Baby Portraits (first attempt) Printing advice needed

I daresay the proof of the pudding is in the eating, I really liked 2 and 3 but the parents didn't go for either of these shots which I suppose entirely prooves your point. I did bring a bubble gun along but he ended up staring intently at the bubbles that fell on the grass and looked almost depressed.

I see what you mean about the back lighting here. If I had taken the shot you've posted I'd have been worried about blown highlights and the grass being too bright but it obviously really works here. I suppose this is the difference experience brings and how well you know your trade. If I get the chance to do this again I think a damn sight more forethought will be necessary.

This is all invaluable advice, I really appreciate it. I think I'll spend the next couple of nights touching up the two keepers I have and re-examining the rest of the shoot to see if there's anything else in there.

Thank you.

 

Happy to see someone take CC so well and to heart I look forward to more of your work

 

Sorry to keep battering on in this thread but I really want to get this right.

I'm processing the shoot from scratch, (hopefully better). The parents want 8x10 prints so I'm cropping accordingly. My problem is the sharpness, obviously the sharpen tools are less effective at this resolution so how do you prevent your prints coming back to you soft? Is there an effective technique for sharpening at this size that doesn't leave the images looking, well over-sharpened? I'm struggling to find a middle ground.

[edit] resizing to 2000x2500 allows much more effective use of sharpening, is it worth submitting for printing at this size, (still substantially bigger than the minimum requirements) or will this have a noticable impact on the prints?