People Critique ⇒ Hug

[Psjunkie]

Taken under duress..the Mama insisted, it was Mother’s Day so I obliged…I just couldn’t make myself like this image, maybe because I was against it in the first place, or the colors or the posing, not really sure, but finally converting it to b/w I was able to come to terms with it…..any thoughts on what might be wrong with me??? Bahaha...I actually am wondering if I did about all that could be done from the capture to turn it into a presentable image..

[minniev]

Taken under duress..the Mama insisted, it was Mother’s Day so I obliged…I just couldn’t make myself like this image, maybe because I was against it in the first place, or the colors or the posing, not really sure, but finally converting it to b/w I was able to come to terms with it…..any thoughts on what might be wrong with me??? Bahaha...I actually am wondering if I did about all that could be done from the capture to turn it into a presentable image..

I honestly think you've done the best you could have with the existing image. Black and white is definitely my preferred version. The kid's reluctance at being trapped into this is gonna show no matter what, but that is pretty much unavoidable at his age. All those bags of soccer field stuff on mom's back are distracting but much less so in monochrome. It looks near impossible to clone them out. The hazy atmospherics in the color version is unappealing but becomes an advantage in the conversion for separation of the subjects from the background. Good job removing the distracting guy in blue and the kids on mom's head. I like the way the conversion brings out the dirt on the kid's uniform. I might tinker a bit with the lighter tones on their faces to get the highlights a little less bright to see if that worked or not. But overall, you've done well with a difficult grab shot. As a soccer grandma, I understand your constraints and frustrations, as well as your hard-fought successes.

[PietFrancke]

There is much to like. I like that mom's pride show through and through. I like the tentative happy grin of the young boy. I like the pose of capture and resistance that so clearly defines the world we live in. You did well to get rid of the distractions that you could (like the people in the back). I think the colors of the bags were distracting, so going B/W properly reduced their impact.

You captured part of the relationship between a mom and her boy, this is no small thing.

[Psjunkie]

Minniev…thank you for answering my question and your suggestions for improvement.

Piet, I am glad you were able to find so many positives…thank you for comment.

[Duck]

I can sympathize with you about the image. Sometimes what someone else loves isn't necessarily something we personally deem worthy. Specially when you know before you press the shutter that the image isn't going to turn out well, but still have to press that shutter.

Her posture is awkward, background elements are distracting, camera angle is perhaps a bit too high, and I'm sure your list goes on. So how to make an ugly duckling pretty when all else fails...

Not knowing how much of the image has already been cropped I would suggest cropping in tighter to remove much of the distracting elements and focusing in on the pair. The rest is basic editing. Here is a screen grab of my Photoshop screen with the suggested edits applied. Before cropping I removed the guy in blue and the blurry people over her shoulder. This allowed me to use parts of the trees on the far left. If you attempted this post crop you wouldn't have those sources. I then cropped to bring their faces into a better composition. This also reduces the effect of the purse except for the color. For that I applied a desaturation layer and masked just the purse and backpack. I also blurred the purse a touch (with the Blur tool, not the filter) to push it back some. From there I added a curves layer to brighten mom's face to match her son's. Lastly I used some black to transparent gradients at top and bottom for a vignette to pull the eye up to the faces.

Give these a try and see if it changes your feelings about the image.

[Psjunkie]

Appreciate the input Duck....

[davechinn]

An exceptional touching moment Frank !!! Nice capture and of course I have to lean towards the B&W. Nice work on removing the background distractions.
Dave

[Psjunkie]

Thank you Mr. Chinn...

[St3v3M]

Taken under duress..the Mama insisted, it was Mother’s Day so I obliged…I just couldn’t make myself like this image, maybe because I was against it in the first place, or the colors or the posing, not really sure, but finally converting it to b/w I was able to come to terms with it…..any thoughts on what might be wrong with me??? Bahaha...I actually am wondering if I did about all that could be done from the capture to turn it into a presentable image..

I think this is wonderful and will be a cherished memory. Thank you for sharing this! S-