The joy of being a big brother

[DawnBrandon]

I did a photo shoot the other day my first paying gig and i loved this shot it was one of my favorites and I need critique on the black and white is it clear enuff? Is the border effect too much? Please give me some tips and if you would visit the following link and critize the rest of the shots I would greatly appreiciate it at least tell me if they are any good thanks so so much!! (The picture i am asking for criticism is the 2nd on this page the lil boy and baby girl)

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resized 2nd shoot

From DPS weekly assignments

Photo information
Jun 9, 2010
1600×1200 pixels – 110KB
Filename: 6-9-10 1091.jpg
Camera: EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
Model: KODAK EASYSHARE Z8612 IS Digital Camera
ISO: 200
Exposure: 1/40 sec
Aperture: 3.2
Focal Length: 13.2mm
Flash Used: Yes

[BigFuzzy]

Hiya Dawn,
The very first thing I noticed is your need for a faster shutterspeed. The image isn't as sharp as it could be. 1/40th of a second is really slow unless you're really stable.. but even if you are, slight movements, like the hands on the baby, register the movement.
I love the expression on the older child, it's a great capture.
The crop seems very tight to me. I don't like that both heads are cropped and even one of the eyes of the baby is cropped.

I know it's tough to control at times with moving kids, but the wrinkled sheets and the big black spot are a bit distracting to me.

Also, if possible, I'd consider tying to get the flash off camera as 'straight on' flash flattens your subject killing any depth due to loss of shadows on the face. It's most noticeable on the small child.

Finally, and this is totally a personal taste/pet-peeve thing, but I really dislike the white vignetting on images. I know many like it, so feel free to ignore me, but personally, it feels a bit dated and gimmicky.

In the end, it was a great moment captured, but I think the crop most of all hurt the image as it feels very 'chopped' and you should have bumped up the ISO to get faster shutter speeds. I still think they'd be happy with this, as it's their kids.

[DawnBrandon]

Bigfuzzy thank you for taking time to give me that advice 1st of all it was a camera i had no controll overbut yesterday i got my 1st dslr so next time that wont happen 2nd of all i was going for a completly differnt shot and just happend to look over and get this lol thanks for pointing out the black spot i didnt see that thanks and what do you mean about the flash i dont understand thank you for your honesty and i love the vineget look lol

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

Hiya Dawn,
The very first thing I noticed is your need for a faster shutterspeed. The image isn't as sharp as it could be. 1/40th of a second is really slow unless you're really stable.. but even if you are, slight movements, like the hands on the baby, register the movement.
I love the expression on the older child, it's a great capture.
The crop seems very tight to me. I don't like that both heads are cropped and even one of the eyes of the baby is cropped.

I know it's tough to control at times with moving kids, but the wrinkled sheets and the big black spot are a bit distracting to me.

Also, if possible, I'd consider tying to get the flash off camera as 'straight on' flash flattens your subject killing any depth due to loss of shadows on the face. It's most noticeable on the small child.

Finally, and this is totally a personal taste/pet-peeve thing, but I really dislike the white vignetting on images. I know many like it, so feel free to ignore me, but personally, it feels a bit dated and gimmicky.

In the end, it was a great moment captured, but I think the crop most of all hurt the image as it feels very 'chopped' and you should have bumped up the ISO to get faster shutter speeds. I still think they'd be happy with this, as it's their kids.

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by DawnBrandon

Bigfuzzy thank you for taking time to give me that advice 1st of all it was a camera i had no controll overbut yesterday i got my 1st dslr so next time that wont happen 2nd of all i was going for a completly differnt shot and just happend to look over and get this lol thanks for pointing out the black spot i didnt see that thanks and what do you mean about the flash i dont understand thank you for your honesty and i love the vineget look lol

Excellent, now you'll have much more control over things with your SLR. Congrats!

As for the flash, it seems that you used the built-in flash. Whenever flash is fired straight at a subject, it 'flattens' the subject by removing a lot of the shadows that give the subject depth. These "depth" shadows are normally caused by lights which are typically coming from above and from some angle to the subject.. It just makes the subject look a little unnatural since, normally we see them with shadows as cast by overhead lights or the sun.. rarely do we look at someone when there's a bright light being shot right at their face... See what I mean? Which is why studio shooters (and us "strobists") almost always elevate the light from the subject and add an angle to it.. which is something you can do now with your SLR by either getting a hot-shoe flash off the camera or when it's on the camera, turning the head and bouncing it off a wall and/or ceiling.

Haha.. as I said, the vignetting thing is only a taste thing..