1st time putting photo's up open for critique





Great Kell!  I know the first time is kind of scary.     I like these, but the first thing that i noticed was the cropping of both images.  What made you decide to crop where you did?

Hi, thanks so much. I cropped the photo to try and tidy it up. I was wanting to get more of her in the photo. I was using a 50mm lense. I see now that yes it is a bit silly as her hand is missing and even the rest of her dress.

I just went and checked the original photo. Her hand has been cut out whilst shooting the photo. Wow!! Huge lesson learnt right there!

That first pic is adorable!  Love those eyes.  I'm okay with the tighter crop on that one, because the eyes seem to be the focus of that photo to me.
The second photo I would have framed slightly differently just so that finger isn't cut off... but otherwise, nice exposure and such.  Nice images!

Wonderful. Thanks so much. Learning so much already

#1 looks best to me.  Nice exposure and colors.  I would like to see a little more contrast.  This could be done either with lighting or in post.

Kelly

Should I be shooting in RAW to get better contrast etc..thanks so much for your feedback. This is wonderful

Kell wrote: Should I be shooting in RAW to get better contrast etc..thanks so much for your feedback. This is wonderful

If you prefer to let your camera make decisions on processing for contrast, exposure and color, by all means, do not shoot in RAW format.  As soon as you do, you've lost data that you may have used to your advantage.

If you want to create an image according to your vision, RAW files will provide the most flexibility. It also means learning to post-process in Lightroom, Photoshop, or similar application.

RAW offers more precise control over contrast than with a JPG.  Some folks are fussy about this, and some are not.  The better RAW editors also offer more flavors of tone control.  Unfortunately these better editors, such as Lightroom, are not cheap.  Links for more info -

www.photographytalk.com/forum/photograph...ead?start=120#155994

photographylife.com/mastering-lightroom-...-use-the-basic-panel

www.clickinmoms.com/blog/full-portrait-retouching-in-lightroom/

Kelly

Oh, God...

Another wild RAW debate appears!  Go.. opinion!

I'm just going to throw it out there that I went FIVE YEARS without shooting RAW and some snobs laugh at me for that but I quite think my photos look damn fine thank you very much.  I shoot RAW now, but honestly I rarely even use my RAW editor, maybe because I'm not creative enough to really enhance my photos beyond my wildest dreams in photoshop, or maybe it's because I already achieve the look I wanted for the photo in-camera, and if I don't it's because it was a general flop and isn't something that can be fixed by recovery of "missing data" via under/over exposure or whatever else... it's because my idea sucked and I sucked at trying to portray it.

So do whatever you want, enter the slough of people telling you that I'm just a nut talking out of my ass and you should never shoot RAW, but I personally have only used a RAW editor to my advantage....

drumroll please....


once.
And I don't even remember when that was.


Yeah yeah, I'm stupid, apparently RAW is some deity I have not chosen to worship, and I guess my photos suck and have suffered because of my blind ignorance.

/rant

Now, ignoring my little outburst of annoyance at the inevitability of people telling you not to listen to me, that my opinion is wrong, and that everyone should shoot RAW ALWAYS (because RAW), if you're working in situations where the lighting just doesn't work to your advantage or you're trying to get a particular image but some factor isn't ideal in your environment, RAW can be handy.
I just usually avoid un-ideal conditions.  Maybe that's not realistic for professional paid photographers, but I dunno.

Both good ones...I like #1 though....