Bad?

Annie Leibovitz shot the official Obama family portrait. You can see it here:

Obama Portrait

Discussion centres around how truly awful people think this picture is.

I think that is harsh.

The family group composition is good – background, not so much. That background could be more out of focus. And the picture right behind the younger daughter’s head is bad. The cut off picture frames at the top, too. Cut fingers, also. The verticals not being vertical on the right bugs me. Older daughter’s hair is not separated from the background. But awful? The family is nicely positioned. Expressions are good.

All in all, a nice picture that could be better but no doubt Annie had little time and no choice in the location. And the secret service men probably intimidated her. Unless you know the background: easy on Annie, everyone!

What do you think?

0 thoughts on “Bad?

  1. I was surprised when I saw it on the White House Photostream on Flickr. My immediate thought was “I could have taken that!”. It seems like it is “straight off the camera”. I wonder what the story behind that shoot was.

  2. When I first saw this photo, I thought it was an “Uncle Fred picture” too! I agree, there seems to be a lack of depth in this photo. If my brain didn’t tell me that the doors and walls are suppose to be way behind them, I would of thought that it was a lot closer. The composition could be a little bit more interesting…

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