Apple Pick'in

[Saxi]

I love these two photos, I took them of my son apple picking yesterday. Love to hear what you guys think.

[joedlh]

Um. They ain't apples. They be pumpkins.

The center comp doesn't work for me. Try angling him a little and composing off-center. Try a little tighter crop. Color balance looks off; he looks a little blue. Also clone out the boogey man coming to get him in the background.

The second shot is great. However, it seems to me that if you took one half step to the left you would have gotten that out of focus leaf out of his face.

[chadgeek]

I think the first one could use more contrast, and it looks like your son was squinting a bit. You might want to try keeping his back to the sun and using some fill flash. I like the second one, too bad about the one leaf, but his expression is still great!

[mackmittonz]

The first one could be a little warmer white balance wise. Agree on the comments on composition.

[phetaroi]

Um. They ain't apples. They be pumpkins.

The center comp doesn't work for me. Try angling him a little and composing off-center. Try a little tighter crop. Color balance looks off; he looks a little blue. Also clone out the boogey man coming to get him in the background.

The second shot is great. However, it seems to me that if you took one half step to the left you would have gotten that out of focus leaf out of his face.

Well, I agree on the first point. It takes about 6-8 apples to make a pie. You're gonna have a HUGE pie!

Now, on to the photography. In the first shot your son looks ill. A little more warmth is really needed. I like the second one a lot. I disagree about not perfect placement...I assume this was a candid, not a posed shot. So, it is what it is. I sort of like the leaves that hide him a bit...looks woodsy.

[vpnd]

The second image is great. That one you will remember when he's all growed up.

[jetcode]

Um. They ain't apples. They be pumpkins.

The center comp doesn't work for me. Try angling him a little and composing off-center. Try a little tighter crop. Color balance looks off; he looks a little blue. Also clone out the boogey man coming to get him in the background.

The second shot is great. However, it seems to me that if you took one half step to the left you would have gotten that out of focus leaf out of his face.

+1^^^

[24alpha]

Either your son is really small or those a pretty big apples!!!! :lol:

I know they're pumpkins!!!!:cool:

[synapxe]

Too funny... I had to read the post a couple of time... those are pumpkins right? LOL

The pictures look great BTW. The center composition works for me and the second shot is fabulous.

[howaboutnow]

Second photo is a keeper!!

[photoskeeter]

I think the second pic is awesome the way you have to look through the leaves to see him. Nice job.

[radarnz]

2nd photo is my fav. The first photo has an interesting prop (overgrown apple) which with a bit of cropping and color composition could work better.

[lebshiff21]

Like the 2nd photo a lot!

[e02937]

another +1 for the 2nd photo.

I demand apples however :D

[Saxi]

Thanks guys, the 2nd one is my favorite, the expression on the first one isn't perfect and the export as the colors are not perfect, I think I hit the white balance by accident when I exported here. I really love the second one even though the branch is in his face, at the time it was a split second reaction, but even if I moved left I think I would have lost a lot of the effect. I have two like this, one with his mouth open like this more expressive, the second his mouth was closed and I don't think it was as accurate to the moment but I saved it anyway.

I think I was really lucky on the first one as well as at the time I really didn't have that exact picture envisioned, I just wanted to get a good picture of him sitting on the pumpkin, but when I brought it into lightroom, I was like wow this is a great shot. I know enough to always try to shoot eye level for kids, that's the best technique I have ever learned. Changed my photographs tremendously.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone.

For those demanding apples, here you go.

Even shooting sRAW1 it is hard to compress down to 150K with LR, I was at like 18% JPG to get below 150K at 800px on the long side, its even worse when I shoot full raw. Anyone have suggestions on that? Sometimes I can get a lot higher % and it retains a lot more detail, I think PS does a much better job at low quality settings than LR.