Someones not happy.... cc please.

Howitzer

My friends son got a little upset when his sister didnt want to play.. I had been shooting a 16-85 zoom all afternoon but light was getting low so I switched to a 50mm 1.8 just in time to capture some more emotion of the moment.

I think its one of the best portrait shots ive ever taken. But I am curious what you guys think.. always looking for some guidance from much more trained eyes.

ISO 200
F/1.8
50mm
1/200
flash used





the rest of the gallery is here:
http://3dogphotos.smugmug.com/gallery/8957753_FG8UV/1/595062154_9k6Hi

thanks
Chuck

Cantfeelmyfingers

I couldn't help but laugh. Super cute.

80weeks

Love it!

tortillatorture

yea ! the 1.8 produce a bit harsh blur but i think it works nicely,
i got a 1.4 (pentax) and it seems a bit smoother than this.
i really love the fast lens because of shots like you have here.
really cool shot, great capture of expression!

Scootersbabygirl

Awww! I love the look on his face! And his blue eyes are gorgeous!

rickabt

I love this shot!
.
If I had to nit pick I'd say his right eye looks a little soft (or at least softer than the left eye). Maybe some selective sharpening to the blue in PS would lessen this. (then again maybe not, or maybe you already did.) Maybe just slightly more depth of field when shooting would have been better....But hindsight is useless for shots like this....a fleeting moment...not staged...only a split second to get the shot! Great job!!

Howitzer

thank you all for the nice comments.

ivar

Nice shot, great expression!

As mentioned above, the eyes do look a tad soft, but that's the danger of shooting at 1.8. The DOF is razor-thin and it's easy to miss the correct focus (plus I don't know how sharp that lens is). I would try to shoot at at least 2.2 (or higher) on the 50/1.8, unless you can't for some reason. In this case, you also had your flash and higher iso available to allow you to use 2.2 or smaller.

I'm not really a big fan of the bokeh/background blur (as mentioned above, as well). It's not very smooth. It looks like that is just the lens though, not much you can do about it.

The difference in color between the left and right side background is interesting. At first I thought it was selective coloring, but it looks like the real background was just 'colored' that way

bdcolen

Lovely image.

Howitzer

After looking at the series of shots I think what I did was put the center of the focal point at the point where his hair and forehead meet above his left eye. I was standing he was sitting so shooting down on him might have caused my miss aim.

Ivar, yes the color of the back ground is real. left side is gravel right side is grass, he is sitting on a wall in between.

I am pretty sure its not the lens causing the softness, its my inability to use the lens the correct way.. but im working on it. . I had brought my camera that day to practice on portraits, which obviously I need more, but I already knew that .

Chuck

Howitzer

here is another I shot that day with my Nikkor 16-85 zoom at 85mm. f/5.6
he was kind of expressionless so I think the photo doesnt have the charm of the other one.. but its clear

thank you all for your feed back and comments.

Angelo

I think your first shot is, in a word, Fantastic!

while all the input you received is valid do keep in mind, some of the most famous photographs thoughout time have not been "technically" perfect.

Howitzer

Thank you Angelo

Miguel Delinquento

Hi Chuck,
The lighting on this shot is awesome and his expression you will remember for the rest of your life. Great rendition of his hair too. In fact, I'd like to see more of it--an improvement would have been to capture his whole head--the cutoff bothers me. I would have gladly swapped an inch of his head for an inch of his shirt.
Sweet shot regardless.

M

JulieLawsonPhotography

Great shot and that is some crazy DOF. So glad you were able to capture this moment before it was gone. Truly is a keeper.

rhondavid

I think Muguel must have been reading my mind when he posted. I too would have like to see the whole head in lieu of so much shirt. I would echo comments about the soft eyes. Other than that I think this is a really nice shot of capturing the mood of this precious little guy.

jonvan

bdcolen wrote:

Lovely image.

Great shot - i like the crop as well...actually I like the whole thing!

Cheers,
Jon

Spydawebb

I really like this shot. Great expression, but like the others said I wish both eyes were in focus. Still too good of a shot for it not to be a keeper.

WingsOfLovePhoto

He's got the "tude" face down to a science it seems! Great shot. Will work someday for a birthday invitation. Maybe like when he is 16 and they tell him he can't have a car!

Howitzer

hahah that's too funny.

thank you all for the nice comments.