a little critique if you will

[cosmicma]

i took these photo's a while ago both taken in my back yard of my young ones
iv'e not really had a good look at them untill very recently and there's something about them that i find very appealing but my judgement is going to be very biased ( as is all parents when it comes to there own ) so i would be greatfull for other opinnions

the first is mathew i like the mood this photograph seems to give rather than even lighting and everything ultra sharp and detailed


the second is of my daughter sue and my niece paula
i like the way sue is resting on paula's shoulder and the way she looks at the camera it makes the photo for me


the brick wall as a background isn't ideal but these were at the spur of the moment shots

i have hundreds of photo's of the family and every now and again one or two really catches my eye but as allready stated i'm biased

[Cutter]

Great shots, what i see is a naturalness about the pose, something that is very hard to do.
Love them
ps you could always get rid of the background in photoshop if the wall bothers you: even if only to blur it a bit more
Regards Cutter

[chris-p]

I particularly like the young lady on the left of the second shot. She's got a real cheeky look about her which makes it seem a lot more personal.
I also like the fact she's not looking directly at the camera as it makes it seem more intimate.

[BenBirchall]

Nice pics!!

[bsmith]

They are super pics and the difference is the way the children are interacting with the lens. The aperture used has helped isolate the important bits faces and eyes especially. I think if you did a little levels adjustment in photo shop or whatever you use you would be able to make them even better.

I've done a little on the second one, I'll delete it from the site once you have a look, it all depends what your after in an image but this is the way I would tweek it, and taking a little more care would give better results .

I've sharpened a little and adjusted the levels, then did a little more on the eyes to give them shine.



Bob

[Cutter]

Originally Posted by bsmith

They are super pics and the difference is the way the children are interacting with the lens. The aperture used has helped isolate the important bits faces and eyes especially. I think if you did a little levels adjustment in photo shop or whatever you use you would be able to make them even better.

I've done a little on the second one, I'll delete it from the site once you have a look, it all depends what your after in an image but this is the way I would tweek it, and taking a little more care would give better results .

I've sharpened a little and adjusted the levels, then did a little more on the eyes to give them shine.



Bob

Hey bsmith how did you select the backround without loosing the fine hair detail? ( I am all ears)
Cheers

[bsmith]

I used the clone tool, selected a brush with a feathered edge and painted out the mortar lines a little at a time. If you compare the original and the edited version, you can see bits where I was careless and did paint over the hair a bit, but I only spent a minute on it and was very haphazard in my brush strokes.

Bob

PS the images look better when downloaded to your own PC, this site is still degrading the quality of images to some degree.

[cosmicma]

i like what youv'e done with the eyes and the background
the levels look a little overcooked the skin seems to have lost a little of it's appeal i think we all have different tastes i quite like the soft look on skin although it might not be the correct way it should be exposed if you follow me

overall i would say your tweaking is a definite improvement on the original and i will take note of it
thanks for taking the time and effort to do this

[dk79]

Hi there.
Well since we're doing that I'll give it a go as well!!
First of all let me tell that you have all the information necessary to do some adjustments to make it look absolutely fabulous. If I can bring up detail in those low res pics than you can do it on your high res pics.

Let me explain my approach. Basically what I do is I'm "relighting" things I think need exposure and things that need to be brought down a notch.

In the boy picture I brought up the eyes a lot since they were the least exposed part of the picture and at the same time I blew up some parts of the skin. To bring more attention to the main subject I darkened the background and also part of the shirt.
To finish things up I moved the whole image in the blue spectrum since the major colour in the composition is blue.




I followed the same procedure for the girls. The girl on the left was least exposed compared to the other girl so I over exposed the left side of her while keeping the right part on the dark. I also brought up some details of the eyes on the girl on the right while I darkened part of the neck to define the shape of the face a little better and to also play with the light a little bit more.
I also reversed the lighting on the background. More light on the left where the girl is least exposed and less light on the right where the subject is more exposed. I also pushed the whole image on the yellow side. And finished of with a bit more contrast.




Since you probably shoot RAW don't stress yourself too much with the super great lighting. Especially if you're on the go or shooting a candid moment. If you're shooting RAW chances are you can fix it easily in post.
These adjustments took me no more than 10-15 minutes.
And try to approach your corrections in a way that compliments the image. Don't make massive colour adjustments. Fix things locally and then the whole image will start to build up.
Hope I helped even a tiny bit!!

[bsmith]

Originally Posted by cosmicma

i like what youv'e done with the eyes and the background
the levels look a little overcooked the skin seems to have lost a little of it's appeal i think we all have different tastes i quite like the soft look on skin although it might not be the correct way it should be exposed if you follow me

overall i would say your tweaking is a definite improvement on the original and i will take note of it
thanks for taking the time and effort to do this

Hi cosmicma, its never easy to get it right for everyone, each PC will display a slightly different colour and gama etc, the best we can do is make suggestions . The images have that magic element that make them worth working on to get the best from them, so I do hope you have a go.

Bob