My 4 Month Old Daughter. Editing CC.

[LTP]

So I have this thing where I take at least one photo of my daughter, Arielle, every day. I don't know why. I think mostly because I never had any photos of me as a kid because I was adopted. I just want to document her life, every day.
But I really want her photos to get better and better. And most of all, I just want to be better all around with photography and editing. So I would like some CC on the following. It's my daughter so I'm obviously attached to even a photo of her ear so I would like some outside point of view.

My main thing is getting a good skin tone. I think the last one (also the most recent) is the closest to something I like. But it might be too red. I don't know. I think it looks more natural. These are from the past 4 days.
The first one, her skin was pretty blotchy. Any ideas of how to fix that?
I tried that tricky "newborn skin tone" with the second one and I know I failed miserably. What would you have done? If it matters, I use Paint Shop Photo Pro X3 but it's very similar to PS.

1.

2.

3.

4.

I also really wish she could move so I can get some different angles of her (by the way, the side pose is NOT the only thing I take of her. These just happen to be my favorites) but I guess I'll have to wait until she grows up.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: I didn't realize how crazy bright her eyes looked in 4. Will be fixing that.

 

[bazooka]

I think #3 looks like a very natural white balance.

Exposure is a bit high on #1, but overall, you have nice soft light. Not bad. You might want to put more consideration into the outfits and backgrounds when you do decide to take photos. To have the most imact, it's best if they are not too distracting. The eyes should receive most of the attention.

 

[LTP]

That's true. Usually these are just her everyday photos, but I definitely need to simplify.
Thank you! I have to work harder on white balance then. It's something that I've been struggling with forever.

 

[Kerbouchard]

Not nearly what I was expecting when I opened this thread.

I do feel like you have some whitebalance issues and, personally, I would recommend a calibration target. Something along the lines of DT6020 PhotoVision 6" One-Shot Digital Mini Calibration Target with DVD, an Exposure Aid for Digital Cameras

It's not expensive, but will make editing your photos a breeze.

Aside from the white balance issues, I would agree about the outfits and backgrounds and making sure the outfits are on well...For instance, in #4, I would have preferred it if you had fixed the top of her dress so that part of it wasn't sticking out.

In any case, these are very minor nits, and I only went into those specifics because of how much attention you have obviously already put into these photos.

Overall, fantastic job and you have a beautiful baby daughter.

 

[tirediron]

C&C per req:

Lots of good points already raised; I'll just add a few thoughts of my own. Watch your crops and composition. In #1, you've chopped off her left elbow. Cropping limbs is fine if you need, but, try never to do it at/near a joint, or to bisect limbs. In #3 you've positioned her such that her outstretched left arm appears to about three feet long.

Watch your focus and DoF. You've posted these as .png files, so I can't determine what your aperture was, but if you look carefully at #4, the eyes appear tack-sharp (Good!) but the lips seem slightly soft (Not so good). Were you by chance shooting wide open with a large aperture? Always remember to check your DoF tables and ensure that your aperture is appropriate for your situation.

Lastly, try and get just a little more light on/into the eyes to enhance the iris/pupil definition. It's not bad, but even something as simple as a piece of white paper used to reflect light would make them that much better.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[LTP]

What were you expecting? Just curious.
I will definitely look into that!
I wish I noticed that part of her dress when I was shooting her. I always have tomorrow for reshoots. She can't go anywhere. Haha

And thank you. I've been trying really hard to improve from my first photos of her, which are TERRIBLE. I wish I was better when she was a newborn so I could have some beautiful shots of her.

 

[Kerbouchard]

What were you expecting? Just curious.
I will definitely look into that!
I wish I noticed that part of her dress when I was shooting her. I always have tomorrow for reshoots. She can't go anywhere. Haha

And thank you. I've been trying really hard to improve from my first photos of her, which are TERRIBLE. I wish I was better when she was a newborn so I could have some beautiful shots of her.

What was I expecting? Honestly, I was expecting the 'terrible' ones. Noisy, dark, poorly lit snapshots.

Your post was a pleasant surprise. Again, get the white balance issues taken care of, pay a bit more attention to detail, and tirediron also had some great pointers. I would say at this point, its more about refining and taking it to the next level.

 

[LTP]

Trying to get her brown eyes to show is the hardest thing. I will definitely try the white paper method.
The file says f/5.6.

So chopping off in between joints should be fine then?

Thank you for your help!

 

[RebeccaAPhotography]

You see a lot of threads like these and like others had said are just poor. Bad white balance. Poor composition. Poor lighting. Lots of noise. Bad exposure. Or are just plain ol snapshots.

When I opened the thread I too thought the same thing lol and also was pleasantly surprised!

Keep on shootin your child will cherish these photos forever!! And what a beauty she is!

 

[LTP]

Oh thank god. I'm trying REALLY hard. Haha. I really want to become good at this.
I've had the camera for a month and I've been studying like a fool everyday. Obviously there are things I need to work out and thanks to you I know what I need to focus primarily on.

 

[Kerbouchard]

This thread should be made a sticky about how to take critique...

Nice job and welcome to the forum. Hope you stick around.

Oh thank god. I'm trying REALLY hard. Haha. I really want to become good at this.
I've had the camera for a month and I've been studying like a fool everyday. Obviously there are things I need to work out and thanks to you I know what I need to focus primarily on.

 

[mc1979]

Whatever you did to her skin in #4 is a little much, she looks plastic, and I'm very surprised that no one has commented on that. Also looks like you applied a little of that technique to #2 as well. I know baby's skin can be soo hard to work on, just be careful and don't overdo it.

 

[unpopular]

Baby skin is really weird, they tend to be more blue than you think they ought to be and I've found it's really easy to make them look jaundice - this especially true of newborns who may be a bit jaundice to start with. Of these, 1 and 3 are the best. As others have stated, consider getting some kind of color balance reference.