Parasol: f/6.7, 1/250sec, ISO 100

[Shadowman]

[Mark von Kanel]

Nice Shot, not to keen on the busy background, maybe a crop or some sort of layered blur?

[Shadowman]

Nice Shot, not to keen on the busy background, maybe a crop or some sort of layered blur?

Mark, thanks for the comments and critique. I've tried applying a blur to the background but didn't like how it turned out, I'll give it another go.

[bnnrcn]

I think cropping works better than blurring the image John. The lady stands out more with a crop

[Manfred M]

John - I would try a square crop on this shot; and cut out all of the material up top that does not really add anything to this image. If you focus on the parasol, girl and bench, I expect you will get a more compelling composition.

[Shadowman]

Binnur and Manfred, Thanks for commenting and the suggestion of cropping. I'll give it a go and repost.

[Shadowman]

[truonda]

Try one more: Just the parasol, head and shoulders (no background). This is a very tight crop but I think it might look nice.

[Manfred M]

John, both work better for me than the original. I was also thinking along the lines of what Daniel is proposing, but am not sure if there is enough material there to get a good looking image with the tighter crop.

I always think of the Robert Capa quote "If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough." just before pressing the shutter release and try to bracket my crop (i.e. zoom in) and try different shots quite close in.

[Shadowman]

Try one more: Just the parasol, head and shoulders (no background). This is a very tight crop but I think it might look nice.

Thanks Daniel, I'll give it a shot.

[Shadowman]

John, both work better for me than the original. I was also thinking along the lines of what Daniel is proposing, but am not sure if there is enough material there to get a good looking image with the tighter crop.

I always think of the Robert Capa quote "If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough." just before pressing the shutter release and try to bracket my crop (i.e. zoom in) and try different shots quite close in.

Manfred, thanks for the comments. This was one of about four that I took, I was waiting for her to turn around to capture this, below her but between me was a rock ledge so no chance to actually capture her feet. This was backlit which also created more of a challenge.

[Shadowman]

[truonda]

I was thinking something more like this:

[Shadowman]

I was thinking something more like this:

Very nice.

[bnnrcn]

Hi John , sorry for being a bit late I like your second crop (with less bench) and Daniel's crop. If I had to choose I would prefer Daniel's crop because the woman stands out better , leaving some space on the left really works for the image and parasol makes a good BG. And the lady looks very attractive

[Shadowman]

Hi John , sorry for being a bit late I like your second crop (with less bench) and Daniel's crop. If I had to choose I would prefer Daniel's crop because the woman stands out better , leaving some space on the left really works for the image and parasol makes a good BG. And the lady looks very attractive

Hi Binnur, never too late. Thanks for the comments and critique.

[Manfred M]

Now that we are getting very close the the subject, all kinds of other issues creep in:

1. The umbrella is acting as a diffuser and the skin exposure is all wrong;

2. Need to increase contrast, lighten the back-lit subject and tone down the orange colour cast.

I don't particularly like Daniel's crop. Way too much parasol on the left that is not contributing to the image

Running out of pixels to work with too..

[flashback]

John, now just take the final step and convert it to B&W.

[Manfred M]

John, now just take the final step and convert it to B&W.

You could, but it stands alone quite well as a colour image. I did play around with a conversion when I was working in post, but I think it works better in colour. Frankly, I find most images do.

[Shadowman]

Jack, thanks for the suggestion. I used one of the crops I did, I cleaned up the reflected light from the forehead.