PP critique please

[StephanieS]

I took this picture of my niece around Christmas and I am trying to flex my Photoshop muscles and learn more about photo editing.

Here are the before and afters of the shot- any tips on what I could have done differently or what more I could do to the edited version?

BEFORE


AFTER


I shot in RAW with a Canon Rebel XT with an 18-55mm lens. I honestly can't remember the shutter speed and aperture.

I use PhotoShop Elements 8.

I first cropped the photo tight around her face, and then I worked to take care of some of the little blemishes on her face. I spent some time trying to figure out the best way to downplay the bouncer she was sitting in, and make it less of the focus. I ended up selecting the background with the quick selection tool and I edited the color saturation with the color variations menu in the Enhance tab. Then I changed it to B&W with the filters. I used the blur tool around her head so that the changes didn't seem so harsh.

Thank you for any advice!

ETA- EXIF data- I just learned how to find this out on my images! I am so excited about this!

Aperture- f/5.6
Exposure- 1/200
ISO- 800
External Flash

[megkunert]

I'm an amateur myself, so take all of this with a grain of salt.

I know you're mostly asking for PP advice, but the photo looks really overexposed. If you're shooting with a window open (or any other type of natural light), you won't need a flash. Turn it off.

As far as PP goes, do you shoot in RAW mode? If so, you can adjust your exposure in Camera Raw (or whatever type of program you use).

Be careful when you blur, because some of the spots around her head are soft - and you can tell a blur was used. If you want a naturally blurry background next time, set your aperture to a lower f/number and set your subject as far away from the background as possible. This will give you a shallow depth of field and give you the natural, creamy looking background you're going for.

HTH - good luck!

Edit: Also, shooting up the nose = bad. (don't worry, I have done it a few times myself lol) Next time I would try a different angle. And always remember the rule of thirds.

[StephanieS]

Thank you- I did shoot in RAW- I tend to gravitate towards the slightly overexposed images, but I can see that maybe it is too much.

It was evening, so the flash was necessary, I had it aimed at the ceiling so it wouldn't completely wash her out.

Thanks for the tip on the nose- I am trying to train myself on posing, so that is very helpful!