I need to get better with this...

[pinholecam]

The little one is changing weekly so I'm running out of time to capture her properly before she changes to the next stage.

Shot Details
------------
Day shot using window light.
35mm f4.5 1/90 ISO400

Something is missing in the shot (is the composition right? )
-personally I think composition is ~ok~, certainly not great, but what can I improve?

Lighting needs work. How?
- seems like I'm not getting enough contrast, picture is "bland" and there is no "wow". Should I do it in PP or how else can I set it to be better?

Other comments greatly appreciated. Thx

[m3lv1nh0]

Just some suggestions..

Iron that cloth backdrop, the crease is unslightly.
Open up your aperture, not sure which lens you are using but with a shallow dof, it should help to isolate the baby from the background more. Focus on her eyes.
The b/w convertion seems to make the baby look darker and underexposed. Try adjusting the levels and adding some color toning like Sepia for a warmer feel.
Try to make the baby smile. A baby's smile will make any photo special.

my 2 cents

[kelvinkhoo]

Well bro.. I can say the I love the sharpness of the baby's eyes........they are the sharpest eyes I ever seen whole thread ( which is also there is a very nice catch light that is very natural) .......

[papaho]

I am not a very technical shooter yet.. but i think this is a great shoot... in terms of exposure and composition is seems to work fine..


I too feel that the pic is a abit odd.. then i realise its the position of baby..

Imho...the issue seems to lies on the way he is held.. it really does seems that he is comfortable..

[dingzyangz]

just some suggestions, since u decided to include the hands, include more such that it shows the action of carry. a picture of mummy hugging baby close to her would be nice. else the hands will be rather distracting as i took some time to figure out wat are the hands doing there. babies in action also works well, like sleeping or during feeding time.

some ideas...
pic1
pic2

[Legoz]

If u ask me, u are getting carried away with the idea of creating technically sound pics.
Each photo you capture of your little one is special in its own right (changing weekly, remember?)

At this point of time, its more important to capture something than nothing at all. Forget composition and all those mambo jumbo.. Pop up the flash (if you dont have an external one) and shoot. Im sure each different expression captured would be priceless in time to come.

As for this actual pic..
im not very sure why you chose to go b/w, the natural light from the window might just throw some nice shadows on your baby. =)

[HTCahHTC]

no offense, but i find the hand on her head scary. seems like the hand belongs to no one... but it's there...

[calebk]

Originally Posted by kelvinkhoo Well bro.. I can say the I love the sharpness of the baby's eyes........they are the sharpest eyes I ever seen whole thread ( which is also there is a very nice catch light that is very natural) .......

The catchlights are nice, but upon closer inspection, one would realise movement blur in the catchlights (there is doubling of catchlights). If the goal was to create a technically sound image, then this would be a penalising factor.

Since I'm on technicals, I feel that the image is underexposed. The baby's skin tone is unflattering.

However, good moment shot, though I would prefer not having that third hand there. It just looks strange, and in fact, a little disturbing, because we don't see the wrist, just the hand.

[ndroo]

Originally Posted by Legoz If u ask me, u are getting carried away with the idea of creating technically sound pics. Each photo you capture of your little one is special in its own right (changing weekly, remember?) At this point of time, its more important to capture something than nothing at all. Forget composition and all those mambo jumbo.. Pop up the flash (if you dont have an external one) and shoot. Im sure each different expression captured would be priceless in time to come.

My exact thoughts.

[flipfreak]

there is some blown areas under the baby's right eye. the lighting is too flat with very much around the midtones and very little on the highlights and shadow areas. the hands as everyone has pointed out looks weird in the pic. the background cloth is quite an eyesore to me personally.

maybe u can try shooting wide open in a brighter room with her?

[Eng Hoe]

Maybe you can try going closer so that the baby fill up more of the frame and has less empty space around him. I find that cropping a little off the lower part and maybe the left side to show less of the distracting diapers seems to make it better.

[weixiang80]

Dun think it is wise to use flash on babies??

[pinholecam]

A BIG THANKS to all who gave comments.

I'll work on the critiques.