Baby Portraits - C&C please

[pgriz]

I can handle the criticism, as long as you aren't criticizing the subject himself. Obviously, I see a gorgeous baby, (as does anyone with eyes! ) but I do also see my grandma's foot sticking out of his head in #4 as you mentioned and the soft focus (which I seem to have an ongoing struggle with). But, I CAN handle comments on how I took the picture without getting emotional. So, what do you suggest I do to get the blurry background but still keep BOTH eyes in focus? Also, I do see the overexposure - will work on that as well. Question about keeping the whole head vs. cutting the top off (sounds grisly!) - when is it appropriate to cut the top off a bit? And how much is enough? Thank you so much!

Getting the focus right is a common problem, from the number of threads dealing with this issue. Some cameras have better autofocus than others. The most sensitive focus point seems to be the center one, so when using autofocus, many will use the center-point to acquire the focus, lock it, then reframe for the composition. Others may go to manual focus, and just move back and forth relative to the subject, to get the item of interest into the focus plane.

Getting the background blurry AND getting a decent depth-of-field is tricky. It's probably better to select your shooting position so that the background you see from that position doesn't cause problems. For your information, if you want to see how much depth-of-field you actually have, you can use the following online calculator:Depth of Field Table. It's the one I used to see what your depth-of-field was.

As for getting both eyes in focus when you have a narrow depth-of-field, you have to make sure both are in the same plane of focus. A lot easier to say than to do, but that's where practice helps.

As for scalping your son - it's never appropriate. J/K. Kids have big heads, and when you're focused on the face, it's easy to forget the rest of that dome. Again, practice and awareness. Oh, and sometimes cropping in close to the face is the best thing. Perhaps the way to get a feel for the "right" amount is to take a picture showing the whole head, and then practising cropping and seeing which image(s) work and which ones don't. If you have difficulty with that, get some friends and family involved, and let them tell you which crops look better. There no one "right" answer. Well, actually there is - whatever "works".

 

[FoggyLens]

I dont knw if this has been touched already. Is your back ground a back drop or a sheet? If is a sheet just put it in the dryer.. : ) If its a back drop what I do is a couple days befor I know I need it I make sure its hung and then I mist it and then pull the wrinkles out.. : )

 

[Pete'sGirl]

I dont knw if this has been touched already. Is your back ground a back drop or a sheet? If is a sheet just put it in the dryer.. : ) If its a back drop what I do is a couple days befor I know I need it I make sure its hung and then I mist it and then pull the wrinkles out.. : )

It is a sheet, and after trying to iron it I did put it in the dryer. I was surprised to find that it didn't do the trick. It is a pretty cheap sheet. I didn't realize until I was taking his pic that it looked too wrinkly in the pictures. Lesson learned!

 

[vtf]

I know you say editing your photos is a no but I could show you how to iron out the wrinkles in post and maybe sharpen the eyes. Mind you this will only be a quick edit and some minor flaws will still exist but it will give you and idea of what you can do in difficult situations..

 

[Pete'sGirl]

I know you say editing your photos is a no but I could show you how to iron out the wrinkles in post and maybe sharpen the eyes. Mind you this will only be a quick edit and some minor flaws will still exist but it will give you and idea of what you can do in difficult situations..

OK, thanks!

 

[Pete'sGirl]

Thank you! I LOVE the background. I use GIMP, so I will see if I can try something similar in there, although I am still not that familiar with it yet. I am going to take down my pics in another day or so, just to get them off the internet, so yes, if you don't mind taking it down. (I am not afraid of people stealing them but I just don't like images of my baby up permanently.)