A couple kid pictures

Civchic · Aug 25, 2014

Here are a couple of shots I'm pretty proud of from recently. I think I'm improving on watching for certain things, I'm still missing others. I still haven't tried very many pictures of other peoples' kids. I know these two so well that I can predict when they're going to do something photo worthy, LOL.

I really like how this turned out. The brown leaf cutting across her cheek in front of her mouth is probably a little too much, but I framed her eyes as best I could. For background, she is about 15 feet ahead of me hiking along what is rapidly becoming not-a-path. I only had her attention for a second.

aug 23 jungle girl by civgirlca, on Flickr

This one I'm happy with even though I can't see my son's face:

aug 17 003 corbin and elena by civgirlca, on Flickr

And this one at the Toronto Zoo. This bronze orangutan is located under a tree outside one of the pavilions and it is a tradition for us to pose here - there are photos of my siblings and I at this spot almost every year going back to when I was my son's age. I'm pleased with this one as the spot is a challenging one light-wise.

aug 13 003a orangutan kids by civgirlca, on Flickr

Any critique is totally welcome - of course I like these pictures, but I liked the first ones I ever posted here as well, and I've improved a LOT since then thanks to your help.

LCLimages · Aug 26, 2014

Naturally you're going to like these pictures, because they are of your own kids. You will be better able to subjectively pick apart a picture of a child that isn't your own.

#1 - This just doesn't work for me, sorry. I can tell what you were going for, and I want to like it, but I can't. The leaf running under her eyes over her nose, and the brown one across her face you already mentioned - those two kill it for me, among other things. She's too centered in the frame. I attached a re-crop, just to show how I'd have composed it. The forehead leaves are part of the framing of her face, but you need to be able to see the rest of the face for this to work. And then (and this is just my opinion) you need a shallower DOF than your 55-250 is going to give you - you'd have to absolutely nail the focus on her eyes and render the rest of the leaves more OOF. The ones by the side of her face that are still relatively sharp also take the focus off her face. And, if I look at it at 100% - I'm pixel peeping - her eyes are soft, the whites of her eyes need brightened up, and there seems to be some funky saturation issue going on under her nose.

#2 - this is the best of the 3 IMO. It's a cute moment, boy's face or not. It would have been ideal for him to not have the hat on. WB is a little cool and you have a greenish cast going on. I opened it in LR and warmed the WB up by one click and pushed the magenta tint slider to the right to reduce the green cast. I also cloned out the flag - that's distracting. What I'd do if I were you is convert this to B&W. All I can see in the color image is his red hat - it's distracting. In B&W, the focus becomes more on the intended subjects.

#3 - Looks like a cute snapshot, a family tradition moment. WB is a little better. As far as any critiques go beyond "snapshot" - the tree is growing out of his head, his feet are cut off, and her hand is OOF.

Keep shooting and posting!

chuasam · Aug 27, 2014

They're decent holiday snaps. That's about it.

vintagesnaps · Aug 27, 2014

I like the idea of the first one, but yeah, that brown leaf just cuts too much across the face. Maybe taking a step to the right would have helped? If I can't make a big change in my vantage point, which wouldn't even have probably been necessary for this, I just lean. Or scrunch. Or whatever - I think it just takes a lot of practice, I've done so much sports and events and have been a photographer for so many years, it's just second nature, I don't consciously think - should I take a step this way or that, I just do it. I think the second one might be better with less background but it's a nice shot of them. I wonder how the third might have been shooting a photo vertically? to keep all of them in the photo (but obviously you would have had to step back or change your vantage point). I try to grab a couple or so shots and yeah, with kids it's going to mean doing so fast. Which again I think is the practice. Keep at it, you seem to be improving, and seem to do well seeing what you need to do differently next time.

Civchic · Aug 27, 2014

Thank you for your detailed critiques and the editing examples (I like the B&W)! I will chew on all of it. LCL - I don't like ALL the pictures of my kids, but yes, they do make it harder to self-critique. Alas, I don't have many opportunities for other models, so they will have to do. Someday I will try to set up real posed shots - with most of photos of them (and other family members) I treat them like wildlife shots - if I'd asked him to take off his hat (or switched lenses on the first one) the moment would have been lost.

But these C&C always do help me tremendously for the next time I'm out. And ouch on the third, I was so pleased to have decent light on their faces that I didn't even "see" all the flaws. ha.

Vintagesnaps, that "seeing the picture" thing is what I've been trying to be conscious of. I'll keep practicing. I don't aspire to be a portrait photographer, I just want my family albums to look nice.