A Pop of Contrast

I just have one image to share today. I took this last week after our wildflower shoot. We walked over to a playground at an elementary school so that kids could play. Little Miss was still in her white dress, and as she sat down to fix her shoe I noticed the light and contrast in the scene. I took a quick shot and she was off to the next obstacle. 

I love how this turned out. I often favor moody and contrasty images. 

Maybe that why I like this simple shot so much.

In case you're curious, here's my SOOC:

This was taken in the evening in open shade with my 85 mm at f/3.2 and 1/160. I cloned out the distractions, added a touch of clarity and a technicolor preset in LR4, which brought out some blues in the black rubber mulch. I then opened the image in PS4 and sharpened and resized for the web.

I find that my strongest images are the ones with the least distractions. For this shot I was able to step up on the play ground equipment so that I could frame her with nothing but mulch in the background. And because of the dark ground cover and her light skin and outfit, it made for great contrast. She really stands out from the background and the subject of the photo is obvious.

Had there been other play sets, kids or buildings in the background, this image wouldn't have been as strong. Those distractions compete for attention, and take away from your subject.
Keep this in mind while shooting and I bet you'll love your images a lot more.

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