My children - C&C Appreciated

[midwifeology]

We weren't able to get out at a great time, it was early afternoon - but I tried to apply a few of the principles I've been learning. These are a little better than my first attempt!! C&C more than appreciated.


1. ISO 400, F2.8, 1/250


2. ISO 400, F2.8, 1/250


3. ISO 200, F1.8, 1/1000


4. ISO 200, F2.8, 1/160

 

[paigew]

Hi there! Welcome to tpf. Are you a midwife? I had two homebirths!

#1 is over exposed, you want to leave enough shadows so that you can make out features: curves, dimples, etc. Here, you can barely make out the ridge of the nose. I love the bright colors and the way he is looking directly at the camera.

#2 is also a little bit over exposed. I would lower exposure a tiny bit. then add contrast. darken the shadows and pull up the highlights (in the curves panel) Do you have an editing program? LR? You can download a free trial version of lr4

#3 is my favorite. It is very genuine and really grabs at the viewer. It is under exposed and the white balance is cool ( you can fix this in lr). Also your shadow can be seen in the background so that is something to be mindful of. For this photo I would just crop it out.

#4 I am not a fan of the angle/comp. It is over exposed and pretty cool (wb).

 

[midwifeology]

The screen name is actually my blog title. I'm a doula and am studying to be a certified nurse midwife!


Thank you so much for the C&C. It's very helpful.

Can #1 be fixed by editing any? I definitely see what you are talking about in losing all definition.

I have LR4 on order from B&H - should be here along with a few other goodies in the next week or so. Meanwhile I've just been using the basic functions of picasa.

I could definitely see #3 was cool, #4 also. Couldn't quite get it to a neutral tone though, when I tried it was too warm. I'm going to play with it a little more though! I'm downloading the LR4 trial now! I'll also crop my shadow from #3 - I did notice that when posting.

 

[paigew]

yes you should be able to fix that in LR. Or any program where you can raise/lower exposure.

 

[The_Traveler]

#3 shot at 1/1000 at f 1.8 from 2.5 feet away gives you a depth of field of about an inch. (DOFmaster.com)
At 100%, the eyes on this image are clearly oof.
You could shoot at higher iso, smaller aperture thus greater depth of field and have adequate focus.