This week we have a photo submitted by Saskia van Dantzig of her children cleaning the car at the carwash, and one of them was not enjoying the loud noise of the vacuum. This image was shot with a Canon 6D, Sigma 35 mm and the specs are ISO 320, F4.5, 1/800.

Critique today comes from Lisa, Celina, and Jessica.

Lisa: When I first saw this image I smiled, and I knew exactly what was happening.

Technically, I think your settings were great. Great use of layering. I like that you chose to shoot this at f 4.5 so that the boy in the foreground isn’t too out of focus, because he helps tell the story. I like this composition. The red hose acts as a leading line and tells me to look at this boy vacuuming, then my eye goes to the boy in red who completes the story for me with his expression and hands over his ears. I love the pops of red everywhere. I feel like it connects all the pieces of this story and helps us understand where they are. Initially, I thought I wanted you to step back to include more of the person in the foreground. But I like how tight this is because I feel that it adds tension that is appropriate for the message this image is conveying.

I find myself wanting to see more of his face. I wonder if shooting from an even lower view point would’ve helped us see more of his expression and help us feel how unhappy and overwhelmed he is with the vacuum sound. I would say to continue shooting through this moment to see if you can get an even stronger expression from the little boy. I know sometimes in this genre, it is what it is, and I think you did a great job with the circumstances you were presented with.

Overall, I think the story in this image is very clear, anchored by a clean and balanced composition. Also, it has great emotional impact because the content is very relatable.

Celina: This photo made me smile! I just love the colours and story here. I can tell your son is upset but it wasn’t until I read your description that I realized it was the noise he wasn’t happy with. Maybe you have a shot where it’s more clear he is blocking his ears. Either way, we get a sense of what is going and how tough life can be sometimes. I really like the crop and compositions. I think your choice of aperture is good but can’t help wonder if the background was a little blurred, the focus would be more on your son’s reaction. I keep looking at the small face in the very back, it looks like it could be you in the side mirror of the car. Now that would be epic! As for post-processing, this looks like a clean edit, I personally like more contrast but that’s personal taste. Perhaps the only thing I wished for was seeing your son’s face a little more or that his expression was even more pronounced, but we all know that things don’t always go as we hope for. Overall it’s a really great image with a great moment captured showing us all that childhood can be.

Jessica: I like the idea here- the repetition of the red, the layering to tell multiple parts of the story. I find the brightness of the sky to be a bit distracting, however, and wonder if there is a way you could crop that out, or if you had gotten down on your son’s level a bit while shooting if it would have taken care of that. I also wish there was a bit more contrast since the light isn’t that dramatic- increasing contrast in your post-processing here might help the foreground and background separate a bit more and all the subjects pop. Your husband’s body and the shape of the hose add the idea of an organic element, but since they take up so much of the foreground my eye feels a bit pulled to them when I think the main story is your son and his reaction/ expression. I like how you said you shot several frames, trying different ways to capture the story. My recommendation in shooting a fairly busy, complex frame like this in the future would be to really move around the scene and look for ways to compose out anything distracting and draw attention to the main part of the story. Perhaps coming around and shooting over your husband’s shoulder (if you could have still included the hose) while aiming at your son would have been a cleaner shot. Overall I like the frame and love the color repetition and moment you chose.

*****

Interested in having one of your images critiqued? Check out the submission guidelines.