Your impression

Technically, I don't feel that this is a great photo (camera movement issues), but emotionally, I like it. I'm curious to hear what others' reactions are to this shot (I took it). Does the lack of sharpness in the face kill it for you? Does the PP kill it? Or does it overall work for you? Just looking for some opinions of how it hits other folks....

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I like it. Normally I like to get down to a younger person's level to bring out their place in the world a little better; but I think you needed this vantage point to show her amongst the gazillion drums and cymbals. Good composition, good light. Yes it looks soft, but it doesn't really affect the impact, for me at least.

Thanks for your thoughts Christopher. I actually stood on something about 18" tall to get that perspective for the reason you point out. I made sure that I had some shots on her level too...


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If it were my shot I would be disappointed. You stripped the exif data. So we can't give you advice on camera settings. I would have another go of it with a higher ISO and wider aperture. Perhaps a bounce flash off the ceiling?

joedlh wrote in post #14584746
If it were my shot I would be disappointed. You stripped the exif data. So we can't give you advice on camera settings. I would have another go of it with a higher ISO and wider aperture. Perhaps a bounce flash off the ceiling?

I know what to do to take the technically "correct" picture - I just wasn't good enough to do it. This one turned out a bit blurry and I still liked it. I was just curious to see how it struck others, despite the technical flaws... FWIW, this was at 1/500, f/1.4, ISO 1600. If I were a fast lamp post (read: a better photographer while moving quickly to grab a shotops, this would have not been blurry. I saw her turn and I raised the camera quickly to capture her turned to the side. The moment was over almost as soon as the exposure was made. Probably should have held the shutter release down for a burst of frames given my haste to get this shot. Still getting used to a camera with a half-ways decent burst rate (6 fps). It may be slightly out of focus as well - which would make sense given the time I had to get the frame.

For what they are I like them. The girl is adorable and dressed properly, but I can tell she is not a drummer... she does not have that intense look in her eye that would make her natural in front of this instrument. She has the look on her face like when I hand my girlfriend a loaded gun..."what do I do again?" I think your intentions were very correct with her as a person and what she is wearing... the subject etc... but in my honest opinion she seems too forced to look "natural" where all aspects of these images tell us the opposite.

Ha - definitely not a drummer! No modeling/forcing/posin​g/dressing/etc here. A friend of mine simply brought his 5 y. o. granddaughter over to my place because he wanted her to see my drums - he likes to expose her to new things like this. I simply was taking some candids of her while she was here (grandpa had no clue that I might take some pictures) so that her parents and grandparents would have some pictures of the fun that she had...

No worries, always great to expose a kid to a new tool and let her try it out...but in this rare occurrence I just feel like these are not the image of such learning. She looks intrigued yes, but not so intense as I would expect in such a scenario. It could even be the S.S. that makes me think so. We dont see any force in her drum-hits.

S.S. is?

Shutter Speed.