Preschooler CC please!

[aimee0508]

Finally able to take some shots of my 3, soon to be 4 year old. CC please! I know there are many things I can fix, such as crop factor. I need to learn not to fill the frame so much when shooting with my 50mm!.

 

[aimee0508]

#1 is my favorite but I feel there is too much grass and green color. There is no other way to crop since this is almost the SOOC crop. I tried decreasing greens and the pic looked too flat.

#2 looks a bit washed out to me, but I am not great with fixing/replacing color. Any tips? I use photoshop Elements 6.

#3 Is the face too blown? I was pretty satisfied with this composition.

#4 THE FEET!! I need to cut my lawn I am not crazy about posed pics of toddler/preschoolers but this is SO my daughter! She actually posed herself and told me to take the pic Wish the feet weren't cut off. She looks a tad blue to me on my screen too, but I have never calibrated my monitor.

# 5 How do you all get the eye color so vivid? My daughter has GORGEOUS glass blue eyes and they look muddy blue in every pic!

#6 Just trying a different conversion. Unfortunately there is still green around the edging. Guess I could fix that quick!

 

[BJF]

I like the last one the most. You may crop out the edges around.

 

[zabulondesigns]

I like #5 and #1. #2,#3 she looks like she was forced to smile.

 

[Derrel]

I like #5 and #1. #2,#3 she looks like she was forced to smile.

Looks like the "Say Cheese!" smile some kids develop. It can become a lifetime "picture smile" if it's allowed to continue, or encouraged. The same, forced, fake 'smile' in every picture, from childhood to adulthood...

 

[MWG]

She almost looks angry to be smiling, lol.

Like she is saying GRRRRRRRR

 

[MBPhotography]

I use Lightroom 3.4 and I just edited quickly picture #2 by adding a little bit of contrast and vibrance. I also fixed the white balance a little bit. It may be too much color for some but it is just my style to have very vibrant colors. I think it makes the picture pop! I am by no means saying this is the correct way to edit the picture since I am learning myself, but it is just my style!

 

[MBPhotography]

For some reason on here it doesn't look exactly the same as on my Lightroom so the colors are a bit off, but it's close.

 

[aimee0508]

Yes, the cheese smile I tried tickeling, joking, talking in silly voices, and many other tactics..... It's always hard for me to get my own kids to smile when I have the camera! Which is more than half the reason I hate 'posed' or portraits.

I like the vibrance in the LR conversion but she looks a little pastey on my monitor. Do I have to buy a program to calibrate it? I'm not that familiar with the process.

Thanks for the thoughts so far!

 

[MBPhotography]

Yeah I noticed that too. I think that when I uploaded it to photobucket, the colors changed slightly. I edited the picture again to add a little bit more color so let's see how photobucket makes it look this time! lol I love this picture btw!

 

[misstwinklytoes]

I think some of the softness is coming from a lack of contrast. I'd bump the contrast.

 

[The_Traveler]

I like #5 and #1. #2,#3 she looks like she was forced to smile.

Looks like the "Say Cheese!" smile some kids develop. It can become a lifetime "picture smile" if it's allowed to continue, or encouraged. The same, forced, fake 'smile' in every picture, from childhood to adulthood...

I read this and I think that what Derrel is trying to say is that these are very artificial-looking forced expressions. Take pictures constantly until she gets used to you taking them. Don't ask for a smile or an expression, wait and capture one.

You are shooting at f2 which means your DOF is tiny and the pictures are not sharp.
In the 'edited' ones the red channel is over-saturated.

Start again with objects that don't move, like a flower or chair or an anesthetized child, and get good exposures with a good color.
Stop trying to learn photography, a new camera and take a picture of a child at the same time; it is not working.