Contentment by the Beach

[Stinky]

C & C welcome. Little PP but still learning. I think the horizon right through the middle might be a distraction. Thanks

[rpcrowe]

This image made me smile... However, I kind of like it a tiny bit better if the cropping is closer all around...

[Donald]

Steve

I think you're fine with the horizon. In fact I think you've done it well. You have three nice layers in there:

• the beach up to the water line
• the water
• the sky

and they are nicely proportioned.

And you have avoided the great blunders of:

• putting a key line; e.g. horizon, right in the middle of the frame
• having the horizon line cut through the middle of the childrens heads

So, well done. I think it's a well constructed image.

I note Richard's comment and it would be interesting to experiment and see what the difefernt effects are. But I like the sense of openness and 'airiness' that surrounds the children.

And one other suggestion to note for the future. When both capturing the image and in post-processing always check (and then check again) all around the image, particularly round the edges. Keep looking at what's in all of the frame. Just about a half-inch (10-12mm) up from the bottom left-hand corner, there's a bit of something (seaweed?) creeping into the image. I find that very distracting because it feels as it's an accident that it's there, that we forget to exclude it either in our composition or by cloning it out.

Now, of course, you may consider it an essential part of the composition. But I don't think so.

Not only is this, in my opinion, a very finely made image, but it is an absolutely magnificent picture of 3 young people lost in the innocence of childhood. If you ever see a competition called 'Childhood', enter it.

I suspect that is an image they will look back on with great fondness in, say, 30, 40, 50, 60 years time.

[MiniChris]

I found it to be a tad flat and was curious as to the file save method as it also seemed a bit pixelated. Not sure how you saved it, but it is quite pixelated even at a 240dpi size an an image size of 1.3 x 3.2"

I did a quick CS5 rework to add a little depth.

[Stinky]

All thanks for the great C & C. Donald, I agree I need to check around more before final edit. I did see that thing in the lower left corner after posting. Attached is a closer crop. I think I like both as the closer crop highlights the children while the open crop give a sense of the ocean and beach. Chris. I like your image. I thought I had spiced mine up alot but apprently not. Again thanks for the great comments.

[FrankMi]

Make me smile, Steve, to think back to those 'good ole days of summer'! Thanks for sharing!

[speedneeder]

Steve,
I do like the tighter crop. This image is wonderful. Do not change it any more!

[jiro]

Hello, Steve. If you may accept some suggestion, it wouldn't hurt if you introduce some more extra negative space on the sky to induce subject contrast. The little kids at the bottom in contrast with the expanse of the sky at the top. I am not so sure if you abruptly cut or edited the horizon as it looks very straight to me but it does look fine. Your skin tone is also very good. I think you can still add some contrast adjustment on the image to make it "pop" a little more. If you may, here's a simple adjustment on your image:

[Clactonian]

Much prefer the original with the crop.
Your edit looks decidedly overcooked on my screen Chris.

[MiniChris]

Much prefer the original with the crop.
Your edit looks decidedly overcooked on my screen Chris.

Mine definitely is overcooked...it was a quick and dirty to point out how much was missing in the overall coloration, especially in the water and the image as a whole.

[epmi314]

Steve,

The tight crop and Willie's edit are both keepers in my opinion. Either way the documentation of this moment is priceless.

[speedneeder]

Jiro, I do like your version, and if it was just a picture of some kids at a beach I would prefer it. But as a picture of MY kids at the beach, the tighter crop would definitely be my preference. I have never thought of the 'target audience' of photos in this way before, so I am glad you posted your take on it!

[jiro]

From the book that I am reading, every image has to tell a story as it was said on the book about composition. I merely introduced the concept of size to solidify the idea of the kids in their early stage of life in contrast to the big space of the whole frame. Composition always reflects personal taste. It will always depend on what you want to emphasize and what you want to highlight for your viewers to see. For me, I decided to highlight that they are still small kids unmindful of the world around them and just enjoying their time playing in the sand. The calmness of the ocean and the monotonous color of the sky would also introduce the concept of safety as there are no ominous threat to the kids playing. Since you own the whole frame, you can really selectively add and deduct elements to it to strengthen your shot. I hope I did not offend anyone on the edit and on my explanation.

[speedneeder]

I don't know why you would think you offended anyone? If someone doesn't want your comments they should consider not posting their pictures on here

I DO LIKE YOUR TAKE ON THIS IMAGE JIRO!

[FrankMi]

Hi Willie, I look at your version of Steve's image and get a more relaxed feeling about the scene. It was not until I read the explanation that I understood WHY I get a subtlely different feeling even though the basic image hasn't changed.

Thank you for sharing! It helps me to better 'see and feel' the image before I snap the shutter.

[Stinky]

Once again thanks to all for the C&C. It is great to see what can be done and how other people visualize things. I do like Jiro's perspective and his explanation but also like the close cropped photo. To me Jiro's image kind of shows that you should take time to be a kid and not growup too fast in this world. I also like when people do change and edit the images on these forums as it shows me what can be done to improve my work.