Clueless

[AtlanaAnna]

I really don't know what I'm doing. Would someone look at these pictures and tell me if one is better than the other and why? Also, critique what might need to be done to either picture to make it better.

Thanks,
Sylvia Morris

[Swampy]

It's a good photo to start with.

Here's a start

Fix the red eye. Clone over the flash reflection in the window. Crop for best impact (lose the baggy shorts etc).

[geru]

What a beautiful child, that has to be dad holding her he has to much of a glow about him to not be.

I'm not a pro but I found several things in both Photo's;

Baby has red eye

Light reflection over dads shoulder in the left window is very distracting and takes away from an otherwise nice picture.

One picture is to dark and the other is brighter but has a color cast to it.

[Steve Conway]

Not sure if you want photography or photo enhancement critique.

I'll go for photography.

Avoid shooting with flash toward, or into glass.

Be aware of your background and try for backgrounds that make the subject stand out. This bg is too dark and blends into the hair etc.

Most cameras have the flash attached these days, but if possible you can bounce the flash off a wall or light flat object and avoid redeye while getting a more even lighting.

If pop was holding baby in his arms you could have cropped a lot of things out of the image that either distract or do not add to the story the photo is telling.

To me the difference between a snapshot and a good piece of photography is that the photograph tells a story. Look at the photos in your newspaper. The good ones tell a story, or convey a feeling. All you need a caption for are names and places most of the time.

The attached image is loaded with great photography elements: excitement, beauty, power, and awe, to name just a few. Yet it's simple and contains only the essential elements to tell the story.

Steve

[Gary Richardson]

Hi Sylvia,

Had a little play around with your picture.

Cropped to focus attention more on man and baby.

Took out red eye, and lightened irises of eyes a touch on both man and baby.

Cloned out flash on window, blurred with GB, then added gradient mask to give depth to pic. Masked out man and baby.

Adjusted levels, and added graduated mask to even out exposure a little, as lighting was concentrated more to bottom of picture.

Finally upped the lighting overall with a curves adj layer, and adjusted contrast a touch.

[Littlecoo]

G'day Sylvia,
I prefer the image on the left(KellyBabyHubby1W.jpg) the colour is not so washed out by the flash in that one. For now, I'll give you a brief rundown of what I adjustments I made and if you need more information just let me know and I'll be happy to give you more detail. So....I removed the red eye with a red eye correction tool (I am using Photoshop CS2 btw). The colour in your image looked just a touch flat (ie: things that are meant to be white were sorta grey-ish etc) so I made a levels adjustment layer (see my first attatchment) and clicked on what I considered should be the whitest bit of the image (NOT the flash glare on the window) and then what bit I considered closest to black. Your image is very dark in places with lots of shadow, and I thought it could use some brightening up (just the shadows- 'Hubbie' and 'Cutiepie' look fine) there are a few ways to do this but I used the Shadow/Highlight adjustment under -Image=>Adjustments menu (see my second attatchment). I got rid of the distracting glare on the window with a clone tool/healing tool(brush set to soft)- oh, also the shine on 'Hubbie's' forehead. Lastly, I cropped the image down more closely to give it more of a focus and an intimate feel...LOL! The look on Bub's face is just priceless!!! You don't want anything to distract from that. Again, Let me know if need more help...baby photos' are special

[AtlanaAnna]

Wow! You've all given some amazing input. I've got to go over the suggestions and absorb it all. Littleco, I'm amazed how you were able to bring out the details and lighten up the background making the colors more brilliant as it would be in a real-life setting. Thank you all so much. Now I must go play around with all your suggestions. Thank you!

Sylvia