Working on my people skills c&c

[Tulsa]

I am not a people photographer, but I am working on it.

Yesterday was my boys 5 month birthday so I had to take a picture. It was his bedtime before I realized I needed a picture of him, the composition may not be the best for a great photo, but he was happy so I was not moving him too much, so take that in mind when considering the composition.

I am looking for some feedback, mainly the lighting and anything you can see that would improve the shots. Thanks.

 

[gardy90]

maybe work on white balance a bit

 

[myfotoguy]

The lighting is just a touch dark on the first which I think is also making it appear too saturated in the skin tones, it's better on the second. Although, I'm on a netbook (it's "calibrated" but I'm sure not as accurate as my desktop).

Anyway, what a cute kid! Love his expression and interaction with you. Did you have to make a million goofy sounds to get him looking and cooperating? I did that all the time with my kids.

What did you do for the lighting?

 

[Tulsa]

maybe work on white balance a bit

How so? maybe I am looking at it differently since I shot it, but all the white in the photos seem pretty white.

 

[Tulsa]

The lighting is just a touch dark on the first which I think is also making it appear too saturated in the skin tones, it's better on the second. Although, I'm on a netbook (it's "calibrated" but I'm sure not as accurate as my desktop).

Anyway, what a cute kid! Love his expression and interaction with you. Did you have to make a million goofy sounds to get him looking and cooperating? I did that all the time with my kids.

What did you do for the lighting?

I agree, I like the first one, and originally liked the darker tint more than the second one, but I can see what you are saying.

Thanks, I am lucky he turned out so great! And yes, I made plenty of sounds and lots of big smiles.
I have a Vivitar 383 for lighting bounced it off the wall.

 

[myfotoguy]

Maybe something between the too as far as the brightness goes. #1 feels like more of a "tender moment" to me, but still think something between.

When I'm not at my kids level and I'm looking down, I often bounce off the ceiling behind me. Not sure if your flash can point back-wards or not, and that's not always the answer. Not saying the wall was wrong for this, just something I have found myself doing from time to time.

 

[Tulsa]

Maybe something between the too as far as the brightness goes. #1 feels like more of a "tender moment" to me, but still think something between.

When I'm not at my kids level and I'm looking down, I often bounce off the ceiling behind me. Not sure if your flash can point back-wards or not, and that's not always the answer. Not saying the wall was wrong for this, just something I have found myself doing from time to time.

I agree on the inbetween on lighting, I will have to play with it.

I tried bouncing off the ceiling, did not work in this case, but I agree, I do usually do that, I tried a couple angles, and this one worked best. The flash was pointed to the right towards the wall and angled up slightly.

 

[gardy90]

it seems a bit yellowish to me

 

[NateWagner]

Hmm, a netbook being calibrated... That is a really odd thought with how much their colors tend to shift, etc.

From what I can tell, by the white balance, the first one does seem to be almost orange, probably because of what you bounced the flash off of, even so, it may be worth editing to get a more natural skin tone.

Lighting wise, I prefer the second one, as the first one almost appears to be a touch underexposed.

Compositionally, the biggest thing to do would be to work on your backgrounds. This is one of the biggest things you will do to improve your shots. Here the background is so busy, it takes away from the shot which has nice catchlights, and relatively sharp eyes.

 

[Dominantly]

I agree that the white balance is a bit warm in the first pic.
I like the second one better, including the expression.

 

[Tulsa]

Compositionally, the biggest thing to do would be to work on your backgrounds. This is one of the biggest things you will do to improve your shots. Here the background is so busy, it takes away from the shot which has nice catchlights, and relatively sharp eyes.

Did you read my first post?

Thanks for all the feedback everyone.

 

[NateWagner]

Lol, yes, I read your first post, and as you will notice I did comment on the lighting.

Compositionally this just looks like a shot over a crib which is really rather boring.

You said to take the fact that you wouldn't move the kid into consideration, and then you mentioned something about composition critique. Truthfully, your unwillingness to move or reposition anything really leaves this shot as what it is which is a snapshot with a bounced flash.

 

[Tulsa]

Truthfully, your unwillingness to move or reposition anything really leaves this shot as what it is which is a snapshot with a bounced flash.

:lmao: whatever.

 

[NateWagner]

It's obviously true, why you think it's funny I have no idea. There is nothing wrong with a snapshot, it is what it is.