my baby girl

[khiem_nguyen1]

Please give me your best critique , film use fuji supperia 200 ,

Leica R3 , elmarit 90mm f2.8 first version series 7 . I am still a

amateur, all of your input are greatly appreciated.Thanks for all

wonderfull people in this forum<div></div>

[__jon__]

It is a snapshot. What do you want to know? Personally, I find it really boring. Why would I be interested in this photograph? You are the child's parent--you aren't going to be objective. No offense, your child is beautiful, but this is just a snapshot. Take a look at Reina McCuskey's photographs of children that aren't simply snapshots:

 

http://www.photo.net/shared/community-member?user_id=573332

[stephen_persky]

Overall, I find the picture boring.

 

Since we post pictures to learn about what we can improve upon. I have a few recommendations.

 

1) Flash is way too harsh. You really need to experiment with flash to get it right. My suggestion is to allow as much ambient light in as possible and barely use flash at all.

 

2) Harsh shadow under the chin usually does not appeal to children photos

 

3) Faded colors could possibly be from the scan or poor film.

 

Good luck and keep trying.

 

Here is a rather succesful picture of my baby, and the family loves it. It does not have many of the technical flaws yours does. The picture is far from perfect but I really am drawn to those eyes, and teh expression is "cute".

 

Regards

 

Steve<div></div>

[stephen_persky]

I just looked at your pictures, and I love the "check my toe" picture.

 

Keep up the good work Khiem.

 

Regards

 

Steve

[philip_meadows1]

Jon, as he said, he's an amateur who is looking for guidance and help. He's brave enough (or foolhardy enough) to post his picture here because he took it with a Leica. Give the guy a break and some construtive critism as another poster has done.

[davecollopy]

Pray tell, I wish someone would tell me the difference between a snapshot and a photograph.

 

The fact of the matter is all photographs are snapshots. All snapshots are photographs. Any thing else is just a matter of personal opinion. And a personal opinion and five bucks will get you a cup of coffee.

 

Khiem, I think you�ve done an excellent job here. Technical execution doesn�t get any better than this. For 35mm you�ve captured an exceptional amount of information.

 

If this were mine I�d burn the background, maybe desaturate, and of course play around with cropping. Enlarge as big as the data will allow and you definately have a wall hanger here you can be very proud of.

[EricM]

khiem, try ambient light with HP5 rated at 250. leave the flash for birthday parties.

[scott_mcloughlin]

khiem,

 

First quick impressions.

 

- Focus on the eyes is pretty good.

 

- Scan artifacts (little white dots) need to be edited out. This is tedious but not too hard with the "clone tool" thing in your favorite photo editor.

 

- Bright flash and so forth already adequately treated above.

 

- The bright window frame sort of cuts her head in half. A little dodging (making it darker) would distract less. Again, many photo editing packages have a "dodge tool".

 

- Desaturating to B&W might well do wonders. Alternatively, if keeping the picture in color, try a bit of color saturation to correct for the flash's "washed out" effect.

 

Hope that helps. Beautiful child.

[eric merrill]

Khiem:

 

<p>

The light is uninteresting. For really good examples of interesting light in portraiture, check out Rembrandt's work. Head-on flash is rarely ideal.

 

<p>

The background detracts. Looks like her head is skewered.

 

<p>

Children pictures can often be more interesting if they are actually doing something other than just standing.

 

<p>

What works? You've focused on the eyes. That's more than half the battle. Having a catchlight in the eyes usually adds a little more interest, as well. Work on finding or creating more interesting light and capture your kid engaged in some activity, and I think you're well on your way!

 

 

<p>

--<br>

Eric<br>

<a href="http://canid.com/">http://canid.com/</a><br>

[r.m.]

Khiem, she's very sweet. I really like the tilt of her head & expression. My recommendations would be to kill the flash and be more aware of your backgrounds. Try shooting during the day and have her facing towards the window to make use of the light. Get in close if you can & fill the frame with her face to avoid distractions in the background. Do not directly pose her, ask her to look at you or smile. You can most probably get her to do all of those things by simply having a little conversation with her and using phrases or expressions that you know will illicit the reaction or expression you're looking for. Makes for a much less forced look. Finally, keep on shooting...these years will fly by without a moment's notice...

[Karim Ghantous]

Once again, you demonstrate that you understand framing. But, sadly, your use of flash is not subtle. Still, nevermind. We're all learning, all of the time.

 

Oh, did I mention that flash = evil? I did? Oh, well here it is again: flash = evil. It's nothing personal, I just don't like flashguns. Try photography without flash - you'll love the challenge. ;-)

[philip_meadows1]

Karim, carefull now I made a comment somewhere else that flash kills pictures does not make them! I was sent to hell in a handbasket. Alas, we are RIGHT. LOL

[working camera]

If you are an old hack like me, yes use of electronic flash is definitely going to kill the

image. But in skilled hands a flash can be made to do wonders

.

 

C.

[james_cooke]

Maybe putting it in the correct catagory of Crit/W-NW would be more appropriate.