Quickflash Loc: Loganville, Ga

I recently posted a photo of my friends' granddaughter. I was given some very good feedback from several people here who are far more experienced and knowledgeable than I am. Hopefully I have learned a couple of things, and maybe you guys can help me to further develop my skills by critiquing this photo. I think it is pretty good, the grandparents loved it, but I know some of you can tell me how I could do better, so feel free to rip it apart or even edit it as you might do to your own photo.

Thanks,

Dave

Andrrea

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John Lawrence

I'm not one of your experts but I think she's adorable and you captured her beautifully. She made me smile. :D

John

Annie_Girl Loc: It's none of your business

UMMMM I'm trying to figure out why it has so much noise, your ISO was at 400 and with the Canon T1i should have been able to push it up to 800 before this amount of noise started to creep in. That leads me to believe that you underexposed this shot in camera adjusted the exposure heavily in post.

The focus looks to have fallen on her pretty dress not on her eyes. The lace is nicely in focus and sharp while her eyes are a little soft.

I wish I could see both of her feet and that she wasn't wearing socks. The bright white of the sock is distracting against the pretty pink dress and the dark grey bedding.

I do like that you have the lighting coming from a slight side angle, but as I said it looks like you need to bump up the lighting some to avoid trying to fix the exposure in post and adding noise.

Quickflash Loc: Loganville, Ga

Thanks John, I appreciate your opinion and kind words.

Quickflash Loc: Loganville, Ga

Annie, you are absolutely correct, it was a bit under exposed, thus the noise. My speedlites were set too low in this shot. She is a bundle of action, probably why I did miss the focal point a bit. As for the feet, I thought they were both showing when I started to frame the shot, but this baby is high energy. I do a lot of sports photography, but this kid moves faster than a lot of athletes!
Thanks for your critique. I still have a lot to learn.

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

I agree with Annie Girl, but also would add to make sure you check what is behind your subject before you even look at the subject. The backdrop not being fully behind her is distracting, as well as just trying to figure out what it is. Pillow? You have good separation, which can be a problem with black hair and a dark background, but the background is too ..... I'm not sure how to describe it. Attention getting? What PP program do you have? I'm thinking if you have elements or PS-5, you could select around the area where the background disappears, include a bit of that background, then use content aware fill. That may work, or maybe just clone more of it in? I am just being picky, but you did ask for critique... by the way, she's beautiful.

Quickflash Loc: Loganville, Ga

Bkyser, thanks for your critique. This was shot on a queen size bed at the grandparents home. I was aware that the background was less then perfect, but it seemed that was the best I could do. It was fun doing this, but grandma had to grab and reposition her numerous times, and did not seem to understand where exactly I needed her to be. She had the look on her face you see and wrong position or not, I tried to focus quickly, shot and the results are what they are. If the baby was a little more cooperative, I could have had grandma move her a little, made sure I had my flash set correctly, etc. but with a fast moving baby, I was lucky to get this close. Anyway, I have PSE10, but did not want to do a whole lot of PP on this. You and Annie gave me great advice. I'll do better next time. I just have to be more patient in setting up the shot.
Thanks,

Dave

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

I didn't notice the sock until someone mentioned it, now it sticks out when Ilook at the pic. still not bad at all. The only harder thing than shooting a baby is a dog or cat.

Quickflash Loc: Loganville, Ga

No actually, I find it easier to get photos of my cat! He poses for me and I don't have to worry about clothing issues or blemishes. He never complains or cries. Anyway, thanks for your reply.