Studied and applied your advice for a while!! Here are the latest for CC. Thanks!!!

[Derrel]

I think your command over the photographic equipment you have has increased. Definitely better. I see a real improvement.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

I think your command over the photographic equipment you have has increased. Definitely better. I see a real improvement.

This

 

[AMOMENT]

Thanks, everyone! Actually, yeah I did photoshop number 3 a bit....I actually was trying to enhance it but clearly, I missed. LOL.


I also have little CC to give myself. I think I need to pre-calculate my possible DOF before a shoot so I have a better idea of how and where to position myself. I am really terrible with my crops and need MAJOR work in composition. My exposures are better and I have found that my camera does better in being a little underexposed and having to stop up in PP than than the other way. I still just don't have a sharp enough image. GRR! Any suggestions? I'm shooting at faster shutter speeds and even in pp, can see that my FP was on the eye (in the close-ups?) I know that perhaps my DOF was off and that is why I missed focus. I'm trying....

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Improvement indeed

 

[Robin Usagani]

Correct me if I am wrong but you did lighten her eyes right? Dont follow those other moms with cameras. I once in a while brighten someone eyes but not a lot. Dont do it too much or they will look like zombies!

 

[DiskoJoe]

I have some bad chops and crops and I know I still need a lot of work, but are these looking any better?

Honestly? No, overall they don't look any better.

Oh come on, Keith.. at least they are fairly sharp! A big step from where she was! (ok.. maybe not that big of a step!) but she did have the guts to come back.. that has to count for something, right?

She is taking smaller baby step then the kid.

 

[ababysean]

I have some bad chops and crops and I know I still need a lot of work, but are these looking any better? (I converted some to B&W as you will see.) A little pic heavy...


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

6.

7.

They are all very purple/pink.... I noticed you have your white balance set to cloudy on many of them.... even in the black/white conversions they have a pink tint....

Did you blur the grass or something in one of them? #3

 

[ababysean]

what focus mode are you using? single point, continuous?

 

[MLeeK]

They are all very purple/pink.... I noticed you have your white balance set to cloudy on many of them.... even in the black/white conversions they have a pink tint....

Did you blur the grass or something in one of them? #3

I take that back... it is a bit purple in the flowers. how did you convert?
AMOMENT- what colorspace are you working in. I have a real suspicion you are seeing something differently than we are. These area all tagged by firefox as sRGB, but there is no embedded profile which is going to cause some major differences.

When you upload to the internet you want to be sure you have your image saved in sRGB as the colorspace or we will see some strange things that can be VERY different than what you have on your computer.

Open the image on your computer and look to it next to the one in firefox and see if you can see the difference.

 

[ababysean]

I thought the 50mm did not auto focus on the 3100?

 

[Trever1t]

I see technical improvement and attempt at good composition so kudos to you. My advice would be to stop trying to do so many things at once! Don't worry about edit, don't worry about B&W conversion, color correcting, etc. Stay focused on things like proper focus and exposure, artistic composition, proper use of aperture and shutter speed (ISO too) to receive desired effect.


Definitely better, I can look at these without having to look away

 

[HowlingWolf]

I love #3 and #6, but the bottom right (our right not hers) foot really does stand out too much once you notice it, and #6 would be great but as on of the above posters mentioned there is a little too much purple in it. Keep working on what you did with these two I really can't stand photographs that look like a billion others it's too stock for my tastes, but while they are in similar poses to a lot of child shots, there is something eerily beautiful about them. If you are using an auto white balance try using costume, you don't need a grey card if you don't have one (you can always try printing one out at 18% grey) but you will spend a little more time getting the white balance right (which I don't think is a big deal).

Improvement wise there is HUGE difference and it's far from hard to notice it, nearly everything looks better.

I do want to mention a couple things though, I feel like there is a little too much bloom on her on four and five, and the tree in too much of an obstruction. Get rid of those two all together OR continue to see if you can improve that area. I think you are on the right track, there is defiantly something different about these pictures and that is a good thing. Stock photographs are boring in my opinion, even if they are taken by an "extraordinary photographer".

I don't imagine children are easy to shoot (with a camera that is hahah I kid, sorry).

Also I would suggest different clothing, she has very light skin so see what happens with darker clothing, if you have any medium purple dresses for her then take her out to a really green area and see what happens. But only take that sort of advice as you want it, remember this is YOUR art and what looks good to someone looks like crap to someone else (I think your average wedding photo sucks, I don't care how perfect the shot is, I've seen it a million times and even the faces look the same now).

One more thing, in photos like three and six try and keep her less in the center, move around a little try different heights and angles to help composition. Something I learned from drawing is to always keep your focal point out of the center, why that is I dunno, the human mind is all messed up.

 

[jwbryson1]

Not much to add from what's already been said by others and by you, but I will say that I think there has been some improvement and that's a good thing. Not sure why you are having focusing issues still but keep on it and it will come.

I also think your crops are way too tight in some of these shots.

 

[jake337]

You need to work on your numbering! I see two #6's. Joking aside the first #6 is fantastic IMO. Just based on her expression. Are these your kids? If so, come back to that photo #6 months from now and re-edit, you'll thank me later.