what's this missing?

[Life in Motion]

okay i've looked at this set of pics so long i'm going cross eyed lol. this was actually a shoot with two little boys both 6 months cousins. the other boy in this shot was crying so i cropped and had to then clone part of him out. after that i just brightened midtones a bit but i can't decide if i need to do more. i would like to keep my images as clean as possible with pp just my taste preferrably . is there anything anyone can think of that would make it pop?

[Wifey]

My monitor is not calibrated so I won't comment on the color/tone. . .but it does look good if you ask me

What a cutie! I'd be tempted to also try cloning out that fence in your background - I LOVE the red behind him but the gate/fence is distracting.

[GadgetRick]

Looks to be out of focus. I know a soft look is ok but it's a bit too much (imo). I'd also give it some more contrast and maybe a touch of saturation (watch your skin tones). It looks flat to me.

[Life in Motion]

whenever i increase the satuaration it makes him look to red. he is really fair skinned and i'm finding it hard to boost color without making him red headed. probably just one of those times when the available light and no flash wasn't enough to get a good clear shot the distance i was. i think it is so soft because i had to crop a lot to get a portrait style with just him. i believe the focus is off a little too probably. do you think i should just trash it? and not crop it in for just a portrait style of him?

[LoveDSLR]

Originally Posted by Life in Motion

is there anything anyone can think of that would make it pop?

Here is a sample from quick edit.

[SusanH1970]

A quick and easy way to get a photo to have a subtle color pop without the colors going nuclear is to duplicate the layer, set the blending mode to soft light, then reduce the opacity to taste. I did that here, along with a crop and a ridiculously sloppy cloning job, LOL! Also resized and sharpened a touch.

Cute pic!

[Life in Motion]

boosted color and contrast. i am a little concerned about the tint now though. does it make him look too peachy skinned and red headed?

[Life in Motion]

i posted mine before i seen yours susan lol...i'm going to go back and try again

[GadgetRick]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

A quick and easy way to get a photo to have a subtle color pop without the colors going nuclear is to duplicate the layer, set the blending mode to soft light, then reduce the opacity to taste. I did that here, along with a crop and a ridiculously sloppy cloning job, LOL! Also resized and sharpened a touch.

Cute pic!

Bang! Looks great.

I have to learn to use layers, etc in PS. I do almost all of my pp in LR and I love it but certain things just can't be done (at least not easily) in LR.

Nice pp...

[Life in Motion]

i think i could do a little more tweaking on the cloning but does the color look better and sharpness? thank you susan for the idea of how to up boost the color without having colors go crazy helped tremendously!