First Child shoot

dbveto · December 15, 2011

Ok I just did my first Child shoot with a almost 3yr old, even though the parents are tickled with what I gave them and I know some areas I need to improve in, I still wanted to get some C&C. I kept the slant on some because I liked it and it went with the shot.

Here is Tristan my friend (he kept told his mother he wanted to show my friend this or that so he just kept calling me his friend)
I am also posting a couple B&W using a LR preset I liked.

#1

#2

#3

#4
Of course we had to play Cars!

#5

#6

#7

#9

#10
OK my friend We are done with the whole picture taking thing you can go home now.

BrettDeutsch · December 15, 2011

Dennis -- you've got a strong eye and clearly a good way with children. Your exposures are off though -- the child's face is blown out in all the color shots except the last (the fact that there is plenty of detail in the B&W shots makes me think the problem is in processing, not in your capture). Also, the B&Ws aren't to my taste -- there is way too much contrast and structure, and there are weird halos around the kid's head. There are also some odd blurs in 1-3. I can't tell if that's motion blur or something that happened in photoshop (perhaps a background blur that wasn't masked well?)/

Foques · December 15, 2011

most of the shots look like focus was missed.. 1st one looks OOF completely.

as Brett mentioned, all images are blown..
the B/W images remind me of those out of the HDR pit.

dbveto · December 15, 2011

Thanks for the comments. I will have to take a look at the originals.

Hackbone · December 15, 2011

Your exposures are off and your backgrounds are distracting. Try for a more simple background or keep your subject far enough from the background and light off it so it goes darker to focus attention on the subject. I feel your b&w conversions are odd but you might have been going for a special effect so do what works for you there.

dbveto · December 15, 2011

Ok here are three with adjustments is this headed in the right direction?

#1a

#2a

#3A

Foques · December 15, 2011

exposure-wise.. to an extent.

otherwise, they are still eh. sorry $:\$

Qarik · December 15, 2011

you have weird halo around the child in many shots...I think it was motion blur. what was your shutter speed on 1 an 2?

aside from that these images could use a LOT of improvement. expoures are way off as others have mentioned, focus is off, there is little thought to composition, distracting backgrounds, the child is not making eye contact in many frames, etc. You did capture some good energy in a few shots.

novicesnapper · December 16, 2011

If it was me, I would correct the exposure, darken it slightly, and run some vignette, to mask some of the background? I like his expresion and feel some of the shots could be improved a little more. Did you use flash with these? If so, you might turn that down some to take some of the "flashyness" out during the shot. You might have picked up some reflection of the flash from the light colored floor.

dbveto · December 16, 2011

I thank you all for comments I have reworked a couple and may post them. Like I said this was my first of this type of shoot and I will take the suggestions and grow. The Halo my be from the front door there was a octangle widow that was giving me some trouble as it was almost like a spot light.
Thank you all for the comments

Bryce Wilson · December 16, 2011

On a positive note, I really like the fact that you got down to the child's level. Many first timers will shoot from way above the subject and in many cases that really ruins it.

Exposure issues aside, look for clean (non cluttered) backgrounds for your next attempt. Your expressions are really good. The cluttered background that brings nothing to the image is what is detracting the most from these images.

First Child shoot

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