Uncle/Nephew Ride

[klpurkett]

My four year old son had his first chance to go for a ride with his uncle (a very serious cyclist) this afternoon. Because I wanted the best possible chance at a clear shot (being new to this whole DSLR camera thing), I set my Nikon D3100 on the "sport" preset, burst mode, laid down on the driveway and shot away. This is my first edited version using Photoshop Elements. I'm a beginner, so I KNOW I have a ton to learn about post processing! Any suggestions on making the image "pop" more without making it look fake? I adjusted the white balance, applied a little sharpening, darkened the highlights a bit, brightened the shadows a tad, and cropped...

It was a partly cloudy, windy day, so the light was constantly fluctuating. Anyway, here is the original file, in case anyone is interested in seeing what I was starting with. Details: ISO 400, 1/2000, F7.1, 100mm, dynamic area AF, Focus mode AF-A. All CC is very much appreciated! Thanks!
Kristy

[Barbara Ponder]

Kristy, I have no advice to offer on PP as I am also in the learning phase. There are plenty of wonderful and very experienced people here that are very generous with their time and expertise.

Your little one is adorable!

[IzzieK]

First of all, I am not either a professional...nor an expert. Sorry. But the original I like for it's composition. The edit which is the first one is excellent. I like the expression on your brother's face...and your son is equally handsome. That these two are related is beyond question...they have a certain "family" familiarity, just like any other family...I suppose...the lighting and the separation to the background is OK and doing the zoom in the edit is good.

Now let us hear from the experts...

[Cananeer]

Kristy - nice shot and there is a lot you can do with this pic.
Here's a 1min run in Elements 11 in just the quick mode. Lots of vids on good old YouTube for getting to know your way around Pshop Elements.
Good point there Izzie - I guess I should point out that I are no where near an expert

[GBO25]

What makes this shot for me is the facial expressions, they're fabulous.

[Shadowman]

The uncle's action is the "pop", the child's red is an added element, however he only serves as an emotional element; but it works well.

[selig1656]

Two stories in one , the uncles action is well captured , with god detail on the facial expression and then the child's watching as with amazement. The colors are stark in their differences on the two subjects , but yet adds to the pic . Not sure but in pic #1 there is something unsettling in the tress . Only my opinion.

[klpurkett]

Thanks so much for the feedback everyone! Yes, my brother and son do look similar in a lot of ways, and they are both named Timothy. Looks like they both have a love for biking, too! They were totally goofing around here, which is my favorite thing about the shot. My son had never seen someone do a wheelie before; afterwards he said, "Wow! That was cool! He was in the sky!" Great. Now he has a new goal.
Roger, thanks for taking the time to work on this! It helps to see through another person's eyes. I'll be spending a lot of time in the "help" section, and will continue to look for good videos on PS. Thanks.

John, my main disappointment with the shot was that my son was not in focus. I think I would have needed a wider depth of field to get both of them in focus, right? Any ideas on how to focus on two subjects that are both moving?

Raymond, I wonder if the trees are just too bright? Do you think the image would be improved if I could figure or how to reduce the saturation in the trees?

Thanks again for your time, everyone!

[rpcrowe]

Great shot made even better with creative cropping.

You could select the trees using one of the Photoshop selection tools and then reduce the saturation.

Another way, would be to download a free trial copy of NIK Software and open the Viveza Module. Just place a copule of control points on the trees and use the saturation slider to reduce the saturation. I also reduced the structure slider with softens the trees a bit and increases the visual separation. After I played with the trees, I put a small control point over the uncle's face and increased the brightness and contrast just a bit. This is not shown but, it gives somewhat the same effect as using fill flash.



NIK is fun and easy to work with...

[JamesScott86]

Very nice find and shot.