mtmixon

A photo of my mom feeding my son. Feedback and suggestions for

improvement are welcome.

Thanks Kathy.  We certainly think so. :-)

My son proudly grasping some random fleck of dirt from our floor. :-)

Feedback welcome.

Thanks so much Kaushik.  Really appreciate the feedback.

Love it.  Very well framed, and the colors are beautiful.

Hi Andrea.  I really like it!  Nice job.  And thanks for being open to my suggestions. :-)

Andrea.  I like the new treatment.  Try dodging (lightening) the girl a touch, and see what that looks like.

I was thinking of Lightroom, where you can apply a gradient filter and then use it to selectively darken/soften that portion of the frame while leaving the rest untouched.

A very sweet photo.  The high-key lighting really works for this image, and I love how the bear and girl are leaning into each other.  There is nothing I would change.  Great job.

This photo elicited very mixed reactions from me.  On one side, I love the lighting, the composition, and the obvious happiness on the mother's face.  On the other hand, there is a definite emotional dichotomy in the image that makes it interesting, but not sure if it was what you were after.  Like I said, the mother looks happy, and the soft light falling on her accentuates that.  But the baby looks angry, an emotion that is enhanced by not only his clenched fist and furrowed brow, but also the tight, almost aggressive grip of the mother's arm around him.   So, the top half of the photo is happiness and light, while the bottom half is anger and aggression (and, coincidentally, where more of the shadow is).   That dichotomy certainly makes this image stand out, but might not be the kind of mother/child portrait you or the mother were after.

Ultimately, this is just my read of the photo.  If the mother (and you) love it, then that is of utmost importance.  I'm just a stranger online.  But I reacted to this photo and wanted to share why.

Fantastic image.  The light is obviously superb, as is the fact that the eye is led to the shepherd by both the road and the bright mist coming in from the right.  A magical scene, really.  The photo invites you to linger and wish you could be transported to this place (at least it does for me!). 

Given the natural texture in this photo, some additional noise might not be a bad thing.  That said, if the noise in the sky is too distracting (while being acceptable/aesthetic in the foreground and building), perhaps a gradient filter diagonal from the top left that softens the sky while leaving the rest as-is?

A beautiful portrait.  The light is very nice, and her reflective, downward gaze makes this stand out from many other child portraits.

A soft and elegant portrait.  The way you framed this is perfect.  The focus is on her face, but the veil provides all the bridal context you need, and the bright and colorful (yet out of focus) background suggests the optimism in her gaze.  Really nicely done.

A very original composition, with some great grain and moody lighting.  I'd clone out the clock, if possible, as it distracts from an otherwise good photo.

Wonderful framing and light.

I'm not a huge fan of the selective color treatment, but I do really like the perspective you chose for this photo and the way you've composed it.  I actually think it would work better as a pure black and white, with maybe a little more contrast and a gradual burning of the sky at the top.

Definitely eye-catching.  A couple things I might change: 1) crop on the right so that you've only got the dark frame of the arch and not the lighter column; 2) ensure that the color you left on the cathedral doesn't bleed into the people.  The color of the woman's hair, and a little on the boy behind her, doesn't appear intentional, but rather the result of "not staying in the lines".   And if it were possible to re-frame this, I'd lower the perspective a little, so there was less empty black space at the top and a little more of the people in the foreground.

Great portrait.  The tight crop really works, allowing her hair and hood to frame the photo.  The lighting also appears very well-balanced, with it falling softly on her face.  The only two things I might play around with in post would be to lessen the highlights a bit in the upper left portion of the frame, and maybe dodge her eyes a little, to give them more emphasis and remove the dark shadows underneath them.

Thanks for the feedback, Linda.  I see what you mean about the frame.  It's the standard one I put around all of my photos, but I recognize that it might not be the right fit for every photo.

Stephen - I am the same way with my own photos.  I have often gone back to look through a folder of images from a year or more ago and come across ones that I overlooked the first time.  It's part of what makes this hobby so enjoyable...the almost limitless opportunities for discovery.

Thanks Mark.

Fantastic composition and texture.  

First off, very cute baby.  For my taste, the photo is a bit dark.  I think some selective dodging could bring more exposure to the child, especially the face and eyes.  Some sharpening of that area could be beneficial as well.  Regarding the composition, I like that she's off-center, but am not so sure about the stuffed animal in the background.  Having shapes in the background can work, but in this case, it competes visually with the girl.  Part of this may be due to the fact that she isn't lit enough, but also the stuffed animal is very prominent against an otherwise empty background.  The muted colors do work, in my opinion, so I wouldn't change that.  Hope this helps.