The birthday girl

[Civchic]

I like these two because they show both sides of her - first is an actual attempt at posing and composing the pretty girl just before her birthday party (she turned 2 on Sunday). I'd be a disaster at posing other peoples' children - I can't even do my own without cutting off fingers!


mar 29 birthday girl by civgirlca, on Flickr

And this is her real self - jumping in mud puddles while hiking in the woods. This is a snapshot, obviously, but I still really like it.


mar 30 020 muddy splatters by civgirlca, on Flickr

 

[Ysarex]

She's adorable. The snapshot could benefit a lot from some editing. I noticed you used DPP. If you have the CR2 file, a lot can be done to improve that image. I corrected the WB and did what I could with the JPEG.

Joe

 

[The_Traveler]

Cute child, nice engaging smile.
On the 'posed' one, I think the dark side too dark, the bright side too bright.

back up a bit and give yourself some room and shoot at a smaller aperture like f4 or 5.6 for best results.

 

[Civchic]

Ysarex, I love that edit! I have GIMP as well, but I haven't had the time to apply to learning enough yet. DPP has serious limitations. This gives me the inspiration to really learn some more. I do still have the RAW files so I'll give it a shot.

Traveler also, thanks for the tips. I will keep that in mind. I love my big bright windows but they are as tricky as they are handy to have for photos. This is the spot she's sitting in:

 

[Ysarex]

Ysarex, I love that edit! I have GIMP as well, but I haven't had the time to apply to learning enough yet. DPP has serious limitations. This gives me the inspiration to really learn some more. I do still have the RAW files so I'll give it a shot.

Traveler also, thanks for the tips. I will keep that in mind. I love my big bright windows but they are as tricky as they are handy to have for photos. This is the spot she's sitting in:

DPP has some strengths -- particularly useful for it's ability to apply lens corrections, however it is otherwise a fairly limited raw converter. There are some excellent options available for free that you may want to consider: Raw Therapee and LightZone.

Joe

 

[vintagesnaps]

Maybe think about trying a different time of day when the light would be different coming in. Besides thinking about the framing think about your backgrounds and vantage point so you can avoid having distractions (like that bit of color in the distance in the first photo). Love the smile, nice capturing her personality.

 

[mmaria]

I'd be a disaster at posing other peoples' children - I can't even do my own without cutting off fingers!

well, my experience tells me that photographing other children and posing them is a bit easier then photographing your own