Dappled sunlight

I think you all have overworked your "CC"s.
When a photog goes into the field to shoot children portraits ie in this case someones yard or park with the subject in the shade and a dappled light background it is just that.
A nice little portrait of a kid on the grass.
IT IS NOT A GREAT PIECE OF ART.
Chances are you critics could do little better.
Now if any of you have truly Creative, Constructive Criticism for this admitted amateur who is trying hard to understand all you have spit on her and trying to improve, give it to her.
Your "opinion" is just that. An opinion - every one has one. Facts like problems with over/under exposure, bad lighting, out of focus, bad shadows/highlights, composition etc are what should be given -- along with a break to one who is trying.

I've seen highly accomplished pro shooters shooting (on purpose) high end fashion shots in dappled light. Every rule will be broken. That is how real art starts. JMO
While I appreciate a condescending lecture as much as the next guy, I think you are completely off base. Giving someone " a break" defeats the purpose of C+C. We are not saying the OP should quit or is some idiot for how the picture turned out, we are simply stating opinions on what could have been done to improve. Yes, they are just opinions, but the OP should know that when asking questions on a forum. There are still things that could easily be done to make the image better if some attention was paid to detail. I stated the distracting blotch of light right next to the subjects head and the gray shadow on the other side of the face. You could have done better to simply re-position the child and change your angle to place the light splotches in a not-so-distracting place. You could also have completely forgone any type of reflector and not cared about blowing the background at all. You could have shot Contra Jour, if you liked and embraced the overexposure. There are plenty of possibilities if more thought was given. ( or more knowledge was used, and thats what we are trying to give. )
 
Where was the reflector behind the babies left ear ? i can't see where a gold reflector would be on the other side, i wouldn't use gold in the shade

It was right in front of her. And you should use gold in the shade to offset the blue colorcast of the shade....

It's kinda been pointed out here already, but it bears repeating: the gold reflector is only going to counteract the cool tones of the shade on the side of the subject it shines on, which means the rest of the subject is still going to have the color cast, as seen in this image.

If you'd used a white reflector and changed your white balance setting (either on the camera or in post) to counteract the coolness of the shade, you'd have ended up with much more balanced tones.
 
Hey Sabrina,

I was thinking about the gold vrs silver vrs white reflector options, and wanted to throw something out there. Try to remember that the light you're getting from the gold side is its own tempertature, vrs the color of the ambient (shaded) light you're working with outdoors in this shot. I think you've unintentionally recreated the tungesten vrs cool lighting problem that's easy to run into. You have one orange source, and one cool source. They're competing on the baby's skin tones. So while in many cases I can see why you'd like shooting with the golden light from your reflector, I think that it doesn't work for this shot with the time of day and ambient light provided.

The gold reflector always seems to work best when it compliments the rest of your lighting..IE shooting around sunset at the golden hour, or when you don't have to worry about conflicting light temperatures.

Anyway, hope that helps. Good focus in this shot, the baby's eyes are nice and sharp. As for your dappled lighting question...it's a matter of preference. I think for a baby potrait, the parents will love it. But from a technical standpoint, I don't really think the blown out super bright grass adds to the picture so much as distracts most of the time.
 
i find the blown out area of the grass in the background by the baby's head very distracting
 
Where was the reflector behind the babies left ear ? i can't see where a gold reflector would be on the other side, i wouldn't use gold in the shade

It was right in front of her. And you should use gold in the shade to offset the blue colorcast of the shade....

Obviously not. I had a gold circle reflector right infront of me, which is why the other side of her face is bluish... you know, the side where the reflector didn't reach?

You know what the hell you're doing then? Hmm.

Gold reflector on one side, making that side warm. No reflector on other side, making that side cool. In the end, WB issue that's difficult for you to fix! Nice work, pro!

I hope you didn't charge her for those photos, that'd be a shame.

Oh, and as far as the image is concerned. WB issue, notwithstanding, it's not a bad image, and I actually kinda like it. With proper lighting, it would have been very nice.
 
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I don't like it. I think the main issue is where that dappled light is placed in the background. Its right next to the focus of the photo which is your subjects face, and it pulls all of the attention to the blotch. It also appears that there is some odd lighting on the babys face closest to the blotch of light. The skin tone on that section looks wierd to me.

+1
 
Maybe I'm the minority...but it would be nice to know if the information was of any help to the OP, or if we were all being too mean = \
 
Maybe I'm the minority...but it would be nice to know if the information was of any help to the OP, or if we were all being too mean = \
Whether we are mean or not is a fairly subjective question. It all depends on how thin skinned a person is. I don't think anyone was outright mean intentionally. There may have been some people that get miffed at having their critique and opinion rebuked by the person that came here looking for those critiques, but thats pretty much par for the course on here.
 
I don't think anyone was being mean either....But it felt like the OP was in defensive mode in all of the responses. I guess I just wondered if any of the advice was even considered or if we wasted our time.
 
SHE IS ADORABLE! GREATTTTT PIC! <3
 
White balance correction/ unsharpen mask / removed the blotch of sky peeking through the trees / burnt the mid-tones a bit in the BG and hair / slight warming filter / sharpened.


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