might have been better off with a longer lens, say 50mm and an f2 aperture and ALSO moving him away from the door a bit more. While is is possible to generate background blur in post, it's hard to make it look really convincing, and it's probably easier to do in camera.
 
Phil V said:
It's not - you don't.
It doesn't look convincing - there's no way of making it look convincing - except shooting it properly.
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I agree it's best to get it right in camera, but it only looks unconvincing to a photographer.
I'm sure his mum will like it.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
I agree it's best to get it right in camera, but it only looks unconvincing to a photographer.
I'm sure his mum will like it.
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I disagree - whilst a half decent photographer can tell you 'why' it doesn't look right - the man on the street can spot something that looks 'wrong', even if they can't articulate it - and his mum will like it? that's a fairly low bar.
 
Lez325 said:
A simple 5 mins in Photoshop- No substitute for getting it right in Camera though.

Is this the sort of shot you were looking to get?

fjsQvPM.jpg


Les :)
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It's better without the bolt at the head and the crack removed, but it looks odd with the blurry background now. I'd have left the door in focus.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
It's better without the bolt at the head and the crack removed, but it looks odd with the blurry background now. I'd have left the door in focus.
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I agree with this. Looks much better with the crop and other things removed but the blur is unnatural. Give it the littlest of softness in the back ground and that should work because adding in blur in Photoshop just never works naturally. Then in future make sure you think about what aperture you're using if you want the background to be blurred. It's a lot of things to think about when you're photographing and I still to this day do similar things sometimes but it does become second-nature almost; like driving a car or something. As long as you're enjoying yourself and happy with your photos then don't worry about anything else :)
 
Phil V said:
So you agree with me:thinking:
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Yeah, lol.
Apart from the mum bit.
I was trying to be nice to a new member and not scare him off.
Didn't realise how bad the background was as I'd looked at it on my phone initially.
 
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