photo from yesterday c&c

[paigew]

I had a 'photoshoot' yesterday with my kids in my backyard. I was actually trying to photograph my son , I laid him on a blue blanket in front of the fence. I thought the photos were looking cute on the lcd but when I got them on my computer he was blueish. I am assuming it was bouncing off the blue blanket. Do you think setting a custom wb would fix this? If I laid the white paper on the blanket? Anyway the best photo turned out to be the one I took of my daughter. I think the lighting turned out perfectly! The only bad thing I see is her legs. I wish she was a bit more angled so I could see them rather than parts of them and just her shoes. C&C please...does this ruin the photo?

not sure why but I had it on f1.8, I had it at 3.2 before but I was playing around with different settings...seems in focus though. ss 1/1000, iso 200.
I have editited this in iphoto...crop and adjust coloring (add yellow)

my sweet girl by paige_w, on Flickr


I decided to go ahead and add this photo of my son. I played with the settings on this photo a bit in iphoto as well. I was able to get the photo coloring the way I like it by desaturating it. But it also desaturated his hair, makeing his usual dark brown hair look redish (plus his skin looks a tad bit orangey). I am sure I could do a better job in ps using layers but I am not very speedy and am not even sure if this photo is worth the work. I also do not like the way the blanket is. I had it spread out (laid flat) and hate the way the blanket looks like it is up by his head. I think next time I will just lay the blanket down in a little circle just big enough for him to lay on. What do you guys do when you photograph on blankets? We don't have any grass now, just a bunch of weedy groundcover stuff so I can't lay him directly on the floor. Can someone please give me some tips on how to photograph babies this age (5-6 months)? My husband is going to make me a backdrop stand and I hope to get some fake flooring too so I can set him on that without having to worry about bugs biting him. Overall, I am disappointed in the photos of my son, I just can't seem to get a good background/backdrop . I can't wait till he can sit up!!

f 2.5; ss 1/400; iso 100

happy by paige_w, on Flickr

 

[paigew]

bump....advice?

 

[shutterbugmomma]

They are both adorable. He looks crazy happy.
For babes that are pre-sitters use baskets or buckets for cute props. For those that sit with support, you can try using a boppy covered with a cloth as support. The ground level tummy shots are always cute, you just have to get the right lighting and angle. Sleeping baby shots are always sweet, and then you don't have to worry about them not sitting. Looks like you CD? Fluffy buns pics are among my fav. Also, for the blanket issue....part of it is your angle, but some is also the uneven ground. Try putting a piece of plywood down, then the blanket.

 

[MWC2]

I'm just learning, so please take my comments with a grain of salt.

I think the first one does look a little off because of not being able to see her legs, it just looks "off". Kind of like her torso is just floating.

#2 made me smile and giggle. He sure looks happy. I do wish he had some light in his eyes, just to give them a little more life.

 

[MTVision]

With babies laying down its probably better to have the background really far away and/or on seamless paper. That way you don't have the seam (where wall meets floor) running through their heads or bodies. Getting down really low helps.

If you get a backdrop stand - try to get some seamless paper or fabric that covers the floor as well. You can always put something hard/firm under the paper/fabric - that will eliminate the seam running through the baby. If this picture of your son was outside you should've either gotten rid of the background completely and let the background blur out or move him a lot further away.

I think one of your daughters eyes is a little soft. You already know you should've stopped down but it would've been a much better shot if her hands (and body) were more in focus. The histogram for this picture shows that it's a little overexposed and the red channel (it's climbing up the right side of the histogram) is blown which can cause problems with skin.

 

[MrsLittle]

Cute babies! I like #2, cute face but the blanket is distracting.

 

[paigew]

Thanks everyone! I love you guys Great ideas! I never thought of baskets and such, I think I will try and see what I have around the house.

Megan, thanks so much! I will try to move him farther away...makes so much sense I shoulda thought of that . And seamless! Yes, great idea, I think I will use fabric so I will be sure its long enough to be the ground cover too. I was surprised when I checked the exif data on #1 because I thought for SURE this was shot at a smaller aperture; actually what happened is I prob went to adjust something else (ss) with my dial and didn't realize I was adjusting aperture.. I forgot to mention that I adjusted the exposure up so that is probably why the histogram was off. I haven't paid attention to the colored histograms because I don't really know how to correct that if it is off.

thanks again for everyones responses!