My First Baby Photoshoot - Opinions Please!

[ddt0725]

My oldest daughter and I have had our disagreements lately but we decided to put all that behind us. Today she visited and allowed me to take photos for the first time of my newest granddaughter, Krista Joy!

I have never done an actual photoshoot with babies or children before where Iused external flash set-ups, a backdrop or using photoshop afterwards to get everything just right.

So before I get too carried away with the other photos, please give me your opinion on the only photo I have ready to view . I think it looks best if you click on the photo and view it in flickr with the black background.

The biggest challenge was trying to remove lots of drool!

I bring to you, Krista Joy ...




Thanks for viewing!

Denise

EDIT: Now that I have uploaded it, I think it looks a tad dark. I did add some vignetting which I like but do you think I should up the exposure a bit?

[HDNitehawk]

Exposure is fine on my monitor.


It is wonderful you finally got to do this.......she is a very cute little girl..

[bob williams]

Denise, Very Nice Job---and good work on removing the DROOL. But yes, I do think it is just a tad too dark. Also, on my monitor I can see a couple of white lines at the top of the baby

[ddt0725]

Thank you for taking a look!


I didn

[bob williams]

Any idea on how I can fix that, Bob?

Well, no---I know it can be done (ihave been watching my PS videos) but I am not good enough to provide detailed instructions. If I was to even attempt that, I would try an adjustment mask on just the arms and tweak the white balance, but I have never done that before. Perhaps on of our PS gurus can provide some detailed instructions.---What editing software do you use?

[HDNitehawk]

To me the lines look like it is a bit over sharpened, I think you can fix that very easily. I went to 100x before I could really start to see it on my 24" monitor.


I am going to disagree with Bob on the arms. Having raised two little auburn hair boys, I think the skin tones and the arms are probably just right. They don't match the face but then they wouldn't, babies arms are not going to match her face always. But I checked with the baby expert, the wife says she thinks it is just right as well, especially how she is posed and laying on her arms. ...The wife also says the she is adorable .....

[ddt0725]

Thank you & thank your wife for me! I have been trying for the last hour to fix the coloring on her arm and everything I have tried looks very unnatural. Mostly because I am not very good at the editing part yet other than very simple tasks. I know a baby

[clemmb]

Denise,


I too think you have a talent for this. I do not think it is too dark but the lighting may be a bit flat. The catchlights in the eyes are very small. Did you use an umbrella? If so, you should place it as close to her face as possible. Two umbrellas work well. One close for the key light and one farther back for fill. The key light to one side to give more light to that side which will give more depth and not flat.


I agree with others though. Nice shot. You can be proud of your work. And drool is one of the hardest things to take care of. You did good.


Mark

[ddt0725]

Thank you Sean & Mark ...and thank you Sean for taking the time out to do a revision for me! I only wish I would have seen these suggestions way before now ...I spent the entire afternoon trying to improve my first one. I guess it's back to the drawing board with these! If I don't get this just right, I doubt very much my daughter will let me take any more. I am hoping she'll let me take photos of her two daughters together next time!


The first one I just increased the exposure a tad.
















On the last two, I had to replace the background because it was a little shadowy on the bottom right. Using the quick selection tool was pretty difficult because she has lots of flyaway hair! I caught as much as I could of it!

I don't think my daughter would ever let me get any closer to her with a flash ...I was nervous about her letting me have it 5 ft. away! I used a small soft box on one flash and just my stofen diffuser on the other.

[clemmb]

Actually 5