My Niece's "Christmas Pose"

[NickD]

This was too cute! We were hanging out at my grandma's house on Chirstmas Day when my brother told my niece to show me her "Christmas Pose". As soon as I saw it, I laid down on the floor in front of her. Apparently, she had picked it up a week or so ago when they went to a studio.



Any constructive criticism welcomed. I'm especially looking for tips on getting a little more true color from the skin. There was no PP on this shot at all.


Camera Model Name
Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XS
Firmware
-
Shooting Date/Time
12/25/2009 03:03:05
Tv(Shutter Speed)
1/60Sec.
Av(Aperture Value)
F1.8
Metering Modes
Split metering
Exposure Compensation
0
ISO Speed
400
Lens
-
Focal Length
50.0 mm
Image size
1555 x 1037
Image Quality
-
Flash
Off
White Balance
-

[denja]

WOW! What I wouldn't give to work with such a talented model. Personally, I think the only problem is with daylight balance. After posting this, I think I may have cooled it just a tad too much, but I think it conveys my idea. If you would like me to take this down, let me know, otherwise let me know what you think.

Jim

[windrider86]

A balance between the two shots would nake the lighting great. I would probably also crop it down a little bit more so that darling face fills the frame more.
Then if you are feeling adventerous, try lightening up her face a bit.

[naeno]

What a cutie!! I love her little expression and pose! Just adorable.

I would like to make the following suggestions (please let me know if you'd like it removed)

1. Crop. I tried several different crops, but liked the square one the best. There's a lot of distracting "stuff" going on in the background and it helps to crop some of it out.
2. I corrected some of your levels to brighten it up. It's a bit underexposed. I used GIMP (which is free).
3. A lovely trick for "adding light" on a certain area of your picture. Open a transparent layer, and paint white over the area that needs more light. Add a huge gaussian blur and change the layer mode to overlay. This adds "light" only to the area that you want.
4. I selected her eyes and did an unsharp mask on them just to make them stand out a bit more.
   

Very adorable picture. Thanks for posting.

[NickD]

Thanks for the tips. I knew the shot could be cooled off a bit, and I think it's somewhere in between my shot and the first response.(thanks Jim!). There wasn't a whole lot of time to mess with my settings as, after all, she isn't even 2 yet and there were plenty of distractions on Christmas day.

I'm not familiar with GIMP. I'll check it out. PP is definitely not my strongsuit. I'd rather just shoot clean in the first place, but it helps to make it just right. I just feel like too much PP takes away from the integrity of the original capture.