portrait.jpg
by CptnJack

Comment by CptnJack:
Thank you for your comments, this is what I ended up printing....



-Cptn

portrait.jpg
by CptnJack

Comment by one2one:
I would crop out the left side and burn in the remaining pillow to darken it so it doesn't compete for attention. This would also place him more off center than he is now. Other than that it's a wonderful shot of a good looking lad.

portrait.jpg
by CptnJack

Comment by cloudsme:
Cute child. The lighting isn't bad. Before I read your notes, I thought it was from a window. I would have placed the flash higher, in order to light up his beautiful hair. I think a vertical crop that is tighter and eliminates an uninteresting background would help.

portrait.jpg
by CptnJack

Comment by slickchik:
I am not an expert on anything photographic but here are my thoughts:

I'd like to see the subject stand out from the background. The left side of the image is very distracting where the pillow is. I'd prefer a much tighter crop to eliminate everything except the subject. You need to do some pp work to get the skin tone correct as it seems to have a green tint.

The subject is very cute and I love the expression. I think this could be a very nice picture with a little bit of pp to fix what I mentioned above and you could really make the eyes pop.

momday.jpg
by CptnJack

Comment by tolovemoon:
I kind of like the way it has a contrast but maybe there is a bit to much shadow in front and another light in front wont would help bring out the details in the flowers.. Its neat the way the bottom of the glass is almost a reflector its defanetly got potential and its a nice shot for the day.. I would consider it art if this is the way you intended it to be...

momday.jpg
by CptnJack

Comment by davidx76:
I'd say think about composition and maybe follow the "rule of thirds". Also, you say you want if soft and while some may say this is cheating, if you capture the flower with focus tack sharp, you can always soften it in photoshop! Might be a bit easier too! Good luck.

momday.jpg
by CptnJack

Comment by CptnJack:
Thanks. No sunlight, I put the SB800 behind the subject and used i-ttl fill. The idea was to show the softness of a mom.

But like I said, I'm very new to this and very eager to learn.

momday.jpg
by CptnJack

Comment by strangeghost:
Needs better lighting, imo. The face of the principal flowers are lost in shadow. It looks like the sun is coming in a window behind the subject. Try fill flash or change your angle to better illuminate the open petals.