Recent Photoshoot ...little kids..

[RowmyF]

Hey everyone...so this shoot was done for a family who wanted some shots of their kids at home. Just to give some background...their family is very "informal" ..meaning, they want everything to be easy & convenient so they want me to just "swing by" ..."take some shots" ..no big deal...

They're thrilled with the pictures but I just wanted to get some hard feedback on the pictures so they can be improved for next time.

I used my D50 with an 55 1.8 lens. Yes, I know it's a long lens for an indoor apartment photoshoot, but my other option was the 18-55 kit lens and frankly it sucks! ;-) so I did the best with what I had.

I also used an external flash...

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

[dbrandon]

Really lovely set of pictures. Priceless expressions on the babys face !

Very hard to be critical. Like you say, the lens might have been a touch long. Maybe try to avoid chopping the tips of feet off in the first 2 pictures, and the fingers in the last one.

A couple of the pictures look slightly soft, but you can't trust jpegs on the internet to give a true idea of how sharp they really are.

Brill pics though, and excellent use of flash (very very well balanced) !

 

[NJMAN]

I would say that almost all of them are too soft. It even appears that you may have added a soft focus effect. Also, the white balance is way off in all of them. There is a yellow tint on every one except for the first (BW) and last one. The last one has a very brownish/gray tint, which is okay if you are going for a sepia tone effect. If you shoot in RAW, you can adjust the white balance easily afterward and restore accurate skin tone and color throughout the image.

I do agree however that your subjects are excellent. The expressions are great and very natural. Very good compositions.

A couple of the pictures look slightly soft, but you can't trust jpegs on the internet to give a true idea of how sharp they really are.

Actually, you can compensate for lack of sharpness quite well by applying some unsharp mask. After resizing for web viewing, try using USM 150, 0.3, 0 and see how that looks. However, this will only work well if the image is in good focus.

 

[dbrandon]

Actually, you can compensate for lack of sharpness quite well by applying some unsharp mask. After resizing for web viewing, try using USM 150, 0.3, 0 and see how that looks. However, this will only work well if the image is in good focus.

Good tip, thank you :thumbup:

 

[Sweetsomedays]

3 is my fav. I think #1 would of been freaking awesome if his foot wasn't cut off and it doesn't look straight to me.

I really like all the emotion and fun you captured but I think they are soft, highlights are blown in several and appear to be soft/flat/non contrasty. The composition in some of them is just kinda eh...and trust me composition is something I am constantly struggling with as well! I don't like the cut limbs, heads and shoulders.
I am so with you on the 18-55 kit. I only use it if I HAVE HAVE HAVE to! I am looking into a shorter lens for those types of situations in the coming year.

I would say though with a bit more PP and some straightening you could give these a bit more pop! Good job, keep going!