[Dutchie]

F/5.6
shutterspeed 1/60 sec
Iso-400

Taken with my nikon 18-200vr

Could you give me critique please and why you would have done it different maybe?
Changed this into mono aswell as it disguised the coloured dress.

[marcinklysewicz]

little bit too dark. not enough contrast for me. and that shadow is distracting - would be nice to see it with clear background. i'm not sure about B&W - it could look good with warm light (sun light maybe). if it's your baby take your time and try to take more photos

[AQ]

I agree with Marcin that it is a bit lacking in contrast.

But for me the biggest problem is the arrangement of the fingers I am not sure why but they do not seem quite right. It is more to do with the left hand.

22 years ago I took some similar pictures of my new born daughter holding one of her mothers fingers and it is still one of my favourites.

Also as Marcin said if it is your daughter take more pictures - you can nerver have too many. I would also try colour again and change the clothes if theyare a problem. There is a great idea here.

[Dutchie]

Yeh I'm going to do it with my hand soon aswell.

I've got one of my other daughter with my dads hands. It looks really good. But I want to have a black or white background now and then do it.

I'll keep the tips in mind. And yes it is my daughter. So i've got plenty to practise. It was just an idea and I had my camera by hand.

[Rob Barron]

I don't have a problem with the position of the hands and fingers at all, they are just how a baby tends to hold his or her hands. There is a cute clumsiness about them which just adds character to the whole image.

I do agree that this is a bit dark and needs more contrast, though not too much as we don't want to lose the soft and gentle feel.

Lovely idea Dutchie and can't want to see more shots of your lovely daughter

Cheers,
Rob

[Dave]

Open the shot up in Photoshop & then look at the "levels". You will notice how much space there is to left & right (eg. wasted dynamic range) . Try pulling the left & right slider in towards the edge of your curve

[Rob Barron]

Yup, there is a lot of space on both sides. Just to show you the difference Dutchie, I've pulled the sides in using the Curves tool. No other adjustments made at all.

Cheers,
Rob

[Dutchie]

You got me there, cause I didn't do that with this one. But it looks better now.

How would I have overcome that shadow?

[Angela]

OK, I had a bit of a play with this too!

I flipped the image because I thought it looked more natural that way. I have sharpened it up and added some midtones and shadows, and cropped it a bit. I think the shadow could easily be cloned out - or rather the lighter area could be cloned to match the shadow - but natural looking cloning is not my forte I'm afraid!

[Dutchie]

Ah but that looks nice. I like it. Now how did you get it this sharp, Angela?

[Angela]

Dutchie, I use Corel PSP X2 and I just did a normal sharpen 3 times I think.

[Dutchie]

Ok. Thanks Angela. I've had another go.

Not as sharp as yours is though.



I have to say. Angela, with your edited version, it looses the softness of the baby's hand/skin a bit.