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Here's a few from Christmas day. Please, please give constructive criticism; I am totally new to serious photography.



#1: I think there's too much going on in the background here (i.e. top RH quadrant), but cropping the top right off would've looked odd. I suppose ideally I would've used depth of field to blur the stuff through the doorway .. agree / disagree?




#2: I quite like this one. Maybe I should crop a wee bit off the right so the window slats go all the way across?




#3: This was a very quick snap, just grabbing the moment. I sliced a fair bit off the top of the photo. Looking at it now I'd consider cropping the left hand side as well, so that my son occupies the left half of the photo.

Other than cropping I haven't done much to these; straightened one, sharpened a couple.

Thoughts, anyone?

#1 does need a bit more blurr in the BG
#2 I just dont know what to do with it (the headless man really is a little distracting)
#3 go with a tight crop (remove a bit off both sides to get rid of the distracting background)

Great work, keep them coming!

I love candids, but the keeper rate tends to be lower than for posed photos. I keep taking them myself as every now and again one turns up that is just magic.

#1 I am a bit bothered by what's going on in this Mum is determined to kiss. Son just wants to keep doing what he's doing.
I am not bothered by the OOF B/G. It adds context. HOWEVER, I would be inclined to crop just below the cupboard doors. The Kitchen utensils still add the context, without dominating the picture. It would also get rid of the odd detail Upper LHS (A Lamp stand?)

#2 Like Cameron, I am bothered by the headless man. I would be tempted to crop much tighter. Make the boy's head, the controller and the car a tight diagonal. The beer glass then becomes an oncoming "danger" that he is oblivious to. It would then add to the shot, rather than detract as it does now.

#3 is good as is, but you could consider a tight crop as Cameron suggests, but while tight head shots are great, I don't think they work as candids as context is lost; they work better as character studies. You could crop either LHS, keeping the OOF Xmas tree for context, or RHS, keeping mum (Source of Lollies? also into lollies?) to give context.

Here's something that may help...take a look at your backgrounds in images #1 and #2. Imagine photographing just the backgrounds and I think you would agree that the images would be pretty bland. Sometimes it is impossible to control a distracting background because the subject is too close to it. Try finding areas of the house that have attractive or sympathetic backgrounds and move your subjects into them! This will help improve your images.

aim54x wrote:#1 does need a bit more blurr in the BG

Yeah, you're right, I think I've decided that having too much stuff in the BG that you can't control is the nemesis of candid shots .. hence my need for a 'fast fifty'.

Plus, I've been experimenting with 'semi-candid' shots against a planned background .. but not ready to post yet!

aim54x wrote:#2 I just dont know what to do with it (the headless man really is a little distracting)

You're right. Probably should've taken it portrait-wise and got his head in the shot, or moved him out of the shot, but didn't think of either of those at the time. Lesson(s) learned.

aim54x wrote:#3 go with a tight crop (remove a bit off both sides to get rid of the distracting background)

I'm a bit torn here. I kind of like the blurred wrapping paper on the right, as it gives some context to the shot. On the left, I like the way the sofa's line indicates the background (if that makes sense). But, that said, I am going to try some (more) cropping.

Mr Darcy wrote:I love candids, but the keeper rate tends to be lower than for posed photos. I keep taking them myself as every now and again one turns up that is just magic.

Agree about the 'keeper rate'; we had friends over the other day and I took about 90 shots; I've culled 30-35 so far and I think I'll end up with about 8-10--and that's with a substantial allowance for wanting a record of the event.

Mr Darcy wrote:#1 I am a bit bothered by what's going on in this Mum is determined to kiss. Son just wants to keep doing what he's doing. I am not bothered by the OOF B/G. It adds context. HOWEVER, I would be inclined to crop just below the cupboard doors. The Kitchen utensils still add the context, without dominating the picture. It would also get rid of the odd detail Upper LHS (A Lamp stand?)

The youngster does want to keep doing what he's doing, i.e. eating (look at the other photos I've posted, you'll notice a pattern!). Part of the charm is that he's a little interested in the kiss but moreso in the food, which is so typical of him! But there's no way anyone outside the family could know that, which is another factor for candid shots I suppose.

I will try that crop you suggest (tho' not tonight).

Mr Darcy wrote:#2 Like Cameron, I am bothered by the headless man. I would be tempted to crop much tighter. Make the boy's head, the controller and the car a tight diagonal. The beer glass then becomes an oncoming "danger" that he is oblivious to. It would then add to the shot, rather than detract as it does now.

This one I will try as well.

Mr Darcy wrote:#3 is good as is, but you could consider a tight crop as Cameron suggests, but while tight head shots are great, I don't think they work as candids as context is lost; they work better as character studies. You could crop either LHS, keeping the OOF Xmas tree for context, or RHS, keeping mum (Source of Lollies? also into lollies?) to give context.

Ditto. Watch this space.

Thanks to you both for your time and expertise. Onwards and upwards!