Dad attempting portraits of kids C&C appreciated

[Edsport]

Edsport, that is impressive. You would never know that the car and parking lot line were ever there. Thanks for sharing and giving us hope to make some of these shots better.

We bought photoshop elements for my Wife to use as she has much more patience, and a better eye for post processing than I do. Can these edits be done in elements, or does the full version have better tools for these types of edits?

I have never used elements but my guess is yes these edits can be done with elements. Search youtube for tutorials on clone tool, patch tool and spot healing tool. It's very easy to learn these tools...

 

[The_Traveler]

I generally agree with the comments above that these are pretty solid.
You need to watch shadows and placement in the frame but otherwise you are right on.

I think the clear winner is #4 because of all the emotion and connection in the shot.
I suggest that you crop to 4 x 5 to make them more prominent and remove some of that space above them.
Then lighten their faces only and darken the background slightly.
Then warm the picture some to get rid of that bluish cast that often appears when shooting in the shade. (IMO, children look better in warm-ish pictures)

 

[NikonRookie]

I generally agree with the comments above that these are pretty solid.
You need to watch shadows and placement in the frame but otherwise you are right on.

I think the clear winner is #4 because of all the emotion and connection in the shot.
I suggest that you crop to 4 x 5 to make them more prominent and remove some of that space above them.
Then lighten their faces only and darken the background slightly.
Then warm the picture some to get rid of that bluish cast that often appears when shooting in the shade. (IMO, children look better in warm-ish pictures)

View attachment 5091

Thanks Lew. I like the crop on that, much cleaner and definitely makes the kids more prominent in the photo. Thanks for the tips!

 

[mcap1972]

Good job!
Mario