Her first Birthday party

[ADavis85]

My friend's daughter, Audrey, turned one. Here are a few images from her Birthday party.


Audrey by ACDavis85, on Flickr


Yummy! by ACDavis85, on Flickr

The entire set can be viewed HERE.

As always, thanks for looking and please do let me know what you think!

 

[KrisztinaK]

The first thing that hits me is the on-board flash. Bouncing off the ceiling or a nearly wall would create much more pleasing light for such portraits. It can improve these snapshots tremendously.

 

[ADavis85]

Well, while I appreciate your commnts, please know that I DID use a hot shoe flash which was bounced off the ceiling. I'm not sure if you read the exif data or not, not sure where you're getting the on-board flash thing from. But hey, thanks for looking and calling my work "snapshots". I'll try to improve on that.

 

[o hey tyler]

Well, while I appreciate your commnts, please know that I DID use a hot shoe flash which was bounced off the ceiling. I'm not sure if you read the exif data or not, not sure where you're getting the on-board flash thing from. But hey, thanks for looking and calling my work "snapshots". I'll try to improve on that.

I don't think that calling them snapshots is necessarily a bad thing for what they are. They're basically just landscape orientation headshots of your daughter. If you put a lot of effort into lighting and composition, then yeah, I can see where you'd take offense. But to me, they look like they were pretty casually shot.

The framing is quite tight on both of them as well, and that border... Well. Yeah. You could probably ditch the border. The flash is a little hot on the first one. What was your camera and flash set to?

It does look like she had a good time though. No doubt about that!

 

[ADavis85]

I don't take offense to anything (if I was easily offended, I wouldn't be a photographer), other than the lack of effort in the "critique" offered. Meaning, that if you're going to say things like "don't use the on-board flash..." (paraphrasing, obviously) you should KNOW weather or not the on-board flash was used. I mean, no...I didn't bring in my big light and an umbrella, but this was a party...not a studio.

With that being said, they are candid shots of her at the party (that is to say, this is in no way a portrait session), although I don't know that casual is the right word.

The border...yeah, I mean I like it but I could take it or leave it if I'm being honest. I wanted to leave them a little more than just the photo...in general I prefer having a border. But either way, I can understand that point...and I'm sure some people would agree or disagree with that.

As for that flash being too hot, I'm not so sure. I was using TTL, but when I got the photo into LR4, it was actually a TINY bit underexposed. I actually just upped the Highlights a bit, wanted the face to be a bit brighter than it was. Framing was intentional...with as many people as were at the party, I wanted to isolate Audrey a bit. These are also cropped ever so slightly, so as to eliminate distracting elements from the sides etc. For example, in the first picture shown here, Audrey's Mom (my friend Becky) was holding the baby, and her shoulder is a bit visible.

Tyler, I appreciate your comments, and of course, thanks for looking!

 

[shutterbugjen]

My Son's first birthday party is only 2 months away! I can't wait to photograph him eating cake for the first time!

 

[Ashlee_Duh]

The border is way too distracting in my opinion. I like the second photo a lot better than the first one. In the second one you captured innocence. Rare are things, more innocent than a child and their food. Very beautiful little girl.

 

[jwbryson1]

you should KNOW weather or not the on-board flash was used.

Not always. I posted some pics on another website and the wife of a good friend of mine (he's a full-time pro and the best of the best photographers out there) said to me "try bouncing the flash off a wall or the ceiling" for better results. These were decent shots and I HAD done just that, so I get the "irritation" in those types of comments, but to be fair you cannot always tell.

 

[ADavis85]

My Son's first birthday party is only 2 months away! I can't wait to photograph him eating cake for the first time!

Yeah, a very entertaining moment, to be sure!

The border is way too distracting in my opinion. I like the second photo a lot better than the first one. In the second one you captured innocence. Rare are things, more innocent than a child and their food. Very beautiful little girl.

Thanks for the comments. I'm starting to agree...I think I'll ditch the border. I liked it at the time lol. I agree about the cake though...it's so cute to see a baby's reaction to cake when they first experience it. There's a fun story of my first cake...apparently I wouldn't touch it with my hands (I still have a bit of OCD about things {sauce, salt, etc) being on my fingers when I'm eating to this day) so I just smashed my whole face into the cake instead. Oh how I wish my Dad/Mom would have had a camera in 1986 (when I turned 1).

you should KNOW weather or not the on-board flash was used.

