The Fix

Found Bouquet

The Problem: No, we're not bothered by the centered composition -- we rather like it in this case. The flowers form the apex of a triangle of the grasses (we love triangles) and they play off well against the layered background: a simple rural scene, plainly rendered. It's the housekeeping issues that bug us: The background is a little cluttered (notice the distracting clump at the right), and that one errant blossom poking up past the mountainside backdrop just grates against our delicate sensitivities.

What Now? We cloned out the offending flower, and cropped in a little from the right and left to neaten up the background. Then, to increase the three-dimensionality (translation: make the blooms pop out from the background), we used the Highlight/Shadow tool in Adobe Photoshop CS3 to tone down the sky, then added a touch of yellow saturation to the petals.

Next Time: As the old rule says, watch your backgrounds. Here it was tricky, because the background of the mountain behind the flowers works well, except for that one little bloom. That's why it pays to look at a picture through the viewfinder from a variety of slightly different angles and focal lengths. You can sometimes get everything arranged just so. Also -- don't tell anybody we told you this, 'cause we'll deny it -- the occasional judicious use of a shears can improve composition. Photographers also use twist-ties or little clamps to rearrange the exterior design.

Tech Info: Canon EOS Rebel Ti with 28-90mm f/4-5.6 Canon EF lens, exposure on Fujichrome Velvia 50 not recorded; slide scanned to make a JPEG.

Before	After

Jumping With Enthusiasm

The Problem: This cute picture of a cheerleader practicing on the beach, is a little too dark and low in contrast. It doesn't pop the way a picture like this should -- the background fights with the subject. And she's too centered.

What Now? Pretty simple. We went to the Levels tool in Photoshop and, by boosting contrast and midtones, achieved several things. It now looks like a bright beach, and the colors pop a little more. The play of the subject against her shadow is strengthened. And blowing out the background in this case has the benefit of suppressing detail. We also cropped down from the top slightly, which gives the impression that the cheerleader is even higher up.

Next Time: Oh, those exposure meters -- they make snow gray and beaches dull. And that's clearly what lowered the contrast in this photo. Boosting the exposure by maybe +1 EV is usually a safe bet in brightly lit scenes, whether you're shooting in the snow or on the beach.

Tech Info: Kodak EasyShare Z740, 1/1000 sec at f/5.6, ISO 80.

Before	After