My kids- I need honest feedback.

Rachel141 · Aug 18, 2012

I'm the newest of newbies and I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions. I may have over edited a few of these.

jaomul · Aug 18, 2012

I like the first one in particular, but some could be improved with better or more eye contact

Rachel141 · Aug 18, 2012

Thank you! Is that an easy fix? How would I do that?

Rachel141 · Aug 18, 2012

Rachel141 said:
Thank you! Is that an easy fix? How would I do that?

Oops sorry... I misread that. Thank you

rokvi · Aug 18, 2012

Cute kids, Try not to cut too many heads off with your shots. I wouldn't let the camera pick the focus point for you either. Try changing the focus point to the center only. That way you pick the focus point so you can get those beautiful eyes in focus.
Good luck!

Rachel141 · Aug 18, 2012

rokvi said:
Cute kids, Try not to cut too many heads off with your shots. I wouldn't let the camera pick the focus point for you either. Try changing the focus point to the center only. That way you pick the focus point so you can get those beautiful eyes in focus.
Good luck!

Thank you! I hadn't even noticed how many heads I chopped...yikes! Thank you so much! I'm going to give that a try

Granddad · Aug 18, 2012

My 2 cents worth is that you've got some very good potential in most of these shots. More eye contact with the baby would help next time, and a couple could use a warmer wb. On a personal note I really don't go for those head band flower things (I know lots of ladies think they're the bees knees), I find them very distracting.

I agree with Rokvi - more concentration on pin sharp focus should be your next aim.

I like the shots of the boy with the hat and boots. Some nice processing there.

On a broader note, if you want good, detailed C&C post no more than 5 images and number them.

I look forward to seeing more of your work.

AaronLLockhart · Aug 18, 2012

Rachel141 said:
I'm the newest of newbies and I would appreciate any feedback or suggestions. I may have over edited a few of these.

if you would have hit focus on the last one of the boy and the truck...

better watch this one, boys. she needs some minor adjustments and shell be a hell of a photographer.

id say back it off with the tone mapping a bit also. A lot of the time less is more.

Primoz · Aug 18, 2012

You do have some very pretty shots, but I suggest much less extreme post processing on most of the images.

For example Photo Nr.4 - you have gone too far with what I believe is Clarity and it makes the skin of your child look unnratural... My personal rule is: don't tuch clarity when it comes to portraits because soft mid tones (negative clarity) make images look like really bad cheesy wedding shots, increased clarity makes the face go old, wrinkly and weird... Sometimes I will use a little bit of soft clarity with a local adjustment brush just to smooth forehead and cheeks a bit if necessary - but otherwise clarity is a big time no-no for me when it comes to people photography...

You also need to work on your subjects being sharper and your backgrounds being blurrier... Next time try to sit your child further away from the background, use a large aperture, the telephoto part of your lens and you'll get a nicer bokeh and a less distracting backgorund (images 1,4 and 8 have a too busy background)

Hope this helps a bit and gives you some tips to improve

Keep it up, because you have an eye for photography!

manaheim · Aug 18, 2012

My feedback is that pictures of your kids should be about their kids, not about the giant prop flower stuck on their heads.

This is admittedly a little harsh, but everyone trying to replicate Anne Geddes or whatever or whoever came up with this thing drives me buggy. When I look at a picture of my kids, I want to be sucked in by their beautiful eyes... I want to get all woozy over how cute her curls where back then... I want to marvel at how pretty her lips were and wonder where she got those.

I don't want to be hit in the face with a giant pink fake flower stuck onto her head with some weird giant band that covers up 30% of her features.

My advice to you is try doing it simply. There is great beauty in the simplicity, innocence and wonder of our children. Don't try to fabricate it. It's already there. All you have to do is capture it. Props not required.

Angela Spangler · Aug 18, 2012

I like the boots ones. The first one looks a bit out of focus to me. You have some really nice shots.

MLeeK · Aug 18, 2012

You will get much better feedback if you post between 3 and 5 images. You have given us a LOT to look at here and if we gave you feedback on them all it would take us over an hour. We also ask that you separate them on a new line and number them just so you know 100% you and I are talking about the same image.

You are killing your kids with editing. I see you are finding some fun things to do in editing and playing is fine, but the images should be about the kids and not the neon of everything around them. I don't know if you are using the clarity slider in raw processing or what to get your faux HDR look in the first ones of the little girl it's really muddied up her skin tone in a couple of them. The first one is just out of focus. A word about out of focus or just barely blurry-you can't save it. You can fix a LOT of things in editing, but focus isn't one of them. If the shot isn't in focus-don't bother.
That little one has some awesome eyes.

The processing/editing in the truck series has made the images REALLY busy with a lot going on between the texture and the color. I THINK you are going for a dark, color rich contrasty pop look and you seem to be getting it somewhat, but then you are pushing over the top. I'd also guess that your monitor isn't well calibrated and you are probably working on a laptop from the color and extreme brightness to this set.

Calibration is beyond important if you are working with photos. What you see on your computer is not what you would get when you print and it's not what we are seeing. You will need a calibrator and software, but to help in the meantime you can start by reducing the brightness and contrast on your monitor to about 75% and that will help. Monitors are set up for internet and gaming out of the box. Photography and printing is very precise in it's brightness, contrast and color-if those aren't right and calibrated according to some standards you will get something different than what you THINK you are getting.

Rachel141 · Aug 18, 2012

Granddad said:
My 2 cents worth is that you've got some very good potential in most of these shots. More eye contact with the baby would help next time, and a couple could use a warmer wb. On a personal note I really don't go for those head band flower things (I know lots of ladies think they're the bees knees), I find them very distracting.

I agree with Rokvi - more concentration on pin sharp focus should be your next aim.

I like the shots of the boy with the hat and boots. Some nice processing there.

On a broader note, if you want good, detailed C&C post no more than 5 images and number them.

I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Thank you! I feel bad about posting so many. It was my first day on here and I got a little too excited.

Rachel141 · Aug 18, 2012

AaronLLockhart said:
if you would have hit focus on the last one of the boy and the truck...

better watch this one, boys. she needs some minor adjustments and shell be a hell of a photographer.

id say back it off with the tone mapping a bit also. A lot of the time less is more.

Thank you! I really have so much to learn so please forgive me if my questions come across as clueless, but in most ways I am. When you say "tone mapping" does that mean the editing I did to it? I need to find someone on here to give me just basic lessons.

Rachel141 · Aug 18, 2012

Primoz said:
You do have some very pretty shots, but I suggest much less extreme post processing on most of the images.

For example Photo Nr.4 - you have gone too far with what I believe is Clarity and it makes the skin of your child look unnratural... My personal rule is: don't tuch clarity when it comes to portraits because soft mid tones (negative clarity) make images look like really bad cheesy wedding shots, increased clarity makes the face go old, wrinkly and weird... Sometimes I will use a little bit of soft clarity with a local adjustment brush just to smooth forehead and cheeks a bit if necessary - but otherwise clarity is a big time no-no for me when it comes to people photography...

You also need to work on your subjects being sharper and your backgrounds being blurrier... Next time try to sit your child further away from the background, use a large aperture, the telephoto part of your lens and you'll get a nicer bokeh and a less distracting backgorund (images 1,4 and 8 have a too busy background)

Hope this helps a bit and gives you some tips to improve Keep it up, because you have an eye for photography!

I agree with you completely! I will mess with editing so much until I find something I like at the moment and I look at it later and wonder what was I thinking!?! These tips are awesome! I appreciate your help! Thanks