1st b-day (my best so far, i think)

JulieLawsonPhotography

When I look at all the images I took tonight of this little one, I get the same feeling that I got from the last senior session I took. I'm just really really excited about this session.

1

2

3

4

5

6
yummy yummy light...delicious!!

ShepsMom

What a darling! Very well executed, love the rich colors, and overall processing. Great job

saurora

You should be excited! These all great, but #4 just does it for me! (Cute idea with her in the water all dressed up!)

carriel_miller

Wow, she is just adorable! Great shots!!!!

thoth

saurora wrote:

You should be excited! These all great, but #4 just does it for me! (Cute idea with her in the water all dressed up!)

I must agree. #4 is just oozing with personality and flat-out cuteness. Excellent job!

My3Sons

#4 is my favorite too. The water idea is really good. I would be afraid my little subject would fall in it, but it looks like she did well!

-Melissa
www.naturalphotography.smugmug.com
www.naturalphotographydesign.blogspot.com

Flutist

You get a million just for the fact that you managed to catch her so still in the water, my 18mos. old would have been diving

AMAZING PHOTOS!

divamum

Yup, you're right - these are fantastic! Great subject, f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c. use of DOF, putting her in the water in that dress is a wonderful idea and the light was your friend - what more can you ask?

I absolutely love #3 - purists might argue that the hand is blown, but I think the expression trumps the hand in that one (recover it further if you can, of course, but I don't think it's a dealbreaker)

Fabulous series.

rutt

#5 is a wonderful closeup portrait just the way it is. The first 3 have a lot of potential. I wish her palm weren't blown in #3. It's a big distraction from an otherwise very nice shot. I played with it, but unless you shot in raw, there doesn't seem to be any way to recover.

I converted on to B&W just for fun and liked the result:



What do you think?

The last one is just too overexposed for me.

jenweavernj

Oh Julie, these are fantastic. What a wonderful session. Such variety with the shots in the water and then the adorable cupcake shots! How adorable! I love how she was in the water - what a great idea!!

bowbow

The hand doesn't break the deal for me either!

Also, I like the last one and the processing you used with it!

WingsOfLovePhoto

Great job Julie! I can see why you are excited! LOVE the 2nd one, face to the sun. Great idea in the water. Am not a fan of the blown hand but love the expression. How would that look if you did a horizontal crop of just the face? And the only other comment would be to lose the sandals in the cake shot. Maybe just my pet peeve but I hate looking at the bottom of soles. Especially since she was dressed in only a diaper cover. Bare feet are the best! Also..am not on a calibrated monitor but 4 and 5 seem that they could benefit from a little brightening and white balance adjustment?? I am sure the parents will love them anyway

Gary752

I agree Julie...Very nice job! I like them all, but my favorite is #5 (if I remember correctly), the one with the cake. I was slightly disappointed in that you didn't include one of the after affects. I love seeing little kids eating their first cake and seeing the cake smeared all over their face. I think that would have made an awesome photo with this child!

GaryB

JulieLawsonPhotography

BroPhoto wrote:

I agree Julie...Very nice job! I like them all, but my favorite is #5 (if I remember correctly), the one with the cake. I was slightly disappointed in that you didn't include one of the after affects. I love seeing little kids eating their first cake and seeing the cake smeared all over their face. I think that would have made an awesome photo with this child!

GaryB

I do have some of the after effects of the cake. I'll post more soon.

Here we go.

2wistd

I like #4 as well, Gives me more inspiration to get another lens and take the kids outside!

Gary752

JulieLawsonPhotography wrote:

Here we go.

Now that's what I'm talking about! Thanks Julie, you just made my night!

GaryB

Trevlan

Excellent shots Julie!!!!

The only gripe I have, and I belive it was said by another poster, is the blown out hand in one of the photos. This baby is gorgeous. You comp and pp are on the money. Especially compared to last year. Your photos were good, but these are fantastic. Great job.

JulieLawsonPhotography

Trevlan wrote:

Excellent shots Julie!!!!

The only gripe I have, and I belive it was said by another poster, is the blown out hand in one of the photos. This baby is gorgeous. You comp and pp are on the money. Especially compared to last year. Your photos were good, but these are fantastic. Great job.

Thank you very much. I pray it wasn't a fluke and that I'm able to produce these types of photos consistently. It seems that I'm not always able to pull off sessions that I'm super excited about. I'm editing a session right now that isn't horrible, but doesn't give me the same feeling when I look at them. That session was taken last weekend.

