sweet sixteen photos... CC needed

ok so i just got my first dslr in may, played around taking photos of the kids. but i recently was asked to take some photos of a friends nieces for the bday party. This is what i got, and forgive me i still dont have the hang of photoshop.

1.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

oh and i know my watermark is to big but on fb it looks just fine. 1st time watermarking also...lol

Some of the shots seem OOF and the latter shots are missing fill lighting.

I think you did fine with this being your first "not your kids" shoot. There is always so much to learn and I’m not even close to good or great yet so start with the knowledge…there is always more to know. I think you may have used auto focus on these which is fine, but if you do I would still recommend spot focus. If you did use spot focus on the eyes then never mind. I use the calculation to find out the DOF or just make sure the subjects are as parallel as possible. Using the spot focus should help with the soft focus issues. In regards to the composition of the photos, their poises are a bit boring and look like they have the same smile each time. I don’t know, it just looks like they knew there was a camera and did the typical stuff. Let your subjects have fun is my thought. And for me, the water fountain is a neat idea, but the placement of the water in comparison to the subjects could be considered somewhat subjective. I’m not saying it looks like they are going #1, but yeah…not the best place to have that. Just my thoughts, keep up the good work!

Good job, I agree with jerefish their poses are kind of boring and a little awkward (kind of like they weren't sure of what they were doing) The fountain in front of them is very distracting IMO it looks like that part of the pictures was just cut out or you erased it. I'm not really a fan of the selective color, it looks like you cut them out of another picture and stuck them in that one. Keep up the work though

sky is blown in all but number 5, focus looks soft use center point and recompose with one shot, or put it AI servo, you wont be able to shoot as tight but you will have more keepers, also watch your shutter speeds, the fountain is blurred and maybe you were going for this effect but try to shoot at 1over focal legenth for sharper pictures, also if you dont have one yet buy a flash all these pictures needed fill flash.

stay away from selective coloring or any other PP "styles" until you are confidant behind the lens....keep it simple

Definitely don't like the fountains in front of them. Very distracting. Need a lot more fill flash on those last few. Switch your camera to spot metering for your focus and you'll have better luck making sure your subjects are in focus (focus and re-compose method).

thank you all for the info, i read up on that meter thing but i still wasnt to sure what its for.

As for the girls, i kept telling them to have fun, but this is what i got, there mom loved the fountains so she insited on having it in the middle. but now i know to keep the models as the center of attention.

I also feel like i forgot about cropping, because i kept trying to get everything into the frame. oh and because of an accident that left me with only the use of my right had im stuck being dependent on autofocus.

You sure did fine, but it's true that most of the shots looks OFC, the fountain is distracting from the subject and busy background on most of the pics maybe with a tighter crops #2 looks best to me (black and white one) keep shooting! i wanna see more from you =)

I sure will, I do alot more sports photography than portrait.

Well, girls are different than tracking paintballers. When moms interfere you have to show them a couple of shots where the fountains detract from the gowns and say, "can I pose them so the gowns are shown at their best?" Then, you simply need to get away from a busy background and use a shallow depth of field to isolate the girls in their gowns. Other things you can do is to have them do crazy stuff like jumping or leap like a ballerina across a stage.