First Kiss - My first run at

[KMP2010]

Hi there,

So I am thinking about doing some part time professional shoots, focusing on Children, Family and Maternity etc. Yesterday I had organised a session with one of my friends. I did it for free as I really need the practice. They live on a small farm so I photographed her daughter Mia and my daughter Leah. It was a pretty overcast day, late in the afternoon. Mia is extremely clingy, shy and doesn't keep still for more than a second so is very hard to photograph (I have tried on many occasion ) This was the first time I have really done some post editing. There was a dog running behind them so the pic has been hugely cropped and I had to clone out most of the dog, I think I may need to fix the grass up a bit. Is there any advice you can give me on what you may have done differently in regards to editing, or should I not have even used this picture at all? I find it hard to critique myself to know what would be good enough to actually charge a client for?

There were some other really nice pics which I will try to get up on Flickr later today if anyone is interested. I am open to any feed back good or bad as at the end of the day all it can do is help me to progress. Thanks heaps for your time

SS: 1/80
F/6.3
ISO 100

[KMP2010]

So here is a link to a set I have started for the photo shoot

Also sorry for the main title for the Thread, I posted it before I realised I hadn't finished typing the label and now I can't seem to fix it.

IMG_6397_1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[Talita]

Very cute pic !! I can only see the one in the first post, but will go and have a peek at the ones on Flickr at home.

[KMP2010]

Thanks Talita

[Laurenbiz]

I think this photo has some great potential. The composition and the vignetting are quite nice.

What I don't care for is the fact that the composition strikes me as an innocent, serene sort of photo, yet I see green, pinks, whites, reds, etc. The combination of the photo's 'feel' mixed with the busy array of colors is not a pleasing combination, in my opinion.

So, my suggestion is to convert this to B/W photography. I think that would look great!

[KMP2010]

Thanks for your input Lauren
I did try some in B/W and they looked a bit dull to me. I love B/W but kept coming back to the colour. They were having so much fun running around the farm and exploring together I thought the colour reflected that. I'll go try this in B/W again and post what I come up with.

Kel

[KMP2010]

ok so here it is in B/W. I think Mia's shoulder is blown out...am I right? If so how do I fix that?

[natek313]

No, nothing is blown out.

The only problem I have with your black and white conversion is that it is too dark and has way too many midtones (grays). I hope you don't mind, but I did a quick edit on your photo. See attached. If you'd rather I remove it from the forum, let me know, and I will be glad to.

EDIT: And I prefer the black and white photo to the color one. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

[KMP2010]

Originally Posted by natek313

No, nothing is blown out.

The only problem I have with your black and white conversion is that it is too dark and has way too many midtones (grays). I hope you don't mind, but I did a quick edit on your photo. See attached. If you'd rather I remove it from the forum, let me know, and I will be glad to.

EDIT: And I prefer the black and white photo to the color one. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Thanks Nate,

No you don't have to remove it, I really like it Yeah I was wondering if it was too dark. Maybe if I lightened the vignette a bit too? I had used the curves to adjust the tones and am still getting used to them. Thanks for your help, now I can see what is too much grey (sorry kiwi spelling haha)

I like both, but i'm leaning towards the B/W thanks for making me do it again Lauren

do you think this would be good enough to charge a client for a print? (it is free for them, just wondering is all)

[KMP2010]

Sorry Nate, forgot to ask what did you do to edit it?