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I snapped this with my D60 and Sigma 180mm f/3.5 macro yesterday whilst waiting for my friend in the park before heading off to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition.

There are a couple of things to like about this image.

Firstly, the camera position is low, providing an interesting angle of view.
Secondly, there is some rim lighting on the subject, and that gives her some definition.
Thirdly, the background directly behind her is a nice contrast.

However, the large post on the left of the image detracts from all of this because it is bright and it is not totally OOF. Would you consider cropping the photo at the right edge of that post with the bottom along the border of the garden below her feet?

Like this:


I reckon that might make for a better image - you'd lose the distraction and some of the dead foreground, but still should have a nice line leading to the subject.

Nice candid shot, anyway.

While I mostly agree with our resident FotoFanatic I do think the large pole balances out what would otherwise be a whop-sided rule-of-thirds image. The pole makes it more rule-of-two-thirds, which I think is more appealing. The pole is sufficiently out of focus to draw attention to the girl and not to itself. Besides, the human element is always more interesting than a boring pole in an image which contains both and my eye is drawn to her, rather than the pole. Maybe that's because I am more drawn to the female form rather than phallic symbolism.

Besides all that, I think it's an excellent documentary.

following on from fotofanatic and killakoala, how about a pano crop, the only thing I find draws my eye away is the OOF area in the foreground..maybe removing that and some from the top might be another option.

If ya had taken that 15 years ago, (besides the fact you were but a wee tacker) it would have been a young girl with a book instead...how times have changed, noone reads books in parks anymore...

I am more drawn to the female form rather than phallic symbolism.

well, thats lucky eh.. i was getting worried about you there steve.

I like it just as it is.

A very simple image, simply well done.

I vote for leaving it as is - the pole etc adds context to the setting and makes it a far more interesting image - why is she using a lappy there?

I like everything about it. Great catch. I believe the foreground and the pole give it nice depth that would be lost if cropped.

thanks for all the comments!!!

Trevor - I had a look at the original suggestion for a crop whilst at work, and did not like losing the feet, however this 2nd crop has nice potential...but leaves the image a bit empty in some ways. Totally agree about the distracting nature of that post though, now that you point it out it does compete a bit, damn luminance!

Gerry - Pano crop....I'll have a play with it. I was actually considering a slightly different crop...3:2 but losing most of the LHS up until the LHS of the post then trimming top and bottom...not sure...but i will have a play.