Okay, a portrait. Judge away.

[stsinner]

I took this one of my daughters at Lake Dennison State park in Mass.. I thought the natural lighting was pretty good, shadows-just enough, lighted from behind by the sun, etc.. It was too blue, so I fixed that and did a little PP in the second photo. How'd I do, and thanks for the comments.

 

[chrisburke]

i like the black and white.. however, it looks like you did some blurring on the bottom... perhaps try cropping that out, because it is very distracting, and from a professional stand point, it looks like you screwed up the photo ( i know you didnt, but people who dont know photography might not know that)

 

[ATXshots]

I agree...the blurred version is very distracting. Cute shot...too bad she is holding that toy though. Maybe black and white without the blur would look good.

 

[stsinner]

I agree...the blurred version is very distracting. Cute shot...too bad she is holding that toy though. Maybe black and white without the blur would look good.

I just happen to have one of those kicking around:

 

[chrisburke]

yea that looks much better

oh a side note... in your signature.. you have 50mm 1.8 and in brackets what a nightmare... whats that all about, because i'm getting one soon.. i've heard nothing but good things about that lens... have you not been having good experience with it?

 

[ATXshots]

I like it!

 

[El2]

I agree with the black & white picture is the best one. But I am not sure about the slective coloring.

 

[stsinner]

yea that looks much better

oh a side note... in your signature.. you have 50mm 1.8 and in brackets what a nightmare... whats that all about, because i'm getting one soon.. i've heard nothing but good things about that lens... have you not been having good experience with it?

Well, I'm kind of broke, so I bought this old lens online for $54. The problem is that it's 100% manual, and I don't know enough to balance f-stops and shutter speed, and I also have to go into my menus and set my flash power very specifically since this isn't a cpu lens, and my camera can't meter with it.. The E-series lenses are all manual and designed for either the seasoned professional or the film cameras, but with my camera, it's a nightmare getting a good picture with it. The detail is amazing, but what I see in my viewfinder and what shows up on my view screen once I press the shutter are often two different things... I'm going to invest in the D-model, AF..

This is about the best I can do with this manual dinosaur, and I don't know if it's too terrible, but it is what it is:

 

[chrisburke]

it'll come... just start learning more about the manual functions of your camera...

 

[itsanaddiction]

I love the B/w...I think it would make a world of diff if it was cropped though!

 

[manaheim]

I think you may have over-blued it a bit. The crop on this shot is bothering me for some reason... I keep wanting it tighter and up and to the right more I think. Might be something to play with, and you could also crop out that distracting blue thing in your right-hand daughter's hand.

Lighting from the rear is often rough and makes for some unfortunate pictures, but I think you managed to get away with it in this case. Just be wary.

 

[smithphoto]

Just a quck edit and dumbed down the blue about. Played with levels slightly. In my opinion this was a great shot, i just tend to lean towards the edit a little more. But very cute shot, and well done.

Original:

Edit:

 

[stsinner]

Thank you. I like the edit. I was just glad to get them both looking at the camera at the same time.

 

[Artograph]

Nice job...I like the final edit as well!!!

:O)

 

[manaheim]

btw, you might consider using the heal brush or clone tool to blend out that scratch on your righthand daughter's chin.