Would love CC on this session.

[hmreyna]

My son is turning 10 on Tuesday so of course I had to go out and take some pictures. I feel like there is just TOO much contrast, what do you guys think? What can I do to improve these images?

 

[sscarmack]

I think they are fine. Plenty of contrast left without blowing things out, any less I think it will pull a lot of color out of the image.

 

[LarryLomona]

All good, maybe #2 straighten the picture

 

[The_Traveler]

I think the fill flash is too bright and straight on so that all the detail in his face is blown out.
Really loosely cropped for no obvious reason.

I think you would benefit from allowing edits to your pictures.

 

[FITBMX]

A cheap reflector (or anything white) would do a lot for fill light on these. There is too much sun flare for me, but that is just my taste.

 

[SquarePeg]

Agree about the sunflares, they distract from the subject.

 

[hmreyna]

Okay, thank you all. I actually did straighten the second photo after I posted. Photos are okay to edit now. Maybe that will help. I also did a little more editing on some of them, I'll post to see if they're better.

 

[hmreyna]

 

[Designer]

I feel like there is just TOO much contrast, what do you guys think?

Now if you're talking about the difference between your subject and the sky in the background, then I would agree, there is quite a lot of difference. Your subject alone looks good, so not too much contrast there.

What can I do to improve these images?

A re-crop of them all would probably help.

Shooting against the sun makes it quite difficult to produce good photography. What was the background like looking back in the opposite direction?

 

[Derrel]

There are many people who would love to have this degree of sun flaring! The look you have is popular these days with a good many people. If there's anything I would suggest it would be to apply very subtle darkening around the edges of the frame, and to perhaps increase the maximum black level a little bit, so there is a bit deeper maximum dark value somewhere within the frame. That will tend to bring out the look of the flare against the dark parts of the frame , like for example in frame #2, where the flare is near his jeans. Shot #2 would probably look better seen a little bit darker overall, a with a deeper black point.