Photos of my baby daughter - C&C? Thanks.

[jwbryson1]

These are a few recent photos of my 3 month old daughter. C&C are welcome. Thanks.


This first shot was done with the intention of capturing her looking at some toys in her car seat.

I liked this shot because of her focusing on the blue dog toy.

I just liked her smile in this shot, but I think her hat is a bit of a distraction.

 

[Geaux]

I'm gonna try and be as nice as possible w/o offending you b/c I know how this site feels about shots like this.

1. Great for parents to have, but to photographers, you got motion blur or soft focus on the child, white balance is off.
2. Again, cute picture, perfect for family albums. To a photographer though, the toy is blocking the lower right of her face (on the image), white balance issue again.
3. To the family: Awwwww, To a photographer: ON CAMERA FLASH! AHHHHHH

 

[JasonLambert]

Very cute daughter! Congrats! I have two of my own and they are my most popular models. The images are a little under exposed and the white balance is off quite a bit. I believe you missed the focus on the first shot. If she is holding her head up a belly shot would be great!

Have fun!
~Jason

 

[jwbryson1]

I'm gonna try and be as nice as possible w/o offending you b/c I know how this site feels about shots like this.

1. Great for parents to have, but to photographers, you got motion blur or soft focus on the child, white balance is off.
2. Again, cute picture, perfect for family albums. To a photographer though, the toy is blocking the lower right of her face (on the image), white balance issue again.
3. To the family: Awwwww, To a photographer: ON CAMERA FLASH! AHHHHHH

Geaux, thanks, and I have thick skin so I'm not easily offended. I understand that everybody thinks their kids are cute. I'm looking at technical quality and not worried if somebody thinks she is cute too.

On #1 - I changed my D90 to spot focus so I could blur the nearby toys and get her face in focus only. Not sure why it's out of focus. Perhaps I should have shot with a faster shutter speed. These were shot straight to JPEG with no PP. Is faster shutter speed the solution? This was shot with a 35mm f/1.8 prime.

#2 - Agreed.

#3 - I shot this with an attached SB-400 and not the on-camera flash which I don't really like. On the White Balance issues which I keep having with baby shots, I believe these were shot with "flash" WB or maybe portrait, +2 or +3 sharpening and +1 saturation. What WB settings would you recommend for shooting people?

Thanks!

 

[JasonLambert]

What WB settings would you recommend for shooting people?

I use either a custom wb by shooting a gray card or I use auto wb and edit in post... If you are shooting in one location with the same light then I would recommend setting the custom wb. Saves you the time doing it in post.

CPM Delta 1 22031S Gray Cards