I agree about the blown hand. It was a bummer (my assistant had moved the reflector by accident as I took that photo) but I couldn't throw it out simply because of the awesome eye contact I got with her.

bdcolen

JulieLawsonPhotography wrote:

When I look at all the images I took tonight of this little one, I get the same feeling that I got from the last senior session I took. I'm just really really excited about this session.

1


yummy yummy light...delicious!!

The first is fabulous - and I also like it in the black and white version Rutt offered, though it is markedly changed in mood in that version. I also love the cupcake shot.

Jeff_Milo

I love #4 - GREAT Shot!!

VayCayMom

Your session turned out to be AMAZING, wow, yes, it very well could be your best yet, hard to beat at any rate, Congrats!!!

PVNPhotography

Love the #1 in Black and White and #4. Like you said, #6 is over-exposed but hey, very nice shooting session! Keep up the great work!

Trevlan

Julie, one thing I try to avoid is making all of my sessions look and feel the same. I can almost garantee that you'll do another session of a similar child and not get these results. As a photographer, we're there to capture the moment as best as we could. On some sessions we capture every moment, like this previous one, and on other sessions we are a frame or two behind. I was once told that out of 100 frames, if you get 10 good ones, you did your job. So keep that in mind when you are frustrated on a new shoot that you didn't get as many 'winners' as the previous shoot you had.

I've seen some great photos from some great photographers, and the more pictures they develop, the more they look the same. I personally don't want that.

There is no such thing as a bad session. Even if you only captured one killer shot. Keep up the good work, you're improvement shows. :-)

JulieLawsonPhotography

Trevlan wrote:

Julie, one thing I try to avoid is making all of my sessions look and feel the same. I can almost garantee that you'll do another session of a similar child and not get these results. As a photographer, we're there to capture the moment as best as we could. On some sessions we capture every moment, like this previous one, and on other sessions we are a frame or two behind. I was once told that out of 100 frames, if you get 10 good ones, you did your job. So keep that in mind when you are frustrated on a new shoot that you didn't get as many 'winners' as the previous shoot you had.

I've seen some great photos from some great photographers, and the more pictures they develop, the more they look the same. I personally don't want that.

There is no such thing as a bad session. Even if you only captured one killer shot. Keep up the good work, you're improvement shows. :-)

Thank you very much for replying with this. This is very good advice, and one that I really really needed to hear. This will help me to not be overly critical of myself in the future. Thanks again, you have no idea how helpful that was for me.

divamum

Trevlan wrote:

I've seen some great photos from some great photographers, and the more pictures they develop, the more they look the same. I personally don't want that.

I'm already starting to see hints of this, if only because similar venues give similar light and by instinct I seem to gravitate towards certain poses. It's something I'm wondering how I"ll combat as/if I keep doing this...

However (expanding this to more philosophical musings): how much counts as "Individual style" and how much is "repeating oneself"? I think most photographers eventually develop something uniquely recognizable as "their" style and that is (I think) a good thing. I guess the real skill is sustaining that without simply letting shots become formulas....

Great points, Frank!

saurora

divamum wrote:

I'm already starting to see hints of this, if only because similar venues give similar light and by instinct I seem to gravitate towards certain poses. It's something I'm wondering how I"ll combat as/if I keep doing this...

However (expanding this to more philosophical musings): how much counts as "Individual style" and how much is "repeating oneself"? I think most photographers eventually develop something uniquely recognizable as "their" style and that is (I think) a good thing. I guess the real skill is sustaining that without simply letting shots become formulas....

Great points, Frank!

I think one thing that helps is "location, location, location!" I follow some blogs and notice that the more successful photographers have a really wide variety of locations, so you don't feel like you are seeing the same shots over and over. Of course, many of them are "location shooters" and lucky enough to travel to do so! Finding unique loctions in a small, home-town area (and not having your work look repitious) is no small task!

Trevlan

saurora wrote:

I think one thing that helps is "location, location, location!" I follow some blogs and notice that the more successful photographers have a really wide variety of locations, so you don't feel like you are seeing the same shots over and over. Of course, many of them are "location shooters" and lucky enough to travel to do so! Finding unique loctions in a small, home-town area (and not having your work look repitious) is no small task!

I agree with you both. There is a thin line between trademak and repetition. Creativity makes the ordinary extrodinary. That's what we get paid for. ;-) Any monkey can take a picture. I tell my clients that all the time. You're paying for my post processing.

Make the flat look round, you'll always win. ;-)