Child on Carousel

This is a tough one because the carousel was in motion....rather fast, also. Focusing required a fast hand and, of course, there was no chance to direct the model. Still, the lighting captivated me. On this first one, the rim lighting on the child's face was the draw. I went B&W and upped the contrast to enhance that effect.

(f/5.6, iso 400, 1/400 shutter speed, and 79 mm focal length)





My question is can I crop it closer to the child's face? I hesitate to remove the context, but would like to make the face and rim lighting more the major focal point.

On the next two shots, I'm wondering whether the B&W or the color is better. (Same exif as above.)

I still do not have the crisp quality that most portraits here have. Struggling with that, and wondering if it's my camera settings or that I was not on tripod. (Just a note so that all know I'm aware of that issue.)

Still, I find the composition and the child's expressions compelling.

I for one really enjoy the first image just as it is. As stated, the lighting on the face is very nice. It's actually the lighting on the pole that leads my eye right to the face. I like that. It also makes me ask myself questions about this little guy. Who is he? What is he looking at or thinking about? Why is he wearing a sport coat? So this image for me has succeeded and made me think.
James

The short curly crop does render her gender-free, and that's one reason I like the shot. It represents to me "EveryChild." I've posted several different photos of her on OPF and am astonished by how the perception of her changes with the setting and her mood. She is also found here and here

(Apologies for the missing photos. I reorganized photobucket and am just now discovering all that's missing. Now anything on OPF is in a special OPF folder so it won't happen again.)

I see what you mean about the pole pulling the eye to her face.

Oooops. My bad. Just goes to show how ingrained certain things are in our brains sometimes. Or mine anyway. Regardless...I still like the photo.

James, it's not a problem. I like the gender-neutral aspect.

Rachel

the first shot for me is the winner

it has such a far away feel to it-just like a child dreaming his dreams while riding on a dream-
the black and white is striking and haunting-"the child in all of us"
good solid capture imho-

Charlotte

I love your top shot. The only suggestion I have would be to straighten the image so that the two poles are perfectly vertical.

Thanks, Charlotte.

Peter, that's a good catch. I'll see what I can do. Thanks!

Hi Rachel,

The first image for me. Just straighten the pic.

Re: sharpness in such a situation..you have a few options:

1. panning..along with the subject. this shall blur the bg with a sense of movement. for me
a few shots are necessary to get it right. continuous focus capability helps.

2. you could prefocus at a pre-determined point. high ss and fire off afew shots. keep a good dof.

3. on a tripod..motion across the camera is relatively fast. facing the subject coming towards you
at a slow ss and a few shots fired with deep dof could also do the trick.

i am no expert but these have worked for me at various times but not always.

Regards.

Thanks, Fahim. I've been working to master panning. I'm making progress slowly but surely. I've been shooting birds in flight to help with the fast focus issue, too.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Eyes

Something I have learned is to watch the eyes when I am framing. A good crisp eye is everything. Eyes are the windows of the soul.

I think the reason you are not getting superbly crisp photos might be camera shake. An IS lends can add some sharpness, but you may want to experiment with a monopod for less shake.

Hi Rachel

I prefer the first pciture. Although the child is looking away, lost in her own worl, we are observers. In the second, the closeness and immediacy of the framing leave me wanting a connection with her - but her eyes looking out of the frame are a bit discomforting. That may of course be what you wanted

In the second though, I do prefer the black and white treatment, but would be inclined to give a bit more contrast to the image.

In the first, I wouldn't straighten the poles - there not parallel in any case so you can only have one straight - but would probably localy sharpen around her eyes and lift the light tones in that area. Then maybe push the contrast very slightly elsewhere in the image.

Mike

Thank you Kathy and Mike....the feedback is very helpful.

Personnally, i prefer the second shot (colour version) because we can see the nice and happy face of this wonderfull kid. First one is very good but his face is almost hidden.

I would also have liked more of her face. I'm going back to the site today and going to try for another (better) carousel shot.

The sun did not cooperate today. The best I could get was this shot....



The contrast is off (parts of her face are burned, the eyes are in shadow), and the cropping had to be severe (on the right was a person, and over her left shoulder was a portapotty). No brass ring for this merry-go-round shot!

Rachel Foster said:

I still do not have the crisp quality that most portraits here have. Struggling with that, and wondering if it's my camera settings or that I was not on tripod. (Just a note so that all know I'm aware of that issue.)

Still, I find the composition and the child's expressions compelling.

Click to expand...

I think part of the problem is the settings you are using. The f/stop and the focal distance will play a part in the sharpness. An f/stop of f/5.6 is not in the "sweet spot" of most lenses. The "most crisp" settings for a lens are generally at somwhere around f/11 and the lens should be near the middle of its focal length. Certainly a tripod helps, but it's difficult to use a tripod on action shots.

On the second picture, I can see from the EXIF data that you're using ISO 400 with a shutter speed of 400, a focal length of 79mm, and an f/stop of f/5.6.

We all think that we need to use 1/400 to catch action shots but mostly this isn't true; 1/250 or even 1/180 may be fast enough to stop the carousel mouvement. If you can lower the shutter speed you can stop the lens down; I would say you need to be at f/8 or greater. The ISO 400 will alos add to the possibility of soft pictures. So the best thing to try is to see if you can get some shots at f/8 - f/11, with an ISO of no more than 200. The only way to do this without getting more light on the subject would be to lower the shutter speed.

If you have someone to help you when taking your pictures you could even consider using a "bounce" card and move a little more into the shade but bounce the light back up at her as she comes around. (I've been watching those pro videos on portraits :lol:

That's worth a try! Thank you...I've tried faster shutter speeds (requiring a larger aperture and the higher ISO).