First Mom and Baby Portrait

[AgentDrex]

I finally found someone to let me practice but by the time we got to the place she wanted to shoot at, the sun was much too low in the sky and trees were blocking it from this area. Though this gave some great diffuse light, only one of the photos taken turned out well. ISO 1600, f/1.8, 1/40 (or 1/30), Canon 50mm on my Canon 1000D (APS-C sensor). Most of the photos were blurred and I need to learn how to direct people with posing. Here's one that I felt was mediocre yet passable:



Edited per suggestions. May not be what was in mind but this is my crack at it:
View attachment 55408

 

[wyogirl]

Well, I'm no pro but here are my 2 cents....
Throw this bad boy in lightroom and bump the exposure because its too dark. Personally, I'd warm it up too but that is preference and not law. Its not terrible, but not great either, which by your original post you already know this.
Second, shooting wide open with two subjects often means that one person will be out of focus so stop down some.
Third, 1/40 is too slow to photograph people most of the time because you will get motion blur. At 50mm I suggest no lower than 1/60th.
And fourth, (I suck at posing too) but never photograph a woman in a position that makes the belly have muffin top... especially a postpartum woman. Us ladies like to feel pretty, not pudgy.

Keep practicing, that's all us newbies can do really. Good luck.

 

[AgentDrex]

Thank you much for the feedback. I'll take all that into consideration as I get the chance to shoot again.

This photo has been post-processed in Photoshop CS6 from RAW and I brightened it so that the histogram was pushed as far right as possible without touching the edge. The original photo even at 1/40 (or 1/30) was much, much darker. I'm not sure why it looks so dark on your monitor. It looks fine on mine. To get this amount of light, I would have shot at 1/10. I did have the camera on a tripod with mirror-lock on and a radio shutter trigger. The aperture chosen (f/1.8) seemed to cover the subjects well enough, however I underestimated the distance I needed them to be from the background. I'll do a version that's warmed up as well and post that alongside the original.

Thank you also for a lady's point-of-view when it comes to proper posing. I will definitely keep that in mind with future shots.


By the way, I like your photos over at zenfolio...

 

[Rebekah5280]

Did you do something to the eyes?? They kind of look freaky.

 

[AgentDrex]

That you for the question; yes, I did do something with the eyes. Would you care to elaborate about how they look "freaky".
Is it brown, is it white? Is it really outta sight?
I can't put my finger on it.

 

[Rebekah5280]

They look VERY over processed. The whites are too white, the color you pulled out of them looks strange. Alien eyes. Way overprocessed. Can you post the original?

 

[nola.ron]

Agreed with all points above, especially no-no angle of a lady and the alien eyes. Also yes, very under exposed.

 

[dreaming13]

they dont show any emotion. happy is almost always welcome, but even if not, the subjects should show emotion.
the processing... try brighter and more contrasted. the second one is too yellow/green.

 

[vintagesnaps]

The child is in an awkward looking position and would have looked better with a more pleasant expression; it doesn't seem like you were able to get a proper exposure under the circumstances so didn't get a sharp enough image (which seems to be at least partly what affected how the child's eyes look).