5 Month Old Cutie in a. . .dog bed?

[Wifey]

Alllllrighty. . .made my first new thread yesterday in the Animal-SYS section, today I'm gonna step off a ledge and share one for critique. All comments/help would be appreciated!

A friend of ours asked us to come over and get some shots of her 5 month old boy. I've never shot babies before so of course we jumped on the opportunity!

Some background: This shot is one of my favorites from the whole set - needless to say it was tough to get. The poor little guy kept falling over (mom is under the table holding him up from behind!) so for every shot in this series I only had 2-3 chances to snap before he'd fall over, spit up, or get a big old red cry face!

He's sitting on a dog bed. . .

Considering the challenging situation offered above, what do you think of this shot? Ideally I would have liked to put him a slight more to the left in the frame. . .given how quickly I was shooting that obviously didn't happen. What about the BW conversion? Lighting? PP in general? Tips for shooting in this situation where kiddo is only giving you a 10 second window to snap?

I love this photo (his expression is priceless, imo), but I *know* there is room for improvement. I thought about putting up one of my lesser shots from this set, but for those I think I have a good idea what went wrong/needs to improve. For this shot that I love, I need a sharper eye to help me find the flaws. . .and I really appreciate any feedback for stepping up my game here!

Thank you, and cheers!

Nikon D90
Shutter: 1/400
Aperture: f/2.0
Focal Length: 50mm (this shot was taken with my 50mm 1.8)
ISO 200

[zona5101]

i think it is very nice. The biggest thing is the inconsistant background. It could also stand to be cropped a bit tighter.

[Wifey]

Originally Posted by zona5101

i think it is very nice. The biggest thing is the inconsistant background.

I agree Zona I kind of wish that curtain wasn't there on the left. . .live and learn, right?

[Wifey]

Here is a cropped version. . .I'm not sure what I think

[CheaperKings]

Much better...

[SusanH1970]

I'd actually crop it in tighter to be in portrait orientation. This is a nitpick, but not being able to see his legs makes it look kind of like he's growing out of the dog bed. Nice conversion, though, looks good! Maybe just bring the midtones up the tiniest bit.

[CatonaLimb]

Personally, I would shoot a baby in a situation that matches the ability that have at their age... meaning, if they can't sit up unaided, don't shoot them sitting up. I think that would be easier for everyone involved.

I agree a tighter crop would be good (and show the legs), as well as possibly a warmer BW tone (but that's just my own taste).

Well done!