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CC appreciated.

I like the hair illumination and the attitude...probably fill flash was used which doesn't help for skin tone (maybe decreasing the flash ratio would help in such shot)...but overall a very nice spontaneous and fresh child photo...I like it...

Sherry- I really like this one. I love the light in their blonde hair & their cute profiles. I might adjust levels a little & crop in a little. Since all 4 hands are not present I would crop in. Really cute!

Thanks for your feedback Laurent and Jayme.

Laurent - I did use a fill flash with an extension bracket. Does the skin tone look too magenta? I've been told that the Nikon D1 tends to produce too much magenta.

Jayme - Where would you crop? I didn't want lose the long gold curls on the left.

I've encountered this many times on my shots when I use fill flash...the white balance is difficult to set for proper skin tone rendition (probably too magenta but I'm not an expert here)... when flash is too present I'm feeling the skin looks too plastics...I 've tried to overcome this problem by using low flash ratio or correcting the flash metering down by one or two stops...sometimes it's better with some shadow but right skin tone...using a lower ratio would also probably help getting a smoother transition from the bright hair portion to the other part of the girl's hairs...don't take my comments as negative on your specific shot, as I said I like it...

I absolutely do not take any suggestions as negative. I take it as constructive criticism. Afterall, isn't that why we're on this sight? To learn? That's why I'm on it anyway. I took this picture as sun was setting. I'll try to bring the flash metering down a couple stops. I don't know why, but shadows are a pet-peeve of mine. If you're trying to achieve a certain look by having shadows present, it makes for a good photograph, but I have a hard time with them when I look at my own work. Of course "overcast" conditions is what I prefer to work with when it comes to outdoor shots! :) Have a great day! If you don't mind me asking Laurent... where do you live?

I have always had difficulties taking pictures in sunny weather and also using the flash because setting for natural look is not evident (finding the proper balance)...taking into account that if one wants to preserve the natural attitude of kids you have to be fast and don't bother them with settings...I have enjoyed your photos because you show the kid's attitude in a natural way...one of the things I've learned (as an amateur) is that taking nice children photo is not so easy...keep up the good work and show us more...greetings from Geneva/Switzerland...

You're right... capturing children is not easy. I've always wanted to play around more with the depth of field, but if I get too shallow I tend to get a lot of out-of-focus shots because they just move too fast. So I guess I have to save DOF expiriments on older subjects! I have some friends that live in Norway, coming to visit us this fall. They go to Switzerland at least once a year. Regards - Sherry

Sherry,

 

this really caught my eye. I am with Laurent on this one. Beautiful capture that needs a little postprocessing. Perfect eye you had!!

 

Greetings from The Netherlands and many thanks for your nice comment,

 

Peter

 

I adjusted the contrast, color and brightness a tad in PS. I didn't want to crop the hands off because I wanted to show that they were hold hands and also didn't want to risk cutting off any of the beautiful blonde curly locks on the left. Let me know if this looks better?

Absolutely much better!