Children Portraits CC Please

[corinthiancharm]

These are a few pictures from my first 3 photoshoots with babies... I'd like to know how I'm doing... Any suggestions would be wonderful!

1.


2.

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4.


5.

 

[clanthar]

Hi,

The photos are tending a little flat; they could benefit from some Levels correction. You also have minor color shifts in the photos. Look at the first two photos of the child in the plaid jumper, the first taken without flash and the second with flash. The same kid in the same clothes on the same day and you've got two different color kids. The non-flash photo has a blue color cast.

I made Levels (tone correction) and color adjustments to two of the photos for you to see.

Here's a hard goal to work toward: You're going to get much better photos when you get that flash off the camera.

Take Care,
Joe

 

[ababysean]

I think these are great starts, but are you getting down on the childs level? It looks like maybe you are standing above the child, giving it an odd angle.

 

[corinthiancharm]

clanthar- I definitely see what you are talking about, I was just unsure of how to fix it... I guess that will come with more practice in pp. So just to clarify... you think I should use my flash more often. That will produce more even tones. Right?

ababysean- I am getting on the child's level most of the time... However in #2 and #5 you are correct. Those were taken from above.

 

[Derrel]

On many shots, but not all, I would really think about turning the camera, to shoot "talls".
The two shots of the little girls for example, really do not work well as horizontal compositions, and in the second shot, the one where she's sitting in the chair, you have her looking right out of the frame...if you absolutely must frame a shot like that as a horizontal, it's better to give the subject some room to, as they say, "look into".

Photographing small children in the vertical or "portrait" camera orientation makes the kids' heads larger, faces clearer, and also allows the moms and grandma's to see the cute little outfits that they worked so hard to buy, pick out, or have saved for decades to dress the little ones up in...

A horizontal framing of a small child, like the boy in shot #2 makes him small in the frame, cuts off his arms and torso, and shows us 50% of the frame with the boy, and 50% of basically black, uninteresting dirt behind him....there's no reason for the horizontal camera orientation in shot #2.

Shot #1 is a different story--in #1 he is seated on a playground slide, and the picture is "wider than it is tall". That makes sense as a horizontal, but cutting off his hand and his head are kind of less than ideal framing choices. Same with the cut-off foot in the last shot of the boy in the red wooden chair.

Shot #3 she has on a cute blue sundress that her mom or grandma probably bought her...but we cannot see it...and the yellow flower is competing with her...a tall framing would have emphasized her cute outfit, her, and minimized the competition from the background and that honkin' yellow flower...same with #3..the brickwork in the background is bright..."light advances, dark recedes", meaning that the bright highlights on that chimney "advance", subconsciously, out of that mostly dark background,and visually draw the eye away from the main subject, so always watch out for bright,overexposed elements in the background.

I hope some of these ideas help you in photographing kids!

 

[clanthar]

Hi,

What is PP?

Here's some info on tone and color adjusting a photo -- it's Photoshop
specific. http://photojoes.org/art275/lesson03/chapter01.html

This is tough: I'm not suggesting you use the flash more. You're using a flash that is physically attached to the camera. Fundamentally you don't want to do that, however the alternative is costly and difficult. You'll get better flash photos when the flash is off the camera -- ideally above the subject and feet away from the camera lens, but that's hard to do:

Off Camera Flash Kit Round-Up | Photo Answers

In the meantime one advantage of the flash would be more consistent color; your camera knows what color the flash is.

Take Care,
Joe