My 5-year-old nephew loves to take pictures and is now starting to get a love for basketball. This year he started going to a weekly basketball camp, learning fundamentals: dribbling, passing, defense, and shooting. I like to take videos and pictures of him playing to see his progression. The photo that I chose is of him getting in his shooting stance.
Looking at the picture, I realized I would love to focus on his expression as tho he is thinking of his next move. He is almost in a 3 point stance. I love the way this photo looks, draws you to his face instead of the cars in the background.
Hi Latasha,
What an amazing before and after photo of your 5-year-old nephew!! So, what is your nephew’s name? I am just going to call him little King James and I am referring to LeBron James of course. Your nephew is definitely a future baller in the making. I love basketball and I played in high school on the variety team, so I know a baller when I see one. Just look at that stance and how he has the ball positioned on his right side ready to fake out his opponents and then double pump for the 3-point play. Swoosh!!
As far as photo composition, the first photo has a lot of distractions in the background with the cars. The distracting cars in the background take away for the focal point of the picture which is your 5-year-old nephew in the frame. Also, because the first photo does not have your nephew positioned tightly in the frame you don’t see his facial expression which has his baller shot caller look which is powerful. A picture is worth a thousand words and the facial expression of your nephew is saying I came to play.
The second picture which is your cropped photo is perfect in my opinion. Your nephew is now the focal point in the frame, and you can clearly see his facial expression. I think I even see his lip hanging out as if he is letting his opponents know that they don’t what any of this because he came to play. I also think that you used the rule of thirds to better position your nephew in the frame.
The second photo is a great photo, and you did an excellent job of cropping the photo to make it a more powerful picture.
Hi Latasha!
First, I want to say that your nephew looks adorable! Definitely a future baller in the making from what I gather in your photo.
The first photo is already quite nice, as you can see he’s having a great time with a wonderful promise of action to come. But I agree that it can be a bit distracting because of the cars and buildings in the background. Therefore, the cropping does a great job of drawing you in. The intensity he has at the moment is really on display, and you can clearly see he’s ready to get down to business.
I do want to comment, however, that cropping in that close left me feeling slightly claustrophobic and seems to trap your nephew in a state of stillness. I would recommend drawing him more towards the lefthand side of the picture, with your nephew’s face possibly making up the top left third, while cropping out the cars and leaving more of the asphalt on the right side of the picture. This would achieve the same initial goal, but leave room for the eye to flow from his face, to the ball, to the asphalt. Following a line that implies the movement towards an upcoming shot.
Otherwise, I feel like this was a great cropping job. Good work!