Novice portrait shots. C+C please

[bully74uk]

Hi
Very new to photography and very keen to learn.
Took these shots of my little girl recently and would value your opinions on where I can improve.

A think a couple of them are a little over exposed due to the bright sunny (but very windy) day when they were taken.
If so, any ideas on how to pp them in photoshop would be appreciated as im new to that as well.

Thanks for looking.

 

[wilmorh]

i love number 2

 

[Phil Wood]

Methinks youre making a very good start. Lovely pictures perhaps a little to much sun in the eyes. No 2 is my fav.
Would like to see more when the light is a little softer.
Well done.

 

[CT]

These aren't bad at all - but look at all that squinting going on.

You'd do far better on sunny bright days to either...

1 Move into the shade

2 Turn you subject with their back to the Sun but move in close, meter for the face tones - move back and take the shot.

3 Do either of the above but instead of metering for the face in 2 - use fill flash.

Try to look for plain unclutterd backgrounds which don't distract from your main subject - as in No2.

 

[ConfusedChicca]

Number 1 and number 4 are my faves, she looks so cheeky but relaxed too.

 

[sammi]

number one for me...looks like a pic out of a childs clothes cataogue.....very natural xxx

 

[Marc]

Lovely pics all. No 1 could benefit from a shallower depth of field for me, to blur the trees in the background, but that could be done in PS using Gaussian Blur.

 

[redeyeshev]

They don't look so novice to me - have seen worse on many "pro" photographers' sites! Well done!

 

[bully74uk]

Thank you all for the kind comments and advice.

Number 2 is my favourite, I was quite happy with the DOF on that shot.

I like number 1 a fair bit too and agree that a shallower DOF would have improved it slightly.

Also agree about the squinting eyes. Its something I will have to keep an eye on in the future (no pun intended)

My camera can produce some very good shots at low ISO, nice and sharp however being a bridge camera with a small sensor compared to a DSLR, it does suffer in poor light so unfortunately most of my "better" shots are done in bright sunshine so I will have to take on board some of the tips offered.

I love taking pictures of my little girl, although she does get a bit fed up if I say "just one more" too many times

Thanks again for looking.

 

[Phil Wood]

Wait till she gets that new dress tell her how good she looks and what about some pictures specially for mum.
You may get some more photos ,with wide eyes , please.
I have the same problem with my 4 year old grandaughter.
Good luck but you wont really need it.