pictures for Grandmother-HELP ME PLEASE!

patsy easley

I am due to send my Mother-in-law birthday pictures of my son. She is very critical of the pictures I take and she doesn't understand why I don't just take the kids to a studio. These are a few of the shots that I got of him today. Tristan's birthday is still a month away so I will be taking more before ordering anything. If I could get some feedback on these that would be great. FYI no cropping has been done as of yet.
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2.

3.

nightshadow

The top of his head and parts of his face are too hot in #2. I like the background there though. I too like to capture children in their natural environment. This is the opposite of the Wal-Mart (etc) approach, where you have to use their bg and props. Save the good stuff (your efforts) for you and your husband and send the canned school pics to granny.

BradfordBenn

For me, picture #2 has the distraction of the leaf being on the forehead. I agree with the in environment approach.

patsy easley

I defiantly see what you are talking about with #2. I worked on it some this morning. This is my husbands favorite picture from yesterday so it is going to end up on my wall.

RBrogen

in plain sight wrote:

I defiantly see what you are talking about with #2. I worked on it some this morning. This is my husbands favorite picture from yesterday so it is going to end up on my wall.

This is also my favorite and with a little work in PS you can clone the offesive leafe out and then even out the tones to make this a real winner. I love the background.

sweet caroline

I have the same problem! I will say that my mother-in-law is getting better. Now she just wants me to have my own studio for those shots. For her, it's more about wanting the studio look for portraits, rather than not thinking I'm a good photographer, but it took a long time for that to come out. Now I just refuse to send my kids to a cheap studio, and she's gotten used to the environmental portraits.

Anyway, your pictures are gorgeous and seem to capture your child's essence.

Caroline

Sam

You have got down to his level to shoot, which is good.

Maybe try and ether have a head shot or all of him rather than chop off feet.

I would try to get him looking at the camera.

Oh, and what leaf?

Sam

patsy easley

I played with the picture again. I was not going to attempt to clone the leaf out, the idea kind of scared me. After seeing what Sam did with it I decided to give it a whirl. I had some problems with the hair, but I don't think its to bad for my first attempt at cloning something out of a picture.

BradfordBenn

in plain sight wrote:

I played with the picture again. I was not going to attempt to clone the leaf out, the idea kind of scared me. After seeing what Sam did with it I decided to give it a whirl. I had some problems with the hair, but I don't think its to bad for my first attempt at cloning something out of a picture.

I did not look at a high rez version but I would say that there is nothing to be ashamed of with this effort.

Scott_Quier

There is nothing here to be ashamed of. With a very few small technique changes, I think you can blow the studio shots right out of the water.

#1 and #3 don't do anything special for me. He's centered which can sometimes work but not here. In addition, he not looking at the camera and looking at something outside the frame.

#2 - He's interacting with his environment, he's looking at (and interacting with) the camera.

In all three, you are down on his level (an extreme goodness) allowing him to more easily interact with you (and vise-versa).

To improve for next time:

• Using vegetation to frame your subject is a good idea. You've got a little too much here.
• Consider using something to fill the shadows under his eyebrows, either a reflector (held by and assistant:D) or some fill flash.
• Try not to cut off his toes - he needs those to walk with. When cropping, try not to cut through joints.
• Watch your exposure. Don't trust the picture in your LCD as it will lie to you every time. Use your histogram as it will give you a better idea of what your exposure really is.
• If you can, shoot a gray card. This will allow you to more easily set the white balance during post - saves the guessing.

patsy easley

Thanks for all of the advice. I went ahead and lightened around his eyes in #2. As far as his toes go I just need to watch that better. The other two were not cropped when I posted them to start with. I know he isn't looking at the camera in 1 and 2 I was just glad he was standing still. Here are the finals (I hope) for all three pictures.

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WingsOfLovePhoto

I have to agree with the other comments. I love the pose against the wagon wheel. Great job. The only other thing that hits me right off the bat is the lack of catch lights in his eyes. I always add fill flash to outdoor portraits to create a little sparkle in the eyes. Otherwise they seem kind of void IMHO. Don't listen to the mil and keep taking those pictures!

patsy easley

Thanks Sandy! As for the fill flash, we left the house and I forgot to grab the batteries for the flash off the charger. I was taking these pictures around sunset with no flash because I was absent minded. At least I remembered to charge the batteries, now to remember to take them with me.