critique please

[lizzmc4]

Here's a few recent ones …doing my first PAID session next weekend (engagement) ….nervous!

 

[Trever1t]

OK I'll be a little blunt. Kids are cute. #1 and #3 the subjects and poses are adorable. the giant watermark is a huge distraction. Both are really contrasty. Color is slightly off in #1, #3 could be a bit warmer. #2 does nothing for me

 

[oldhippy]

My 2 cents. I find the first pic a dichotomy. A beautiful and fragile child, with a freight car. Somehow this bothers me.Second
pic is not working for me. The facial expression and lighting are off. Third cute kid with way to much stuff to the left.
I don't want to come off all negative. The child I no1 was posed and captured well. Also no 3 , nice capture, bad crop.
you have talent . Later. Ed

 

[frommrstomommy]

completely agreeing with both above posts! keep shooting!!

 

[EAMArt]

I am trying to get passed the watermarks ( Seems like you are not really interested in advice; it's more like you are trying to advertise yourself. )
1-I actually like the train and the glowing hair but the grass has an acid color. Where is her nose?
2-This one is my fav. but she needs a nose.
3-I agree... Bad crop and I think that is a nose. lol

 

[jenko]

There are some technical problems in them-- #1 is slightly overexposed and the glare on the side of the train is too distracting. The DOF in #2 is distracting. The closest element in the image, her feet, are out of focus and taking up too much space in the frame. Her expression does not bother me. #3 is the strongest overall. I'm not bothered by the background, it's impressionistic and the colors of her sleeve cuffs echo the bokeh and harmonize. I do think she is a bit too close to the edge and since she is looking out that side of the frame, the viewer exits the image much sooner than they normally would. If she were on the left looking toward the right, the viewer would spend more time inside the image.

On a positive note, there is something quite fresh about the images. They do not feel like generic kid portraits. They have a bit of a fashion edge to them, but also feel very natural. I think with some practice, you could develop a really interesting style that would appeal to those who want to deviate from the norm, but still stay within the boundaries of convention.

 

[Braineack]

It's hard to give critique on these because they all look out of focus, overexposed, over saturated, missed WB, and show lots of compression noise from the way they were saved out. I'm not sure if that's actually how you intended them to look or fault of them being attached here...

 

[TamiAz]

Please don't take what they're saying too personally.. If you ask for critique here, you get what you asked for without the sugar coating.. I just thought I'd throw that out there since your new.

With that being said, I do agree the images do look a bit over saturated and the eyes look a bit over done.. I guess some people like that, but I believe doing that in camera with the use of good light and not photoshop. My favorite is the one with the girl eating the apple. I tend to prefer more natural lifestyle images. I think it would have been better if you could see her face by bringing the apple down a bit.

This is a great place to learn photography..You just have to get used to being told like it is. They really are a bunch of nice people who like to help!! I've learned a ton in the last two years I've been visiting this board!

 

[weepete]

I like 2 the best funnily enough. You do seem to have blown out highlights in all of these and have pushed it way too far in PP which make the colours jarring. Good attempts though.

 

[amolitor]

I think you need to stop down a little. You're having trouble nailing focus, I think. The eyes all seem a little soft in these. Not *horrible* but a bit soft. As noted, there are some overexposure problems, I think you're going for a "light, airy" look but you wind up just blowing out highlights all over. A more gentle touch, and the use of a curves of similar adjustment in post-processing will accomplish the same thing but is a less graphically severe way.

 

[JacaRanda]

Welcome to TPF lizzmc4. I applaud the critics and their critique given. Straight to the point and very helpful.

Probably a good idea to jot some or all of these down to take to your engagement shoot. Good luck!

 

[hirejn]

Background is a hot mess in 1. No. 2 is awkward because of the pose and sandwich or whatever she's holding in front of her face; background is a little awkward; face is overexposed (technically, not necessarily subjectively, but there's no good reason it should be), and there's no defined light pattern. No. 3 has a better background than the others but there's no defined light pattern. The expression and composition are good. Lack of lighting is one of the top differences between pros and amateurs. You have an eye that notices light but doesn't quite know how to use it, or how to introduce it effectively. If you want to keep improving, work on light, backgrounds and exposure. If you don't know what light patterns are, you can't create them on purpose and that puts you behind what essentially all professionals are doing.

 

[Tee]

I think you need to stop down a little. You're having trouble nailing focus, I think. The eyes all seem a little soft in these. Not *horrible* but a bit soft. As noted, there are some overexposure problems, I think you're going for a "light, airy" look but you wind up just blowing out highlights all over. A more gentle touch, and the use of a curves of similar adjustment in post-processing will accomplish the same thing but is a less graphically severe way.

+1 The light and airy look is in but you can't sacrifice focus in order to achieve it.

Be careful of your watermark becoming the central focus of each image. You may be advertising your biz but you have to "sell" the image to the customer first.

I am trying to get passed the watermarks ( Seems like you are not really interested in advice; it's more like you are trying to advertise yourself. )

I think it's more that the critique didn't go as expected so didn't reply.

 

[DiskoJoe]

OK I'll be a little blunt. Kids are cute. #1 and #3 the subjects and poses are adorable. the giant watermark is a huge distraction. Both are really contrasty. Color is slightly off in #1, #3 could be a bit warmer. #2 does nothing for me

Im with you on that watermark but I definitely see some potential here. These reminds me somewhat of one of my flickr contacts. She exclusively does childrens photography.

You can check her out here for some inspiration. Im pretty sure you'll love her work.

Flickr: Elena Karagyozova's Photostream