6 month daughter critique please

I would love your thoughts on these two pics of my 6 month old daughter. the first B&W was edited to have the desired effect...her eyes were lightened and sharpened a little.

The second has little PP done to it also apart from a little blur on the buildings in the background and burning the corners of the grass...the sun was setting and shining right on her...I wanted this angle.

Cheers!

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Hi, Nice images for the most part. Beautiful daughter! On the first image, the catch light in her eyes - it is too high, at almost 12:00. Is it window light or a softbox? If you move the light just a bit lower and a bit more camera left it will be closer to 10:00 which will also give you a little more shadow on the her left. I would also crop it just above her leg - her right arm gives a nice angle coming in to the picture, but he leg sort of holds me there. If you don't need it get rid of it.

The second image - what focal length are you at? Her left arm seems too long which makes me think you are using a short focal length. The blur on the buildings looks natural to me, but the color is too warm and hot, especially on the left side of the image - the brightness makes me look at the building instead of your daughter who is the main subject of the photo. I like the color of the sky and I like the angle.

Just out of curiosity - I see you are in Alabama. Was the outdoor photo recent? Grass doesn't look green, but that could have changed with your editing. The color doesn't bother me - but if you were outdoors recently more power to you! I am in Wisconsin - about 20 below zero wind chills today ....brrrrrr......

Jackie

Thanks so much for the reply...the first shot was in our kitchen in front of a huge window...best light in the house so tough to change the light height....but point noted on the catchlights.

The second shot....was at 18mm....I was fully aware of the arm, I sacrificed that for the angle and effect It is a very warm image....but I wanted to retain that effect....as it was the first warm day of the year and it was her 6 month shoot so I will always remember that...this is pretty much the original color in the capture...I had to place a blue filter on her eyes as they were so amber from the sun...and no the grass is not green, this was taken the 18th of Jan.....it goes dormant for about 3-4 months or so!

Good point on the focus somewhat on the buildings and not her, I may play on burning there a little bit!

CHeers!

Both are lovely shots of a lovely girl. But I think both are over exposed. I think both faces are blown out. I had a look at the histogram of the second shot and it is all at the left hand side. There is enough detail left in the face but you have to use the sliders to see make it visible.....

Yep....both are blown out...purposefully

The first is sweet, but the overexposure doesn't make me think high key, it just seems bright.Lost details in the knit hat and flower.

Second. Its out of focus and the purposely blown areas do not flatter this sweet baby.

Were these purposely overexposed in camera or during post-processing? I'm not familiar with the process for creating high-key images, but I assume the high-key effect is done in post-processing and not in camera. Anyway, I think these look a bit too overexposed for my tastes.

love the first pic!

Both lovely pics, and I love the composition of the second one! The overexposure on the face is very common for photos of children, so it works well for me. Only suggestions are for the second pic, I'd cool the warmth on the buildings as if they're a bit more desaturated, the focus will be all on baby. I'd also darken the baby's top a bit.