C & C for first photos please

[Much2learn]

I just got my first SLR camera a few months ago. I know I have far to go in terms of composition, but would like some CC on exposure and sharpness. Silly me, I picked a 2 year old to photograph - who knew that they don't stay still for longer than 1/2 a millisecond? Perhaps I should have started out with rocks! All comments welcome!

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[The_Traveler]

It would be easier to see and the comments would make much more sense to all viewers if you would actually post the picture large rather than a thumbnail link to your gallery photos.

 

[Much2learn]

Right! Here they are. Thank you so much for your help The_Traveler! Now C&C away!

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[The_Traveler]

First, the little girl is gorgeous.

All my opinion follows. Take it with many grains of salt.

I like #4 the most. The hair frames her face beautifully and the 'look' of it is great but the amount of bright white space and the brightness of the shirt is really distracting. Additionally her eye sockets are deeply shadowed. THis is nice start but flawed and I think you'll want to reshoot this.

#3 - face turned from light. large mass of red flowers in the way. Awkward composition, she's dead center

#2 - too oof for me and face in the shadow

#1 - overexposed and too much bright space at the top.

If you shot these in RAW, they might be fixable.

Actually really, really nice start.
Pretty good poses, natural unaffected model.
Just short steps from here to beautiful results, I think

Lew

 

[Much2learn]

Thank you so much for the comments!

I think I an realizing that composition plays such a huge role not just from an aesthetic point of view but also in ensuring good light for the photo.

If you were in my shoes when taking photo 4, would you have changed the settings to ensure that her eyes weren't so dark, or is it a matter of changing her/my angle to get better light? I suppose the same question goes for not having the bright distracting light in the corner?

Yes- I agree that the girl is gorgeous! Knowing her personally makes it hard to differentiate between beautiful pictures and beautiful subjects!

Again- many thanks.

 

[Bossy]

Little nitpic, you have a DSLR, not a SLR

Shes gorgeous And therefore difficult to CC hah.
She's fairly orange in the colored ones. I really <3 #2, it just has really lovely movement to it.

 

[The_Traveler]

The orange comes from over-saturation (in late afternoon sun, I guess)
There's no setting to fix that.
re: #4 - You could dodge out the darkness in PS but it would be a bit difficult and, with her delicate skin, not so useful I would guess.
Fill light, from a flash or a reflector, is how to correct that.

Your best bet is to follow her around and take a few million more, use what you know and get ones that don't need real tough corrections.
She's gorgeous and evidently not camera shy so you have some real advantages.