New Project

[Susan Ballinger]

I had my sister-in-law take a bunch of photos of my daughter today. I don't have a very good camera (or camera skills for that matter), and she has a nice expensive one with the desire to become a photographer someday. It ended up being mostly an overcast day with the sun peeking out every now and then, but a lot more breezy than I would have liked. There was one picture that we liked much better than the others- please tell me what you think! Thanks!

Susan

[Susan Ballinger]

Dang! That ended up being more fuzzy on the net than the scan showed. I'll have to mess around and see if I can get a clearer image.

Susan

[Susan Ballinger]

Try, try again.

[Susan Ballinger]

Well, I'm not sure if that was much clearer, but here's a close-up of Kaitlyn.

Susan

[Cynthia Daniel]

Susan,

Your problem with clarity may be overcompression when you save as a jpg file. Look for an option at the time of saving the file where you can specify the level of compression...either higher or lower quality.

If you have the skills, you might try lightening the photo some and taking out some of the overabundance of red and blue. Following is an image I've done some color adjusting on, but I can't do anything about the lack of clarity.

[Karin Wells]

You have an adorable daughter!

However, on my computer screen it does not look like you have enough clear information (especially on lighting) for using this photo as a portrait reference.

Sometimes, when I can't decide about a photo I convert it to "grayscale" and really take a long hard look at it. Oftentimes this will reveal both the strengths and the flaws.

Photography is my nemesis too. I am looking to take a photography course somewhere that will teach me what I want to know. There is a book by David Seidner called "Portraits" and I want to learn how to take pictures like he does!

Administrator's Note: Click on book title to check it out at Amazon.com.

[Chris Saper]

Dear Susan,

My quick comment is with regard to the tree, which looks like a design problem, for a couple of reasons: its value (too dark) and scale (same width as the head). The only other note I would make is that when little children smile (actually, when anyone smiles) the soft forms and chubby shapes temd to close up the eyes. So perhaps a less broad smile would be worth considering.

Chris

P.S. Yes, she is a cutie!

[Susan Ballinger]

I noticed the squinting problem while we were taking the photos. It was also windy out, so that contributed to the problem. Of course, I have another photo where she looks like she's about to be blown away; her hair is practically straight up, her arms are in the air and her dress is blowing back. It makes me laugh every time I see that pic.

I made sure we got some pictures taken without the big grins. I may end up using a few different pictures to come up with one portrait I'm happy with. I need to have this portrait come out really well because I'm planning on using it in a public setting to draw business. After all, who can resist a cute baby?

Thanks for the advice! I'm still trying to work on my composition skills.

Susan