Not always. I posted some pics on another website and the wife of a good friend of mine (he's a full-time pro and the best of the best photographers out there) said to me "try bouncing the flash off a wall or the ceiling" for better results. These were decent shots and I HAD done just that, so I get the "irritation" in those types of comments, but to be fair you cannot always tell.

I get that, and I completely understand that someone can't always tell. Which is exactly my point. Far better to ask the question, "Hey, were you using the on-board flash here?" than to just assume that I did something (for lack of a better word) 'wrong'.

 

[bunny99123]

I have taken photos of one 1 year old bd, and that wore me out. It is a challenge and to get good photos is difficult and a challenge. What a precious gift...a child. You have a beautiful baby

 

[KrisztinaK]

Wow, I did not mean to offend you at all, and if my comments came out that way then I'd like to apologize.

But, I stand by my OPINION that these look like snapshots from a party. You said to let you know what we think, and that is what I think. The pinpoint catchlights in the dead center of her eyes and the shadow under her chin are what gave the appearance of direct flash.

I realize now that I shouldn't have said you used an on-board flash. It does not matter what type of flash was used, on-board or hot shoe. The lighting still seems a bit harsh for my taste and doesn't appear to have been bounced. Last time I checked I was entitled to an opinion like everyone else.

I'm not sure if you read the exif data or not

Since you did not post your settings in the OP, I had no way of knowing what your settings were in these shots.
I did not follow your links to explore such data (I don't generally follow links on MB's). I know many on here use EXIF readers but I am not one of them.
That is why I did not KNOW what your flash settings were. Quite frankly, I don't think that I should be berated for not knowing your settings nor have to defend myself for not knowing your settings when you did not post them for me to know.

Perhaps we can try this again, as I did not join this board to piss anyone off. Or vice versa.

I'm sorry if my reply upset you. I will choose my words more carefully next time.
She really looks like she had a blast with that cake. TFS

 

[o hey tyler]

I don't take offense to anything (if I was easily offended, I wouldn't be a photographer), other than the lack of effort in the "critique" offered. Meaning, that if you're going to say things like "don't use the on-board flash..." (paraphrasing, obviously) you should KNOW weather or not the on-board flash was used. I mean, no...I didn't bring in my big light and an umbrella, but this was a party...not a studio.

With that being said, they are candid shots of her at the party (that is to say, this is in no way a portrait session), although I don't know that casual is the right word.

The border...yeah, I mean I like it but I could take it or leave it if I'm being honest. I wanted to leave them a little more than just the photo...in general I prefer having a border. But either way, I can understand that point...and I'm sure some people would agree or disagree with that.

As for that flash being too hot, I'm not so sure. I was using TTL, but when I got the photo into LR4, it was actually a TINY bit underexposed. I actually just upped the Highlights a bit, wanted the face to be a bit brighter than it was. Framing was intentional...with as many people as were at the party, I wanted to isolate Audrey a bit. These are also cropped ever so slightly, so as to eliminate distracting elements from the sides etc. For example, in the first picture shown here, Audrey's Mom (my friend Becky) was holding the baby, and her shoulder is a bit visible.

Tyler, I appreciate your comments, and of course, thanks for looking!

I guess what I was alluding to in regards to the framing is that the photos could have been shot in portrait orientation to emphasize the activity at hand, while still cutting out the distracting elements.

I am generally all about the negative space, but usually when it's used in much larger amounts to emphasize people in a scene that isn't so activity dependent. There are a few shots in my wedding portfolio on my site that are examples of what I'm talking about.

 

[pixmedic1 1]

I agree about ditching the border.
my only other nitpic is that the kids head is kinda cut off in the first, and definitely cut off in the second.
lighting looks a little hot in the first, but just a little. sometimes up close, bouncing can still be a little harsh.
you can try turning down the power on the flash a bit, or (if you weren't already) use a diffuser. a small softbox or a plastic cap diffuser would work well.