Newborn - C&C please

[CorrieMichael]

mostly concerned with skin tones and tilt.....let me know what you think?

 

[Joanne_0828]

Maybe it'd be better if you could crop out some of the blank on the right, to give more focus to the baby.

 

[GDHLEWIS]

Like Joanne said maybe crop the right hand side away a little. Skin tone looks spot on to me

 

[pixmedic]

most of the baby is OOF due to a very shallow DOF.
stop the lens down some and get more of the baby in focus.
This is where fill flash and a smaller aperture would work much better than a wide open lens.

 

[cgipson1]

tilt looks amateurish... but you have only been shooting for a year, right? So that is ok, I guess! Light is extremely flat too...

 

[CorrieMichael]

How about this tilt cgipson lol........this otta curl your hair! lol

 

[Derrel]

Whoa, whoa, whoa....what the heck is with all the downhill tilt CM??? The last one makes absolutely zero sense. None.

 

[pixmedic]

aside from the bizarre tilt, the second picture also suffers from extremely shallow DOF.
everything an inch or so back from the hand and face quickly fall out of focus.
like the first picture, I think the second one would have greatly benefited from the lens being stopped down enough to get the rest of the baby in focus, but still leave the background in focus.

the lens has more aperture settings than just its widest one. try a few of the other ones out and see what improvements they can make on your images!
If light is a concern, bounce a flash.

 

[cgipson1]

How about this tilt cgipson lol........this otta curl your hair! lolView attachment 56811

No.. it just tells me where you are at in your photographic journey! At least the light is a little better!

 

[cgipson1]

aside from the bizarre tilt, the second picture also suffers from extremely shallow DOF.
everything an inch or so back from the hand and face quickly fall out of focus.
like the first picture, I think the second one would have greatly benefited from the lens being stopped down enough to get the rest of the baby in focus, but still leave the background in focus.

the lens has more aperture settings than just its widest one. try a few of the other ones out and see what improvements they can make on your images!
If light is a concern, bounce a flash.

If you go back and read the OP's threads... you will see that the aperture thing has been said a million times... and ignored a million times! A million and one with your post!

A year ago.. she couldn't even hardly get decent focus... so she has improved some!

 

[CorrieMichael]

Whoa, whoa, whoa....what the heck is with all the downhill tilt CM??? The last one makes absolutely zero sense. None.

LOL Just a little creative trial and error
Here is the more "accurate" shot. Thanks so much for your constructive criticism cpgipson. Yes I do know and thanks to this forum, I do know when I want my aperature settings changed and when I want to shoot wide! I didn't want the rest of the baby in focus. Also I am wondering cpgipson what your credentials are on newborn photography? Do you shoot a lot of them to know all of this God like information that you pass off? I have also attached composition image for you to rip to shreds and share your All-knowing information on newborn photography! lol

 

[cgipson1]

Whoa, whoa, whoa....what the heck is with all the downhill tilt CM??? The last one makes absolutely zero sense. None.

LOL Just a little creative trial and error
Here is the more "accurate" shot. Thanks so much for your constructive criticism cpgipson. Yes I do know and thanks to this forum, I do know when I want my aperature settings changed and when I want to shoot wide! I didn't want the rest of the baby in focus. Also I am wondering cpgipson what your credentials are on newborn photography? Do you shoot a lot of them to know all of this God like information that you pass off? I have also attached composition image for you to rip to shreds and share your All-knowing information on newborn photography! lol

Aahhhh... did I curl your hair?

I no longer shoot professionally (or at least very seldom! I seem to still get stuck shooting Executive portraiture once in a while...pay is REALLY good! ). I closed my studio before you were even born (most likely!) And yes.. I did shoot some newborns, and almost any type of portraiture you can think of. But what I shot is immaterial, since this has nothing to do with what I shot, or how I shot it.

It is more a matter of basic knowledge and skills in photography. And getting the best image you can, which requires said skill and knowledge! You have improved your technical skills a lot since your first post here... but you don't appear to have studied composition much, and that is as important (in not more) than the technical skills (which still need work also, if you really want to produce professional images.) You are at about the average level of acceptable shots now... but average won't make you rich and famous.

Your clientele are mostly clueless about what good photography is, and they are so hyped up on Cute-Baby hormones... they are more than willing to accept less than stellar work! The question is... what kind of work do YOU want to produce?

 

[CorrieMichael]

Whoa, whoa, whoa....what the heck is with all the downhill tilt CM??? The last one makes absolutely zero sense. None.

LOL Just a little creative trial and error
Here is the more "accurate" shot. Thanks so much for your constructive criticism cpgipson. Yes I do know and thanks to this forum, I do know when I want my aperature settings changed and when I want to shoot wide! I didn't want the rest of the baby in focus. Also I am wondering cpgipson what your credentials are on newborn photography? Do you shoot a lot of them to know all of this God like information that you pass off? I have also attached composition image for you to rip to shreds and share your All-knowing information on newborn photography! lol

Aahhhh... did I curl your hair?

