Newbie and my first image

[embi]

My nephew visited today and we went to a local playground to try and wear him out

This is my favourite shot from today's outing.



I'd like to hear what you think about this one.

Shooting data
Nikon D70
Lens 18-70mm F/3.5-4.5 G
Focal Length 70mm
1/100 sec
f/5

[Catcha]

Nice effect face is clear but the background and the hand is out of focus,,very unique.....

[PiroStitch]

I like the composition. Having the hands and background out of focus is good as it makes you concentrate on his face, especially the eyes. Great work, keep them coming

[ozczecho]

Like Piro, I like the fact that the hand and background is outta focus, but am not sure about chopping his head off.

I suppose it makes you really focus on his eyes and smile...

[KerryPierce]

Looks good to me, Embi. Good, sharp focus on the eyes. Seems like it might have a slight yellow cast to the photo.

[Manta]

I like it too Embi. I'm not put off by the chopped off head. (Now there's a sentence you don't hear that often these days )
I'm really quite drawn in by the muted colouring. It's almost sepia.
Well done and keep posting.

[Frankenstein]

Embi, I agree with Manta. I like the overall brown/flesh/tan colour scheme, and I think the "chopped off head" actually improves the shot, because the emphasis of the shot is the subject's eyes, and the viewer is instantly drawn to them. Together with the wonderfully innocent (??) expression, this makes for a great shot. Well done.

Frank

[kipper]

I didn't really notice the head was chopped off as I believe the photo is showing his eyes and smile.

[gstark]

Hmmm ...

Chopped off head .... chains ....

This could be a really disturbing image.

Great capture, and good use of DoF to isolate the subject.

[embi]

Thanks to everyone for the comments on my first posted image.

Now that I reflect on the "chopped off head", and my fiancee also just mentioned it, it's something I do a lot.

It is intentional and this image hasn't been cropped in anyway except to bring it down to a 3.5" x 2.5" "proof" size.

I think its just a style I have developed as I also tend to shoot portraits in a landscape format. If it had been shot landscape his eyes would probably be in the center of the image or I would have lost the framing of the chain and hand and I feel it would lack that punchy left eye.

I also like to tightly crop (in camera) my portraits to get right into the subjects "space", I guess is the best way to say it.

I try to keep outside distactions to a minimum and the pine bark of the playground was an excellent background.

Keep the comments coming and I will try some new portraits without chopping off the head

Gstark: Next time he plays up I might just use your ideas!

[Killakoala]

Great use of depth of field and a nice tight crop forces the viewer to focus on the subject more closely. Great work. I can even see the photographer reflected in the boys eyes

Nice work and welcome to the forum.

[sirhc55]

Embi - firstly, very nice capture.

Secondly, there is no convention that says that you must absolutely include all of the head in a shot such as this. As others have said the differential DOF, plus more importantly the subject matter negates any such theories of including the whole head.

Now, on the other hand, there are many photographers (including me) that constantly take full length pics of people with the feet missing - that is a no no.

[the foto fanatic]

This is a charming image of a very photogenic subject. As others have noted, excellent focus and exposure.

I don't see the cropping here as a problem. You will often see photographs of celebrities in newspapers that are cropped this way. By the same token, it wouldn't do for all your portraits to look like this.

One of the last things I do before I squeeze my shutter button is to run my eye around the outside of the frame to check that:
- I haven't left out anything that I wanted to include
- I haven't included anything that would be better left out

A few seconds doing this really helps with composition.