First Birthday Portrait

[sscarmack]

Not something I usually do, but decided to bite the bullet.

Thoughts?

 

[Derrel]

ADORABLE outfit and setting in shot #1. I wish you would have included the balloons instead of eliminating them from the composition and instead showing us those trees and the lawn behind him--including the balloons could have really made this simply an incredible shot. It's still good, but the cropping off of the balloons in favor of including out of focus background elements on the left and on the right hurt the shot. Pulling back a bit farther would have made a nice horizontal composition, if the balloons were shown. He has a cute body position in shot #1, and good eye contact with the viewer.

I'm not quite as sold on the second shot. It's just not quite as "cutesy" as the first shot is, and the big orange kiddie slide is pretty overpowering. He's looking down and his eyes are just dark shapes, so there's no engagement with the viewer, and the bubbles are not really in good position. THe single big bubble right on the edge of the frame is not helping. I've used bubbles and kids before--and it's tricky....weather and wind and lighting need to be right, and the bubbles move around a lot.

 

[sscarmack]

Derrel,

I appreciate that critique, took time and really good pointers!

I completely agree with you, I took almost 300 photos so I have a bunch, I chose number 1 bc it was the best eye contact I had with him and I liked the pose... Here is another shot I liked from the series with the balloons, 'slightly pulled back'




And yes, I couldn't believe how tricky the bubbles were. Every time I went to snap the wind just swooped them all away, or he wasn't interested in the bubbles, this or that or that or this haha.

Heres another bubble one

 

[cynicaster]

Yeah, I'm with Derrel on the balloons.

I'd take it one step further and say I wish the shot were in vertical orientation.

 

[Derrel]

View attachment 75685

I think this is a WONDERFUL first birthday shot!!! He is obviously caught up in the moment, and we can see how little he is, what a great head of hair he has for being one year old, and what a nice day it was, weather-wise. (That said, I think I would crop off the fir tree in the background so that the trunk/ground juncture is eliminated; that little sunlight patch with the tree trunk bisecting it pulls the eye. A little cropped of the RHS will tighten this up marvelously and elevate it even higher!)

 

[vintagesnaps]

He looks like he got plunked at the bottom of the slide and isn't quite sure what to think about the whole thing! lol but kids sometimes will act different with other people around or when it's a special occasion instead of the usual routine. The facial expressions sometimes are priceless.

The second one with the balloons is nice, it seems like some of the balloons look a bit sharper than the lettering on his shirt does, but it could just be how it shows up on here. I agree some vertical shots might have been nice with the balloons.

 

[CD51]

Great shots, I like the shot that the little guy is playing with the balloons as well.

 

[sscarmack]

Thats one thing I really need to start working on, turning my camera sideways. I am so caught up on keeping it straight and trying to frame it and I completely forget there is a whole nother orientation haha.