TPF Noob here! hola :)

awill · May 16, 2013

Hi! Im super excited to be here, develop my skills and hopefully make some friends! I recently started charging for my work, so I would absolutely love some feedback, I work at a hospital doing newborn pictures and have gotten a lot of requests to do work outside the hospital, so, any feedback you might have, go ahead, rip the pictures apart! I'm ready!

I will only be doing children and families.. for the time being

Thank you in advance!

squirrels · May 16, 2013

Welcome and what a super cute munchkin! We have some great folks here who can give you quality C&C on these. I'm still learning, but I wanted to pipe in to say "What a cutie." I love his bright eyes, but I think they could be toned back down just a little. If you have a version of #3 with the toes, it would be my favorite.

awill · May 16, 2013

Thank you for your feedback! Those are actually my two main concerns, cropping and edit, his eyes were so blue, that I didn't know if I over did it! Thank you so much!

Juga · May 16, 2013

squirrels said:
Welcome and what a super cute munchkin! We have some great folks here who can give you quality C&C on these. I'm still learning, but I wanted to pipe in to say "What a cutie." I love his bright eyes, but I think they could be toned back down just a little. If you have a version of #3 with the toes, it would be my favorite.

Squirrels is right you can get some good feedback but also some uptight-ness. Just take it with a grain of salt.

Nerja · May 17, 2013

Nice set of pictures. I would have preferred to see in the portrait shots the lower limbs intact, rather than being cut off. You have a lot of wasted space at the top of the frame that could have been put to better use getting the whole body in. BTW the blue eyes look great!

sashbar · May 17, 2013

It looks different and interesting. I wonder it this aproach works in pro kids photography. Most parents look for nice healthy skin tones and a positive, happy overall feeling. This kid is a bit pale/blueish to me and there is a hint of some disturbing atmosphere. Do they buy these pics? The problem with this style to me is that, as creative as it is, when time goes by and the novelty wears down in the eyes of a client, they will look at the picture and may not come back to you for a new one. Pro kids pictures should be a long lasting stuff. Double reflections in her eyes look a bit weird. There are two sources of light that flatten the picture a bit. Is it two windows behind your back?

awill · May 17, 2013

I appreciate the feedback, yes two windows! And I absolutely agree about the wasted space and weird cropping!

awill · May 17, 2013

Oh and is the disturbing atmosphere the blue background?

Austin Greene · May 17, 2013

Ill be the first one to say it, I wouldn't pay for these. Not saying its the case with all your images, and regardless its what the customer wants, but they need some work. For starters, the cropping is a little off, and the WB is off on the first. Perhaps the blue cast is from a flash off the walls? Can you provide us with more technical details, like the lighting setup if there was one?

Regardless, welcome to the forums! Hope to see plenty of posts from you!

Derrel · May 17, 2013

Whoa...the eyes...oh, they look dreadfully over-worked.

awill · May 17, 2013

It was all window light, no worries customer knew this was my first toddler shoot and I didn't charge an arm for it, but also, did not do it for free. Agreed on cropping as stated before, will keep working on it.

awill · May 17, 2013

Derrel said:
Whoa...the eyes...oh, they look dreadfully over-worked.

He has super light blue eyes, I'll tone them down, one of my main concerns, thanks!

Austin Greene · May 17, 2013

awill said:
It was all window light, no worries customer knew this was my first toddler shoot and I didn't charge an arm for it, but also, did not do it for free. Agreed on cropping as stated before, will keep working on it.

I'm just trying to understand, this was your first toddler shoot, and now your starting to charge? Am I reading it incorrectly to say that after one photo shoot you felt ready to charge? I'm just curious, since many people approach the issue of charging differently, and it can be an especially hot-button issue here on the forums.

If its all window light, then I would especially watch that WB, as mentioned. The little guys' face seems to carry the same expression in each shot.

awill · May 17, 2013

Ok I guess there are some people that need more explanation, thats ok. Again, I work at a hospital doing newborn photos, those pictures are not my property since I work for a company that is contracted with the hospital and technically, its theirs, other wise I would post more, in there we do very minimal editing, I am not an "expert" at editing or anything else, nor claim to be by any means. I have had a LOT of families that liked my work at the hospital that wanted to hire me to do their family photos. I have done toddlers before, WITHOUT charging, mainly for family members or my friend's children. So this was my first PAID toddler shoot, and by paid I mean a VERY small amount for driving to their place and my time and all that fun stuff.
So no, I don't FEEL like all of a sudden, I can start charging, this was a request from a family I did pictures for at the hospital, so when asked, I took the opportunity to learn more and of course let the family know, that by no means, I'm incredibly experienced with toddlers, which they were fine with since they liked me and my work anyway. So, I hope that clears it.