Venomator:
"and they are nicer than the normal family album pics ..."
Thanks! I was trying for something slightly different.
"If you are going to use natural light ... and you already have it side on which is good ... try using a reflector (only needs to be a white card or sheet ) to get some more light on the shadow side ..."
Good point and now that you've mentioned it I can see which shots would really be improved by that. I'll try to remember that, although these shots were a bit ad-hoc and he's so young that he doesn't stay still long enough for me to be messing about with reflectors. I'll be sure to experiment with one though, in future portraits.
"The first two are quite natural compositions and work well apart from a bit of shadowing."
I see what you mean - they're a little dark in important places (like the face), I'll keep an eye out for that in future.
"The second two are nice album pics but ... again they are heavily shadowed and the eye contact is missing ... particularly in the colour version ... you also missed the hand movement a little on the tiny left mitt ..."
Eye contact is a nightmare - he was only 3 weeks old when those shots were taken as he wasn't physically able to focus on anything for a long period of time, especially not me being relatively far away with my camera. I was very lucky to get him looking at Andrea in the second shot. As for the moving hand - I was gutted about that as I quite like the ol' sticking the tongue out look.
CT:
"It's difficult shooting very young babies because of the need to support their heads. You've got the right idea in the first shot - taking shots of the baby over someone's shoulder can work really well. Cutting the top of the head off hasn't helped it, neither has the dark hair and clothing of mum which gives a heavy distracting foreground."
Difficult is an understatement. I'm gutted I clipped his head but I had to be really quick to get that particular shot. I guess over time I'll learn to watch out for other factors (such as Mum's dark clothing + hair - I'll try telling her to go blonde, I'll let you know her reaction
)
"No3 is the trap to avoid most times - looking down on the baby because it's the most convenient viewpoint. Was he really that red?"
Well... my legs were getting tired! Noted, although I tried that angle so that I'd get less background clutted - I can see why shot 4 is better though. As for the colours, I'm colour blind so it looks perfectly fine to me. Thanks for pointing it out though as I was planning on getting that shot (amongst others) printed - so I'll try and get a normal sighted person to help me sort it out!
"No 4 The best in IMO. The lower viewpoint is much better. If you could have propped him up a little more with pillows you'd have got a much better shot."
There were no pillows to hand, but I agree that him being even just slightly propped up would've been an improvement.
"Overall they're very contrasty, and the harsh shadows are almost as bad as flash. This is due to the strong direct sunlight from the window. Try taking the shots when the sun isn't directly on the window, or better still, on a dull, overcast, or even rainy day, when window light can be very soft and natural, producing beautiful results."
The contrast is probably my fault. They were my first RAW shots and I played about in RAWShooter a lot and did manually boost the levels of contrast for both highlights and shadows - I achieved the look I wanted (to make them seem less flat) however I suspect I may have gone "too far".
Oldigt:
"Cute little dude. Yours I presume (and the reason for the new D70?)"
Yup, that's mah boy! And yes again, the reason for the D70, at least that's what I told the boss
"Since the little fella (since it's not in pink its gotta be a boy??) what is in the background is probably going to detract from the shot." Aye he's a boy, although yellow is confusing - like the old yellow pages advert says - put a boy in yellow and he doesn't know where he is!
"Also you might want to try hanging a plain sheet some distance behind the subject(s) {then you dont need to iron it } and/or drape some plain/unpatterned cloth over the sofa"
The plain sheet is a top tip - I'll defintely use that as I've got a couple of ideas for a proper photoshoot of him, rather than random snaps.
RobertP: Many thanks, I'm pretty damn pleased with them to be honest. I know they're far from perfect but I've only ever taken 'snaps' before.
Himupnorth: 1 is definitely my fav too. Just because it really captures him, I hate the fact that I've clipped his head though. As I said earlier, I've played with that tool and I think i may have just gone too far with it.
I guess it's all part of the learning process. Speaking of which, a *huge* thankyou to you all for taking the time to look, provide feedback and more importantly not go too easy on me. I really appreciate the constructive criticism and I'll try to do better next time
