What's wrong with this portrait? Please C&C!!

[ArtFreak]

I absolutely love this photo...in theory. The model is about as gorgeous as it gets and I always love a real nature backdrop, but for some reason the color just does not look right to me. I've played around with it and it's still bugging me. Have I just been staring at the same picture too long or is there something I should be fixing here?
Thanks for all opinions!

 

[tirediron]

I'm not on a calibrated monitor right now, but the colours look fairly close to me; the child is slightly under-exposed however which may be what you're seeing. What really concerns me are the large, square-ish catchlights dead centre in the eye. Were these added in post, or did you actually have a softbox pointed directly at the child on the lens axis?

 

[Designer]

1. skin color looks off
2. an infant that age could fall off
3. he's wearing a pink onesie
4. catchlights in the center of his eyes
4. distracting background

 

[sscarmack]

Theres more light on the tree than on the child, slightly distracting.

 

[JustJazzie]

I think the biggest element that makes this a snapshot vs a portrait for me is the clothing choice. You don't usually find pajama portraits on anything other than a Christmas card. I'm not sure what the natural skin tone is of the child, but it looks a little yellow on my ipad screen.

 

[mans]

the pic is over exposed which effects the infant skin tone
distracting background

 

[KmH]

It looks like you used a hot shoe flash unit that was not set to (or could not be set to) the focal length of the lens you used and most of the light went over the child's head.
Note the shadows under the eyes and nose because the light was above.

The center of the eye is a poor location for catch lights, which is why off-camera-flash (OCF) is used for portraiture by advanced amateur and professional photographers.

The tree bark is very busy and makes a distracting background. For that matter, another hallmark of high quality portraits is a subject that is many feet from a background so the background does not steal viewer attention.

 

[The_Traveler]

I think the midtones and hilights are too blue and too green

 

[paigew]

I actually really like this photo. With Lew's adjustments it is adorable.

 

[DiskoJoe]

I think the midtones and hilights are too blue and too green

Thank you for bringing zombie baby back to life

 

[The_Traveler]

If you darken the tree and sharpen the baby, except for the teeth, it should look great.
I always suspect shots made in the shade of being blue and around foliage as being gree.
It seems to overwhelm any auto-wb

get a color-checker, money well spent.

 

[ArtFreak]

Thanks so much everybody! Sorry to just now be responding, I really appreciate all of the feedback.

 

[ArtFreak]

What really concerns me are the large, square-ish catchlights dead centre in the eye. Were these added in post, or did you actually have a softbox pointed directly at the child on the lens axis?

The catch lights are actually from natural light, the sun was setting behind me. I'm not sure why they're so square...I did make them a bit brighter in post but didn't change the shape.

 

[ArtFreak]

1. skin color looks off
2. an infant that age could fall off
3. he's wearing a pink onesie
4. catchlights in the center of his eyes
4. distracting background

Yes, SHE is wearing a pink onesie. hahah Her mom's hands are literally right outside the edge off this picture, ready to grab her if need be. But she does look a bit precariously perched, doesn't she? LOL

Thanks for the feedback! WB is something I'm still struggling with so I appreciate fresh eyes.

 

[HitenNainaney]

The baby did look a bit desaturatrd, color balance was off mainly, the edit posted by traveler bought most of the color back into the skin.

Could've chosen a softer background as compared to the sharp grungy bark of a tree.

The bags under her eyes are too prominent, try lightening it in post.

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