This is my favorite image from my shoot with the 2 brothers and I would have entered it for the assignment except the definition was 2 or more children at play...however at the judging they seemed to accept a single child playing as well. Originally I was unhappy with the background clutter but after working on it in PS I think I was able to get the viewer's eye to stay mainly on the child and then to notice the trampoline/chair/ball as part of the environment. I had a lot of trouble getting my lens to stay focused on J. as he ran toward the net kicking the ball --- the lens kept grabbing focus on the net instead and this was the only image that came out the way I wanted. I think it is really interesting how you can see through the actual rope to the grass, his hand, t-shirt logo and hair, etc. Is this considered "selective focus"?Camera info: Nikon D200, 24 - 70mm 2.8 lens at f2.8 and 1/800th, ISO 100, cloudy whitebalance
Post processing: Processed for more blacks in ACR, duplicated the background layer in softlight at 65% opacity but masked off of face, Curves layer for more contrast and to darken the background, Punch Drunk action by Kubota for brighter colors but masked off face, Touch of Light action to brighten face, merged layers, selected red ball and desaturated it with a Hue/Sat layer, Bring out the Eyes action on eyes, the Edge for global sharpening, highpass filter in soflight mode to selectively sharpen the child.
