Which one is better for a photo contest?

[mai_lin]

I'm trying to narrow down my submission photos for the photo contest I'm in for my local camera club and one of the categories is 'people' - so of course I had to submit photos of one of my darlings, so I took some shots of my newborn daughter, Daria, on her tummy on my couch.

I can crop and photoshop the pics but prefer not to do anything too major or time consuming.

Which one do you think is more 'contest worthy'? And what can I do to make it even better?

I love #1 but the light coming off the creases of the couch cushion are distracting in the background.

1.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3232/2931423583_28761109d4.jpg?v=0

2.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3289/2931423553_fb8444a743.jpg?v=0

Thanks for any help!


Jen D.

[Bluemist]

Personally for a comp I would go for number 2- its closer than the first- and the eye is on the subject. The background is too much and too distracting in number1. Having said that (yep I am full of contradictions! LOL) in the second one I find the foreground of what she is lying on distracting and annoying and her eye is squashed and in shadow (yes I know she is lying and it couldn't have been avoided in all likelihood)...iykwim. I would of taken the second one from a slightly different angle so that the foreground was even /equal...instead of a slope...if that makes sense...probably not...LOL.

Also I am not sure what aperture you used....but as her hair etc is soft I probably would of used a higher F stop...for sharpness of the subject.

[mai_lin]

Thanks - I agree with all of what you said. I tried to get the shots head on when doing them from more of an upward angle might have been better. I found a good compromise in cloning out the light flares in the top of the first picture and increasing the contrast a little bit. I just couldn't pass up the expression in the first shot - seems like you can get a sleeping baby picture at any time kwim?

Thanks again! :)


Jen D.

[collins73]

I agree, I say #2

[Dchemist]

#2 for sure! Nice shot.

[Trauma]

# 2 definately, more of your subject and less of the background. Good shot.

[mullkv]

#2 for me. A much better crop in my opionion. Good shots.

[S.Horton]

#2, but consider color correction on it plus a touch of image/adjustments/shadow-highlight top slider ~5-10