My very first attempt at child photography - for C & C

Lazy Photographer · Jun 5, 2010

I honestly was shooting today on pure instinct. I've been dying to try portrait photography but just haven't gotten around to finding people to shoot. My friend and her husband asked me to shoot her little 3 yr old last week at her very first ballet recital. Talk about cute. And then today at her birthday party I offered to take more photos of both their kids. All shots were taken with natural light. The ballet shot was taken from around 150 feet away with my Canon 55-250mm zoom, and then cropped. I think they came out nice but would love to get some feedback.

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er111a · Jun 5, 2010

5 is amazing really good!

DaevidClarke · Jun 5, 2010

4 and 5 are keepers

ifi · Jun 5, 2010

Great photos. 4 and 5 are the best :thumbup:

JeffieLove · Jun 5, 2010

3 is out of focus, and 8 has some pretty bad shadows which tells me you took it in the middle of the day?

Just two things I noticed

reznap · Jun 5, 2010

I'll try to give you feedback on each, and if I'm way off base, someone please correct me.

1 - Looks good.

2 - The blurry little one in the back and the words on the box hurt the photo I think.

3 - Soft, and a bit busy... it's good for sentimental value but I wouldn't print a bunch of this one out.

4 - A little soft, not too bad though, might try to brighten it in post a little more. I like it though.

5 - My favorite as well, nice job.

6 - Face is a bit dark but I like the light. Some localized brightness on the face would help. Might try to clean up around the nose, kinda distracting. Color temp is a bit cold here, might adjust white balance or add a warming layer and delete the background (from the warming layer I mean).

7 - Same as #6 but this one looks almost too warm.

8 - Harsh light really hurts this photo, shadows are under her eyes, mouth, cheeks.. like the sun is nuking her.

Hope I wasn't too critical..

Don't be afraid to use your flash, even the onboard one is better than nothing. Yes, even in the middle of the day..

Lazy Photographer · Jun 6, 2010

Thanks everyone, very helpful. I know #8 is a bit harsh because of the sun but for me the look on her face is priceless. I wish I'd gotten it when the sun was obscured by a cloud. #4 and 5 are my favs' too, although I really like the first one.

TamiyaGuy · Jun 6, 2010

Some really nice shots here, a nice mixture of serious, arty photos and just plain fun photos. I actually really like number 7; those wide eyes are fantastic and I believe a few minutes in Photoshop will solve the brightness problem.

JeffieLove · Jun 6, 2010

Did a quick edit on #8...

The shadows are still there, but at least now you can tell what color her eyes are ...

It's not the greatest, I just played with a few of the slider in light room...

KmH · Jun 6, 2010

Lazy Photographer said:
Thanks everyone, very helpful. I know #8 is a bit harsh because of the sun but for me the look on her face is priceless. I wish I'd gotten it when the sun was obscured by a cloud. #4 and 5 are my favs' too, although I really like the first one.

The solution to a shooting situations like #8, is to use flash.

Lazy Photographer · Jun 6, 2010

Thanks Sarah, nice work. And yes, KmH, flash would have solved this. The problem is I wasn't prepared and within a second she'd moved on again. And thanks TamiyaGuy.