How about a shot of some cute kids?

iambarefoot

Two of my nieces, taken New Years day. Please critique.

Mitchell

I can't let this shot go without any comments.

Cute photo, but since you asked for critique I'll give you some suggestions.

Overall the shot lacks contrast. I think a contrast boost would help significantly. You also need a levels adjustment to reset you black point.

The girls look a little underexposed. These shots can be tricky when you are trying to balance fill flash with the ambient backlit background. They need a little more light to add some punch to the shot without looking too "flashy".

I would clone out the birdbath. It's just distracting.

Next time try to position the girls so the tree is not coming out of her head and shoulder. Not much you can do at this point, but it does help to really think about how your background interacts with your subject when you are composing your shot.

Hope this helps. Keep posting photos and ask for critiques!

Swartzy

Mitchell has given good advice . Processing this shot in a different manner would allow for parts of distraction removal by simply creating a tighter crop. There's nothing one can do about the tree at this juncture, but the lighting issues can certainly be addressed. I don't know that the girls are underexposed so much as they seem to "blend" in too well with the overall setting. By creating a bit more dynamic disparity between setting and subject (s), you could realistically turn this into a prettier shot.

Should you care for me to provide an example I'd be happy to edit your image. Oftentimes, darkening the outer edges of a frame will bring the light to the center of the image....hence the focus will be the subjects....not the tree, nor the bird bath, nor the sunset.

Lovely girls BTW....how fun!

iambarefoot

Thanks for the comments, and ...

Swartzy wrote:

Should you care for me to provide an example I'd be happy to edit your image.

Please!

Swartzy

Here's a different take: cropped, added color to the sky, with some curves adjustment, LAB color and focused the light on subjects. RAW files respond even better as the smaller JPeg file here is a bit pixelated.

heatherfeather

Wow! Very nice work! Love the edit. Amazing change

iambarefoot

Wow, very nice. I'm not sure I like the salmon sky, but the crop and the lighting are a big improvement.

Keep in mind I'm not a photoshop owner (iPhoto only), but I'm here to learn, so I appreciate the comments!

Qarik

the background looks nice..the subjects look nice..but together they kinda look odd to me now. The subjects look like they were shot in brither light, higher contrast then the background. It almost looke like the kids were cut and pasted into the shot now