You got my attention........

[KmH]

The edit is so washed out. Definitely not an improvement. The deep pink on the nose and cheeks from the cold is all but vanished. The hat is washed out. The crop makes the photo less interesting. There's already a downward gaze to contend with, now all the snow falling around the child is nearly gone as well. More is more in this case - more snow. This one tells a much better story with more of the environment.

Yep, and thank you for mentioning that.

That's all why it should be gotten as close to properly exposed in the camera as possible, rather than relying on 'fixing' the photographer technical errors post process.

The under exposure is likely a result of all the white in the scene confusing the camera's light meter, which is calibrated to 18% gray. Experienced photographers know the exposure has to be bumped up somewhat to compensate for the way the in-the-camera light meter works when there is that much white in a scene.
But many new photographers don't bother gaining an understanding of how their tools work, and what the tools limitations are.

The under exposure has artifically pumped up the saturation in the un-edited image, so correcting the under exposure de-saturates the colors.

 

[The_Traveler]

Wow, my monitor must be WAY off then because when you say that you can barley see the second child in photo #4, on my monitor you can make her out fine, some shadows on her maybe and not sure about this "orange glow" you keep talking about so yea, I will look into that.
As for photo #1 so it looks fake because of the lighting? I deleted the RAW format of this photo but I have the original in JPG, so her it is...... and I liked the street sign and stop sign in it.... I thought it gave the photo a bit of character.....

I just saw this.
Deleting the raw file is pretty much the equivalent of making a print and trashing the negative.

 

[Elizabeth30]

Wow, my monitor must be WAY off then because when you say that you can barley see the second child in photo #4, on my monitor you can make her out fine, some shadows on her maybe and not sure about this "orange glow" you keep talking about so yea, I will look into that.
As for photo #1 so it looks fake because of the lighting? I deleted the RAW format of this photo but I have the original in JPG, so her it is...... and I liked the street sign and stop sign in it.... I thought it gave the photo a bit of character.....

I just saw this.
Deleting the raw file is pretty much the equivalent of making a print and trashing the negative.

I was just freeing up space on my HD and didn't think I'd be needing this photo again since it was for someone else who I had already given the photos too

 

[The_Traveler]

And what if a client comes back in three years and says that they won the lottery and want 4 x 6 foot canvas wraps of their little girl, who has since been eaten by wolves, and they want copies for each of their six new homes - and they want them with solid gold frames and they don't care about the cost?

I don't delete client images.

 

[thereyougo!]

Wow, my monitor must be WAY off then because when you say that you can barley see the second child in photo #4, on my monitor you can make her out fine, some shadows on her maybe and not sure about this "orange glow" you keep talking about so yea, I will look into that.
As for photo #1 so it looks fake because of the lighting? I deleted the RAW format of this photo but I have the original in JPG, so her it is...... and I liked the street sign and stop sign in it.... I thought it gave the photo a bit of character.....

I just saw this.
Deleting the raw file is pretty much the equivalent of making a print and trashing the negative.

I was just freeing up space on my HD and didn't think I'd be needing this photo again since it was for someone else who I had already given the photos too

Back up your RAWs before deleting. That way when you have a better grasp of the technical side of things you cam always revisit a shot later.

 

[Vtec44]

For God's sake... if people were paying you even $50 for a photo shoot, regardless of whether or not you're deemed ready by people and you're also losing your home... then I say ignore people and take the $50. Seriously. If you need money and clients are paying, then take the money. :| It's not like they don't know what they're getting.

As long as you're not mis-representing yourself then I say go for it .

 

[Elizabeth30]

And what if a client comes back in three years and says that they won the lottery and want 4 x 6 foot canvas wraps of their little girl, who has since been eaten by wolves, and they want copies for each of their six new homes - and they want them with solid gold frames and they don't care about the cost?

I don't delete client images.

You have quite the imagination!! Point taken!

 

[Ballistics]

Haha I saw this and immediately thought: Stuffed animal jail break.

 

[TamiAz]

Haha I saw this and immediately thought: Stuffed animal jail break.

or a stuffed animal menajahtwa.

 

[SCraig]

Elizabeth just scanning through these posts and comparing them in my mind to your first efforts of a few days ago you have truly made a huge change in your vision of yourself and I for one applaud your efforts. You went from defensive and argumentative to willing to learn in a very short time and that takes a lot of willpower and introspection. If your abilities improve parallel to your attitude we can expect to see some big improvements soon.

