Little ones & capturing the moment CC needed please & thanks.

[LifterCatcher]

These are a few shots from my first "Real" photo shoot. The day was gloomy and overcast and I was very nervous about taking the pics but I gave it my best. I have learned a lot from reading everyone's posts and input and took it to heart.

This little girl is so freaking cute, & I tried my best to capture it. Open to advice and appreciate the input and the lessons learned.

The majority of the shoots were taken in aperture priority mode with a Canon T3 using a 55-250mm

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 

[Derrel]

zOMG----#2 is freakin adorable!!!!! I love the leaves in her hands, and the foliage framing her "littleness". The good, low camera vantage point really helps, by making her look big, and allowing the overhanging tree and lovely yellow leaves to look "tall" and "above".

 

[MLeeK]

Everything seems to be side shots. The last one is out of focus either from motion blur or missed focus. She's
definitely adorable!
Your colors and exposures look good overall.
The first isn't going to print well to an 8x10. It's either going to crop her fingers or it's going to be incredibly close to her fingers and touching her head.
You've tried and succdeded to place her well for the basics of composition.
I love the one where she's eating the leaves. I just wish she was looking toward you.
Aperture priority is great, but you have to be set up so that you know your shutter speed isn't going to drop too low, which is what I suspect happened in the last one.

 

[TenaciousTins]

I think you did a GREAT job of capturing HER. I really like this set of pictures. I don't know which one is my favorite...probably the first or second. I would be very happy to have these pics if I was her mother.

 

[LightSpeed]

number 2.

Bingo.

 

[LifterCatcher]

zOMG----#2 is freakin adorable!!!!! I love the leaves in her hands, and the foliage framing her "littleness". The good, low camera vantage point really helps, by making her look big, and allowing the overhanging tree and lovely yellow leaves to look "tall" and "above".

Wow, thank you so much. I was reading a few other topics and really took to heart the part about having a low vantage point and about 90% of the shots I took of her that day I was laying on the ground or sitting down.

Everything seems to be side shots. The last one is out of focus either from motion blur or missed focus. She's
definitely adorable!
Your colors and exposures look good overall.
The first isn't going to print well to an 8x10. It's either going to crop her fingers or it's going to be incredibly close to her fingers and touching her head.
You've tried and succdeded to place her well for the basics of composition.
I love the one where she's eating the leaves. I just wish she was looking toward you.
Aperture priority is great, but you have to be set up so that you know your shutter speed isn't going to drop too low, which is what I suspect happened in the last one.

MLeek, thanks for the feedback it is very helpful. Good to know about the printing concerns, have not even tried to print any of the shots yet. You are very correct about the last picture and Aperture priority & shutter speed. At times I was making adjustments to the ISO to help a little and a couple of the pictures I ended up taking in Manual mode, just so I could set the shutter a little faster.

She was fast and all over the place part of the fun and the challenge. I have been learning back button focusing, and it seems to help.

I think you did a GREAT job of capturing HER. I really like this set of pictures. I don't know which one is my favorite...probably the first or second. I would be very happy to have these pics if I was her mother.

Thanks so much, I was actually able to show her Grandmother some of the pictures, and she teared up as someone who took the pics there is not another feeling like that.

number 2.

Bingo.

Thank you

 

[LifterCatcher]

Mleek here are a few more pics where she is looking at me and not a side shot.

6.

7. Also a little out of focus

8.

 

[MLeeK]

That second set is nice. Again you have a motion blur image in there. They are a bit to the very warm side on the skin. When I pull it into ACR the face is 100% orange. The first one is a great shot, but needs to be lightened just bit. You have great catch lights in those amazing eyes that you can "almost" see. The fronts of her pig-tails are a pretty heavy black spot that you need a little bit of detail in. Not much! I am guessing .10 to .25 of a stop. I'd clone those stray strings out on her hair ribbon. I have no idea why they pull my eye, but they do.
Are you fully calibrated? I have a feeling you may be seeing these brighter and cooler than we are.

 

[LifterCatcher]

That second set is nice. Again you have a motion blur image in there. They are a bit to the very warm side on the skin. When I pull it into ACR the face is 100% orange. The first one is a great shot, but needs to be lightened just bit. You have great catch lights in those amazing eyes that you can "almost" see.

Good to know, I have looked at the pictures on a couple of different computers and they do seem a little different.

The fronts of her pig-tails are a pretty heavy black spot that you need a little bit of detail in. Not much! I am guessing .10 to .25 of a stop.

Ok awesome, I will make some adjustments and see what I can do.

I'd clone those stray strings out on her hair ribbon. I have no idea why they pull my eye, but they do.

Great call out, until you said something I really didn't notice them that much but since you said it, my eyes go to it almost immediately.

Are you fully calibrated? I have a feeling you may be seeing these brighter and cooler than we are.

Not sure what that means? Off to google to find out...

.

 

[dsquared]

In my opinion, they need more focus, some of them are blurry...

 

[MLeeK]

You are seeing different things on different computers because none of the displays are calibrated. You must calibrate your monitor if you want your prints to look anything like what is on your computer. Most monitors out of the box are very bright, very contrasty and tend to error on the cool side. That will make you brighten exposures that don't need brightening and you will think exposures that are correct are actually darker than they appear on your screen. I suspect that is what is happening in her pig tails and the blacks. The cool color on the monitor will cause you to push the white balance of your images to the oranges when they are actually pretty good. You see more blues and greens than we do.

 

[LifterCatcher]

In my opinion, they need more focus, some of them are blurry...

Agree, & that is one area that I have been spending a lot of time working on. I have been using BBF and it seems to work better in most situations but there are times that its more effective to use the shutter button to focus. It's just learning when to use BBF or the shutter button.

You are seeing different things on different computers because none of the displays are calibrated. You must calibrate your monitor if you want your prints to look anything like what is on your computer. Most monitors out of the box are very bright, very contrasty and tend to error on the cool side. That will make you brighten exposures that don't need brightening and you will think exposures that are correct are actually darker than they appear on your screen. I suspect that is what is happening in her pig tails and the blacks. The cool color on the monitor will cause you to push the white balance of your images to the oranges when they are actually pretty good. You see more blues and greens than we do.

Got ya that makes total sense, is there a certain technique to calibrate your monitor correctly?

Once again thanks everyone for the CC & feedback I really do appreciate it.

Chris

 

[jwbryson1]

#2 is $$$. Well done. Work on the focus. Good job getting down low at her level. :thumbup:

 

[shinyblackapple]

Beautiful set of pictures. I like them all. The little girl is gorgeous.

 

[MLeeK]

There are ways to 'kind of' hand calibrate and there are tons of web sites to walk you through it. You can get close that way, but to truly calibrate you will need calibration hardware like the Spyder3, colormunki, i1d2, pantone huey... you can find a good basic calibrator for somewhere around $50 to $75.