Quote (mikeyp1122 @ 7 Jun 2010 16:33)

interesting picture marie.... one thing that i dont like about the picture is that the flowers on the left side kind of take your eye away from the girl which is obviously the center piece
so imo either try and make the flowers on the left a bit more out of focus... or move her up closer to the camera just a bit and then she will stand out more..
other then that i really like the picture and concept

Quote (MotherOfTwo @ Jun 7 2010 08:41pm)

Ok I 'blurred' the background a little....
Does it show any improvement?
Couldn't take more pictures yet...

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1308/4680437838_4e07bfb5ed.jpg

Quote (onepagememory @ 7 Jun 2010 23:05)

Great concept! Flash is used well because there are no ackward shadows. I like the idea and I ask permission now to copy it because I want to ask a random girl to model for me.

However...

1) Your model does not portray the intended label: "he loves me, he loves me not." Instead, the little girl seems to be saying "mom can I stop doing this now?" In times like this, when your model is unable to or unwilling to participate in your vision of an image, and they must still be used within the image, the best option is to find a way that will allow you to portray your intentions and make the best of what you've got. Therefore, I made you a drawing in paint:

http://i364.photobucket.com/albums/oo85/LeonLeon123/Untitled-1copy.jpg

Your point of focus would be the flower instead of the little girl only because the little girl is currently unflattering to your intended image. Consider in this image a diagonally-shifted shot using both the flower field and a focused flower to portray your vision instead of an unfortunately-unflattering model.

2) Composition is important. You have to master composition before you can break it. Unfortunately, although her face can be arguably considered your intended point of focus and follows the rule of thirds, this is one of the cases where it sort of fails. The picture is uninteresting because of this. She is unflattering to the image, as I mentioned previously, a model such as this must not be the point of focus or it ruins your vision of an image.

3) Because you used flash, the colors on your model AND your background are flushed. A cloudy day, if we base ourselves on the way light works, works as a diffused flash light. Unfortunately, difussed light takes on the properties of its reflective material- in this case the clouds- which are gray. You seem to have gotten the white balance right, or maybe its my monitor at school and the picture looks slightly shifted to the blue. However, the colors are not lively. Try downloading Lightroom 3.B2 from Adobe - its currently free as a beta version and raise what is called "vibrance." I can also show you how to do this in photoshop but I'm not sure how experienced you are in this.

I've gotta go home now so I'll stop here.

Quote (mikeyp1122 @ Jun 7 2010 02:33pm)

interesting picture marie.... one thing that i dont like about the picture is that the flowers on the left side kind of take your eye away from the girl which is obviously the center piece
so imo either try and make the flowers on the left a bit more out of focus... or move her up closer to the camera just a bit and then she will stand out more..
other then that i really like the picture and concept