New Kid Shoot--CC appreciated (any keepers?)

kidzmom

Hello all!

I'm just a shooting machine these days!! How else am I going to improve, right?!:rofl

Here are a bunch from yesterday with my 3 year old. She was easier to shoot than the baby. Are there any really "good" shots here (or just mediocre)? Well of course they are all good to me since I've captured an emotion (whether it be up to par photographically speaking-- I'm still happy with the emotion) Sidenote: This was the first time my 3 year old was trying on her older sister's real pointe shoes.

I'm happy to hear your thoughts on these. I shot this session in RAW so thankfully I will have some editing potential (suggestions if I need WB help or other changes appreciated). I am going to shoot AV tomorrow per Cuong and DM advice....for now though let me know what you think!

Thanks for looking.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

JulieLawsonPhotography

Oh these are just precious! #8 cracks me up with the attitude.

On #1 to me it looks like it needs just a smidge more contrast. I love the images you've posted.

pwp

Watch your light sources, and add a hairlight. See the yellow shadow she is casting on the white backdrop? If you get a light above and behind her, it will help. (Or you can literally spend hours in post.) Otherwise very cute images!

divamum

This is a great series! I think #3 is my favorite.

Be careful about what focal length you're using - stay away from the wide-angle end in portraits unless you want a specific effec. Notice how in #9 she looks distorted, with a HUGE head and tiny feet? That's what a wide angle does....

Swartzy

#'s 3, 4, & 6 & 10 with the right treatment would be incredible....it's at this point that separates pros from novices. The background needs work and may call for extraction dependant on the processing..a couple could work. I do like the upper vantage point on a few of these. What a cutie.

Kinkajou

I really like #1 and #4... those are just too cute.

If I can nitpick a little bit on subject... I'm sure that this is stuff that 90% of your audience totally won't notice or care about so you can feel free to ignore if you like (and maybe you're already aware of all this, in which case you can just skip this post completely ).

That said, I was a bit put off by seeing a little girl with pointe shoes - even holding/playing with them as a prop. I am a big advocate for waiting until at least 13 or so to start girls on pointe as it can be permanently damaging to the feet, so in some weird way it seems kind of wrong to see pointe shoes with a very little girl... it loses it's 'cuteness' for me and just makes me really concerned about the future of her little toes.

I would much rather see her with some of the cloth or leather technique shoes that are the typical 'ballet slippers'; I've seen people put ribbons on those for increased cute factor in pictures or whatever. But, if you choose to stick with the pointe shoes, you might want to check into how to tie the ribbons properly. The little Xs up the legs are cute (and I think would work fine with the cloth technique shoes for the purpose of pictures), but not actually how they're tied; the ribbons are wrapped tightly around the ankle to give it support.

So I guess it's just a confusion of 'cute' and 'serious' for me... pointe shoes are serious - they're for older girls and professionals with a lot of experience and strong technique; technique shoes are cute - you see them most often on the younger girls who have no idea what they're doing during a performance but still manage to get a standing ovation just based on the extreme cuteness emanating from the stage.

I know this is really nitpicky subjective stuff and probably nobody cares but me, so really, feel free to completely ignore it. It might matter to the people who 'know', or to a judge if you were going to submit something for a competition... but that's about it.

kidzmom

Don't get upset about the prop, ! Props are just props...I PROMISE I wouldn't put my 3 year old on pointe!:D Maybe you just missed the last sentence of my original post (ie the Sidenote..Mentioning that this was my 3 y/o's first time trying on her big sister's point shoes..). We live in France actually, so it is every girl's dream to go on pointe. I just thought it would be cute to show her holding the shoes and messing with the ribbons. My older daughter has been in dance for 7 years and went up on pointe last year. DEFINATELY nothing to mess around with. My eldest wears gel pads for the toes (and some here in France wear meat inside their shoes, lol!). Anyway, little dd was just "dreaming" and since the ribbons were so long we tied them up the leg for "effect'. Demi-points just wouldn't be the same for the photo. Plus she wouldn't stay seated to try THOSE on! ! Not nearly as exciting (Not to mention that it is great to be able to use the $200 dollar shoes a bit more---my eldest grew out of them!! (unfortunately for the budget)!

Thanks for the comments on 1 and 4. Glad you liked them!

Kinkajou wrote:

I really like #1 and #4... those are just too cute.

If I can nitpick a little bit on subject... I'm sure that this is stuff that 90% of your audience totally won't notice or care about so you can feel free to ignore if you like (and maybe you're already aware of all this, in which case you can just skip this post completely ).

That said, I was a bit put off by seeing a little girl with pointe shoes - even holding/playing with them as a prop. I am a big advocate for waiting until at least 13 or so to start girls on pointe as it can be permanently damaging to the feet, so in some weird way it seems kind of wrong to see pointe shoes with a very little girl... it loses it's 'cuteness' for me and just makes me really concerned about the future of her little toes.

