Portrait CC

[skylark_sings]

I'm working very hard on children's portraits. This was an indoor shoot in natural light, which is a bit tricky for me to get the exposure correct without blowing my son's skin and keeping my ss high enough to prevent blur.

Let me know what you see in these that needs to be improved and how I can do it. Thanks!
Settings ISO320 f4 1/200
Shot in RAW and adjusted exposure in ACR. Cloned a clamp that was showing out of the background, and dodged his eyes in the second shot.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2591/3931860762_73ef960900.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2603/3931836548_8367527ee5.jpg

[skylark_sings]

Just noticed the horizon is crooked on the second. Anyway to fix that in PP?

[Grimlock]

Very cute! Look that hair!

Exposure and lighting look good to me. Good job.

[Grimlock]

Just noticed the horizon is crooked on the second. Anyway to fix that in PP?

Of coarse there is. What are you using for processing?

For Photoshop:
http://www.eyefetch.com/tutorial-horizon-straightening-ps.aspx

For Lightroom:
http://digitaldailydose.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/straightening-your-horizons/

Both PP styles make it very easy to do this.

[skylark_sings]

Awesome! I'm using PSE7, but haven't learned how to straighten a whole photo, yet. Thanks for the links.

[Benji]

The prop should never be larger than the subject in a portrait.

Benji

[skylark_sings]

Ah, interesting. Have not heard that. Can you tell me the reasoning for that? Thanks for your feedback!