I think that one of the posts mentioned that you are using a laptop for editing (I could be wrong, I didn't read every single post). Here's a word of advice: put some masking tape on the table that you edit on and always put your laptop in exactly the same position with the screen tilted at exactly the same angle. Laptop screen are horrendously hard to calibrate, especially an "Interpretive" calibration by looking at the colors and manually adjusting the tint and contrast. They are very, very sensitive to the angle at which they are viewed, and changing the light or the angle at which you look at the screen will make a huge difference in how you see what is on the screen. Someone recommended getting an external monitor and I strongly recommend that since it will remain in the same place all the time (in addition to having better and more accurate color). I've got one I'd give you but it would cost omre to ship than it's worth. If you happen to be close to Nashville you can come and get it and we can calibrate it on your laptop to (although they really need to be recalibrated every 30 days or so).

You are getting some very good advice. One thing to note is that in some cases you are getting conflicting advice. Keep in mind that there are no cast-in-stone rules of photography other than the physical laws of optics and light. Everything else is a recommendation. The advice you are getting is in every case that person's impression of what is best under the circumstances, and none of them are wrong. Once you understand the basic "Rules" (I hate that word) and WHY they are considered to be "Rules" (there it is again) then, and only then, can you begin to decide for yourself which ones you want to use and which to ignore in any given situation.

Good luck with your efforts. I really think you are on the right track.

Oh, and here's my quick edit of your shot:

 

[cgipson1]

Haha I saw this and immediately thought: Stuffed animal jail break.

or a stuffed animal menajahtwa.

I am assuming that is the phonetics for Ménage à trois ??

 

[TamiAz]

Haha I saw this and immediately thought: Stuffed animal jail break.

or a stuffed animal menajahtwa.

I am assuming that is the phonetics for Ménage à trois ??

I googled it and used the urban dictionary spelling.

 

[cgipson1]

or a stuffed animal menajahtwa.

I am assuming that is the phonetics for Ménage à trois ??

I googled it and used the urban dictionary spelling.

Gotcha... no big deal, I guess! Still means the same thing (although conveyed in a slightly less lovely manner!) lol!

 

[thereyougo!]

I'll echo the compliment that you have really taken to taking the criticism in generally the right way, not everyone in your position on this forum has, and I had to chuckle when I came across this post by an infamous poster on here called AmeteurAllie:

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/people-photography/261349-i-learn-better-critique.html

Not everyone really believes they get better with critique and I applaud your positive attitude as you will be the one that garners the fruits from the harvest in time.

 

[Elizabeth30]

Elizabeth just scanning through these posts and comparing them in my mind to your first efforts of a few days ago you have truly made a huge change in your vision of yourself and I for one applaud your efforts. You went from defensive and argumentative to willing to learn in a very short time and that takes a lot of willpower and introspection. If your abilities improve parallel to your attitude we can expect to see some big improvements soon.

I think that one of the posts mentioned that you are using a laptop for editing (I could be wrong, I didn't read every single post). Here's a word of advice: put some masking tape on the table that you edit on and always put your laptop in exactly the same position with the screen tilted at exactly the same angle. Laptop screen are horrendously hard to calibrate, especially an "Interpretive" calibration by looking at the colors and manually adjusting the tint and contrast. They are very, very sensitive to the angle at which they are viewed, and changing the light or the angle at which you look at the screen will make a huge difference in how you see what is on the screen. Someone recommended getting an external monitor and I strongly recommend that since it will remain in the same place all the time (in addition to having better and more accurate color). I've got one I'd give you but it would cost omre to ship than it's worth. If you happen to be close to Nashville you can come and get it and we can calibrate it on your laptop to (although they really need to be recalibrated every 30 days or so).

You are getting some very good advice. One thing to note is that in some cases you are getting conflicting advice. Keep in mind that there are no cast-in-stone rules of photography other than the physical laws of optics and light. Everything else is a recommendation. The advice you are getting is in every case that person's impression of what is best under the circumstances, and none of them are wrong. Once you understand the basic "Rules" (I hate that word) and WHY they are considered to be "Rules" (there it is again) then, and only then, can you begin to decide for yourself which ones you want to use and which to ignore in any given situation.

Good luck with your efforts. I really think you are on the right track.

Thank you so much your compliments are very generous! Thank you for the offer to calibrate for me but I will likely not be any where Nashville. I rarely travel, just don't have the means to but thanks anyway! I do have an external monitor I can hook up to though, and I will try and use that for my editing!