I would much rather see her with some of the cloth or leather technique shoes that are the typical 'ballet slippers'; I've seen people put ribbons on those for increased cute factor in pictures or whatever. But, if you choose to stick with the pointe shoes, you might want to check into how to tie the ribbons properly. The little Xs up the legs are cute (and I think would work fine with the cloth technique shoes for the purpose of pictures), but not actually how they're tied; the ribbons are wrapped tightly around the ankle to give it support.

So I guess it's just a confusion of 'cute' and 'serious' for me... pointe shoes are serious - they're for older girls and professionals with a lot of experience and strong technique; technique shoes are cute - you see them most often on the younger girls who have no idea what they're doing during a performance but still manage to get a standing ovation just based on the extreme cuteness emanating from the stage.

I know this is really nitpicky subjective stuff and probably nobody cares but me, so really, feel free to completely ignore it. It might matter to the people who 'know', or to a judge if you were going to submit something for a competition... but that's about it.

kidzmom

Oh wow...That is HIGH praise indeed. Yes, re: the treatment department. I imagine spending 2k on software (+years of courses) must do more than the small PSE 7.0 investment!! What exactly would one "do" to make these become incredible? I'm just really curious about what makes them become more? I know when I see an incredible professional picture that I can appreciate the difference visually....but what exactly are they DOING to make that happen (ie post processing-wise)?

The background was a MESS! Not happy with it myself, but I don't own anything else...I used the long grass brush with the smudge technique in PSE to take out some of the wrinkles in the sheet. I also had some netting and satin and that ended up looking okay...but the main part of the backdrop was not flattering. I guess what is what pp is for!

Thanks for the feedback. Very appreciated.

Kelly

Swartzy wrote:

#'s 3, 4, & 6 & 10 with the right treatment would be incredible....it's at this point that separates pros from novices. The background needs work and may call for extraction dependant on the processing..a couple could work. I do like the upper vantage point on a few of these. What a cutie.

kidzmom

Thank you! I played with the contrast (just slightly) and you were right it looked a lot better. I didn't want to go overboard.

Thank you!

JulieLawsonPhotography wrote:

Oh these are just precious! #8 cracks me up with the attitude.

On #1 to me it looks like it needs just a smidge more contrast. I love the images you've posted.

Agnieszka

You got a couple keepers in this set!!!

The only problems I have are

a) the background (although I do understand that you probably didn't have a choice with that).

b) I'd also try shooting from her level / hight. Even in the first couple of shots you were always a bit higher up than she. Kids usually photograph best if you're standing on their level ..... my 2 cents

Other than that she is an adorable little girl, and I did share the ballet dream with her once having grown up in Switzerland (I don't know of one girl that didn't want to be a ballerina at that time) :curtsey

The whole set is very cute and I'm sure she'll be super happy to look back at those photos once! I would

kidzmom

PZP, yes...A hairlight would be grand (among other toys!). Thanks for pointing that out. It is a PERFECT example (the yellowing) of why I should have used one. I did not know that. THX!

And DivaMum....Whoah....THREE thumbs up today. Cool! Baby steps... I totally noticed the big head, tiny toe syndrome. I actually thought it was cute (like those bobbily head characters). Little kids heads are still so big compared to their bodies...the emphasis was funny. Now I know for next time about focal length doing this!! I was experiementing with a lot of angles (for hopefully better light capture). THANKS!

pwp wrote:

Watch your light sources, and add a hairlight. See the yellow shadow she is casting on the white backdrop? If you get a light above and behind her, it will help. (Or you can literally spend hours in post.) Otherwise very cute images!

Netter

Agnieszka wrote:

You got a couple keepers in this set!!!


b) I'd also try shooting from her level / hight. Even in the first couple of shots you were always a bit higher up than she. Kids usually photograph best if you're standing on their level ..... my 2 cents

This is the one thing that I noticed as well. Good job otherwise!

angevin1

Cute! Yeah, like was said : the BG...but what about it? It works in some of the photos, but others you need more separation to take the photo to the next step. For instance 1,4,7 & 8 need more separation, while the others the BG being close works. As far as treatments go...You know there are lots of those, so don't worry about them so much yet, just continue as you are and work on image capture, set-up and lighting...the next thing you know...you'll be looking around for a treatment you like.

Separation is typically achieved by positioning your muse at least four feet ( preferably more) from the BG and shooting from appx. 15 ft. away with a Short tele or medium prime at a shallow depth of field to aid you in blobbing or blurring the BG.

lovely model ~

Kinkajou

kidzmom wrote:

Maybe you just missed the last sentence of my original post (ie the Sidenote..Mentioning that this was my 3 y/o's first time trying on her big sister's point shoes..).

Yeah... I totally did. Oops

:hide