I really like this photo, not because it is great in any absolute sense, but because it really strikes an emotional note with me. it is my 7 year old. Something about your child out on the unknown path of life by themselves. Sappy, I know, but what can I say?

Anyway, looking for some C&C as to how to crop or process to improve. Feel free to take a pass at it if you are so inclined. I played around with a bunch of stuff in LR, but nothing really spoke to me. Only processing on these is auto-tone, which mostly bumped the contrast.

First is original, then three basic crops.



wanted to minimize the blown sky


wanted to make it more from her perspective looking at the path


minimized the bright foreground


Thanks!

Here's a simple cleaning of the first image via Lightroom, to my tastes. =)

I have never commented on a photo before but this one really struck a chord. I like the original best, the emptier foreground sums up lifes journey, and the brightness signifies hope.

Beautiful photo, thanks!!

I prefer the first crop - I think it retains the feeling you were describing while putting more focus on your daughter and removing the blown sky.

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Here is how I'd like this photograph to be cropped.

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I prefer the first image.

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Critiquing my images are welcomed and appreciated.

I agree... I've come back and looked at this thread a couple times over the course of the morning and my first impression remains. I'd probably stick with the original and do what you can to recover the highlights a little (without turning them to grey mush). The light is part of what makes the image interesting for me, so I'd be disinclined to crop it out.

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“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” -- Dorothea Lange

For the heck of it, I grabbed the first copy and put it in LR. Of course it's a small res JPG so I couldn't go too crazy with the adjustments, but I did pull down highlights, bump contrast and clarity, and added a little vignette to further bring in the sky naturally. I ended up with the below as my take on it.

Funny thing is, going back and looking at it I still kind of like the softer lighter feel on the original anyway. Just thought I'd share as a point of interest in different interpretation of the same image.

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“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.” -- Dorothea Lange

The original is the best also IMO.

It reminds the viewer that she is a small girl in a big wide open world taking her journey through life.

My suggestion - leave the photo alone. Even with the blown out sky it looks beautiful. Not every picture needs to be 100% 'correct' for it to be 'correct'. If that makes any sense.

Spend more time taking photos & enjoying your daughter instead of post processing. But thats just me. Shrug

The road and the daughter are the primary subjects and none of the crops or tweaks really changed that so all the options presented really looked essentially the same to my eye.

I think the coloration could even be monochrome and most the the impact ofthe image would remain unchanged.

The road the daughter and the perspective are so strong that everything else becomes almost superfluous.

Of course, I don't know much about photography but I have taken a bunch of photos of my kids.

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