I no longer shoot professionally (or at least very seldom! I seem to still get stuck shooting Executive portraiture once in a while...pay is REALLY good! ). I closed my studio before you were even born (most likely!) And yes.. I did shoot some newborns, and almost any type of portraiture you can think of. But what I shot is immaterial, since this has nothing to do with what I shot, or how I shot it.

It is more a matter of basic knowledge and skills in photography. And getting the best image you can, which requires said skill and knowledge! You have improved your technical skills a lot since your first post here... but you don't appear to have studied composition much, and that is as important (in not more) than the technical skills (which still need work also, if you really want to produce professional images.) You are at about the average level of acceptable shots now... but average won't make you rich and famous.

Your clientele are mostly clueless about what good photography is, and they are so hyped up on Cute-Baby hormones... they are more than willing to accept less than stellar work! The question is... what kind of work do YOU want to produce?

To be honest I actually AGREE completely! I feel that I have some a long way in the last 6 mos. AND I really do appreciate all of the critique in all honesty....I has helped me out very much. I have taken a newborn mentoring with one of the best......I think that newborn photography as with everything is always changing and pushing the boundries on things is kind of something I do....I always shoot what I should (based on my mentoring ~ not saying its correct either) then try and step outside of the box a little too. Something of a variety for clients.....as well as............you never know when you might discover something great. Again thanks for your input. I really appreciate it! And I am not sure I will be rich and famous in my little home town......but I will keep striving to become better and achieve famous status with every new session.

 

[cgipson1]

LOL Just a little creative trial and error
Here is the more "accurate" shot. Thanks so much for your constructive criticism cpgipson. Yes I do know and thanks to this forum, I do know when I want my aperature settings changed and when I want to shoot wide! I didn't want the rest of the baby in focus. Also I am wondering cpgipson what your credentials are on newborn photography? Do you shoot a lot of them to know all of this God like information that you pass off? I have also attached composition image for you to rip to shreds and share your All-knowing information on newborn photography! lol

Aahhhh... did I curl your hair?

I no longer shoot professionally (or at least very seldom! I seem to still get stuck shooting Executive portraiture once in a while...pay is REALLY good! ). I closed my studio before you were even born (most likely!) And yes.. I did shoot some newborns, and almost any type of portraiture you can think of. But what I shot is immaterial, since this has nothing to do with what I shot, or how I shot it.

It is more a matter of basic knowledge and skills in photography. And getting the best image you can, which requires said skill and knowledge! You have improved your technical skills a lot since your first post here... but you don't appear to have studied composition much, and that is as important (in not more) than the technical skills (which still need work also, if you really want to produce professional images.) You are at about the average level of acceptable shots now... but average won't make you rich and famous.

Your clientele are mostly clueless about what good photography is, and they are so hyped up on Cute-Baby hormones... they are more than willing to accept less than stellar work! The question is... what kind of work do YOU want to produce?

To be honest I actually AGREE completely! I feel that I have some a long way in the last 6 mos. AND I really do appreciate all of the critique in all honesty....I has helped me out very much. I have taken a newborn mentoring with one of the best......I think that newborn photography as with everything is always changing and pushing the boundries on things is kind of something I do....I always shoot what I should (based on my mentoring ~ not saying its correct either) then try and step outside of the box a little too. Something of a variety for clients.....as well as............you never know when you might discover something great. Again thanks for your input. I really appreciate it! And I am not sure I will be rich and famous in my little home town......but I will keep striving to become better and achieve famous status with every new session.

Then you might make it! That is the best attitude... never stop learning, and trying new things. You will also learn what not to waste your time on, because it doesn't hardly ever work.

 

[Derrel]

Your last two shots are good poses in today's baby photo vernacular, but on the second, the B&W one...ever thought what that would look like as a vertical, with the baby being 80% of the frame, as opposed to horizontal, with 33% empty space, 33% baby, and 33% empty space? Back off the camera a little bit, and orient it as a tall, since that is a "tall pose", and then have the baby shown bigger, and clearer in the frame...and a higher degree of visual sophistication... Maybe your mentoring does not include subject/pose/frame agreement...a lot of modern mentoring is all about how to run the camera and lights, and what software to use, and what software operations to perform on "files" but not much on other areas.

The thing is, the second shot, the B&W hand pose with the little visor...the baby's head is almost touching the top of the frame, as are his elbows at the bottom...the baby is "crowding the frame edges"....AND, to make matters worse, there's tons of dead, empty, featureless space. If you want C&C I will offer this: the pose of the subject needs to be in AGREEMENT with the framing. When the subject is taller than it is wide, the most likely correct framing will be a TALL framing.

I can already hear the screams and protestations of the self-taught and the visually challenged, whose tastes have been set by looking at the work of other self-taught portrait shooters on Flickr and the interwebz. Your two images above look good...except that one of them is framed properly and exudes peace and tranquility, and the other shows a fundamentals problem that ruins it for the visually sophisticated. If your mentoring has NOT taught you this most basic, essential fundamental of classical portraiture, you need to find a new mentor who has some actual training or study in the visual arts,in composition and posing fundamentals, and not just training or self-teaching in camera and software operations.