Critique my first newborn session

[cjzoller]

Hey all,

Brand new to the forums, and almost equally as new to photography. Just a hobby for me at this point but constantly want to improve at anything I do.

Did my first newborn shoot over the weekend and learned so much and would love your feedback.

Thanks!

CJ

Full set here: Vassilia Catherine - a set on Flickr



IMG_9924 by cjzoller, on Flickr

Exif data

Camera Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS
Exposure 1/4000 sec
Aperture f/2.5
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 160
Exposure Bias +1 EV

[BigFuzzy]

Can you help us out and read the forum rules and pick just one photo (before the mods do it for you) to put into the critique section and include the exif info so that we can better help with out commenting.

Lots of good stuff going on here but want to wait until you pick just one to fully go into it.

[cjzoller]

Thanks for your guidance, post updated. I should actually know better, I'm in internet marketing, and have moderated over 20 user forums =) lol

[BigFuzzy]

haha shame on you!

Ok, on to business. This was a good image to pick because it shows both good and bad of what you're doing. These comments apply to pretty much all three images you originally posted.

Start with bad:
Composition: You've cut off the subjects legs (and I saw this in A LOT fof your flickr images.. no no!) yet left in some irrelevant stuff in the bottom right of the frame. It's good that you're not thinking of placing the subject dead center, but this is extreme. Many of your other flickr images ARE dead center composition.. try to avoid that.

Lighting - it's never great to shoot dead in middle of the day. Lighting is at it's worst then. It flattens and washes out your subject. try to avoid or move your subject into open shade (or create large open shade since the subject is so small). it's also why you have those blown out highlights on some parts of the child and her clothing. Mid day sun always equals bad unless you know how to use strong flash and/or open shade.. remember that! Never schedule a session mid day if you can avoid it.

Learn to use manual focus or Focus Lock and recompose technique as I saw some focus issues on several of your images where the main subject isn't in the middle. A portrait (in my humble opinion) always needs to have the eyes pin sharp unless there's a specific reason you chose not to. The whole series of the woman holding the child with the flowers on her head were missed because the focus was on the flowers and not the baby as I think it should've been. On this image specifically, when viewed large, you can see the focus on the wood which is in front of the face.. that's why the face is soft focus.

The good, I like your use of DoF and how you thought about the interesting yet simple background. Plus the colors contrast nicely, too bad the harsh sun kills a lot of the color.
Also, in the end, i think the mom (unless she's a photographer) is likely to be happy with many of the images, but you can definitely do more to wow them.
Having said that, for someone JUST starting, you're doing quite well. I've seen worse from people claiming to be more experienced than you, so well done. You definitely have something, so keep practicing. Really think about your lighting, composition and focus.. get those down and you'll see your images take off.
Welcome to DPS and keep posting!
Al

[cjzoller]

Wow - thank you so much for taking the time to write that. I'm seriously impressed with this community thus far. =)

First - I didn't charge for anything(of course, but just clarifying), set her expectations low and used the entire process as a learning experience. And what a learning experience it was.

I noticed right away the mid day shoot was a terrible idea. I wanted to do early morning, but ended up doing it around the babies nap and eating schedule, because of that the baby was in an awesome mood but right when I got there and started taking some shots I kicked myself in the butt. I REALLY should have known better but oh well.

And because of the sun it was near impossible to see my LCD. How do you get around this? I guess not doing a mid-day shoot in the first place? Not being able to see my LCD was throwing me off so much, I'm use to framing and viewing my shots on the LCD right after a few good clicks.

In all I think I learned so much from the experience and your post I definitely have something to build on for next time. I have literally 0 experience taking pictures(like months) and a low end DSLR but what I do have is a bunch of patience - desire to learn and I take constructive feedback very well. So thanks again =)

[hookshot]

Originally Posted by cjzoller

And because of the sun it was near impossible to see my LCD. How do you get around this? I guess not doing a mid-day shoot in the first place? Not being able to see my LCD was throwing me off so much, I'm use to framing and viewing my shots on the LCD right after a few good clicks.

Learn to use just your viewfinder and not depend on the LCD at all. I go out with my sister-in-law and her dog and take a few shots on the beach for fun, it's in the middle of the day in Australia's summer. I've done hundreds of shots where I don't look at the photos after I've taken them (I check maybe 1 every 10-15 minutes to make sure my settings are still ok, which they always are since the middle of the day doesn't change much, and I do this by shading the LCD screen with my hand) but once you get confident enough you shouldn't have to check every single shot to make sure it's ok.

[Barb Gordon]

Also, don't be afraid to narrow down the selections to the best of every "pose". No need to overwhelm your client with ALL of the images.(Back in the film days, I could only shoot 12 exposures on medium format to be profitable and I was good enough to get the images.) Fifteen to twenty five images are enough to overwhelm most people.

If if would help, I have a series of posts that will help at http://barbgordonphotocoach.com/blog...beginners-tips

Be sure to sign up for my newsletter if you want. (Anyone else reading is welcome too.) The box on the right.