Beginner Photographer, how am I doing?

Danielle Marie

Hi there you all! I found this site and I am very glad I did. I am a beginner at photography since I have only been studying it for about a year and a half now and I do have a little business going called Life's Little Miracles Photography. I only photograph newborns, infants, toddlers, young children and families but I also do maternity shoots here and there. I have an 18 month old little girl that I have practiced on and I can tell you she is a good model lol, now she sits down for me in a position and says "cheese" even thought the cheesy face ones I dont like to shoot HA! Anyways back to my photos, I am going to post a few for you all to look at and critique I would LOVE to hear what you have to say at what I can improve on and what you like about my photos. I do not use a paid Photoshop service yet but will in 2013, for now I use a free site for editing that I try to do my best working with it. Also I use ALL natural lighting ( which I prefer ). Hope you enjoy looking at these and I hope to hear from all of you.

~Danielle

lilmomma

Hi Danielle! welcome do dgrin, its a great place to learn!

I think you're off to a great start. 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7 are the better ones of the set. If i can give a couple pieces of advice, i say stay away from overdoing skin smoothing and eye whitening/enhancing. some of them appear a little overdone. also, watch your tilts!

most importantly stick around here and don't take critiques personally, use them to improve. I contribute most of my knowledge and growth to this place

Danielle Marie

Thank you for you comment, I took a look at your photos and wow just beautiful! Your little girl is just darling! I will defiantly take your advise, I have soo much to learn and study and I will love all the critiques I can get. I plan on getting Photoshop elements soon , so I will be looking up tutorials on that as well. Here is a black and white one I just finished today of a handsome little man. I am slowly learning different methods of black & white imaging.

novicesnapper

I see some great stuff here. Glad I waited to post . Don't forget to puruse the sections here, Photo craft and Digital darkroom. Lots of good stuff in there. Also the pullbacks thread, not that you need it by the looks of things lol. Welcome, hope to see more of you're work in the future.

Danielle Marie

Thank you! Really looking forward to all the new techniques and possibilities from other photographers I can teach myself with this site. Sorry about my grammar in the main thread post, man sometimes I forget to proof read EEKK!

anonymouscuban

Welcome to the forum Danielle.

I think where you're missing the mark is with your post work. It looks overdone in every shot. I think that may have a lot to do with the application(s) you're using. Getting Photoshop will help but actually, why don't you get Lightroom? it's cheaper and does everything you'll need to do with your photos, sans cloning/compositing.

Honestly, I would opt for NO post work than post work done in free software. Your photos need to stand on their own merit WITHOUT post work.

Looking forward to seeing more of your work as you progress. Feel free to post often and ask questions.

Danielle Marie

Thanks everyone for the advice. Here are a couple I took yesterday from an outdoor/dusk shoot.

Bryce Wilson

I like every single thing about those last two. Except. They both look a bit over processed. Tone that down a bit and I'm in LOVE!

Danielle Marie

Thanks Bryce! I am working on the over processed thing, I am using a free editing site so I don't get much option but in a couple weeks I will be purchasing Lightroom 4.

Bilsen

Welcome Danielle.
. with Bryce and Cuban pretty much down the line.

Really beautiful base images though.

VayCayMom

Welcome, your images are really on track, a little tweaking will make the difference, but you got the hard stuff right, good job! I also have learned so much here, more than I can measure !

Danielle Marie

Here is another one I took today or this little 15 month old sweetie pie, trying to tone down some things what do you think?



Thanks VayCayMom, I am learning something new everyday it seems like :-)