My favourites from recent family sessions. C&C welcome.

Hello all, I appreciate you taking the time to look and thank you in advance for any comments.

A couple of months ago I started to advertise myself professionally. These are the results of my first few shoots. Please let me know what you think and how I could improve. I shoot with a T1i with a 50mm f/1.8. Ideally I would have a 60D with a 50mm f/1.4 (I have been hinting for long enough...so hopefully at Christmas!)


1.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/shtaylor/649852​0363/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/shtaylor/649866​8521/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/shtaylor/646998​1455/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/shtaylor/646985​9103/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/shtaylor/632714​1014/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/shtaylor/651888​7349/

All of the images are excellent, no rubbish amongst that lot.

The last one is my favorite, it definitely tells a story. I like all that space around the child, to me it emphasizes how big the world is for a child or something along those lines.

I hope you made the most of that great lighting & got some close up shots of her too!

Your composition is good but, you may want to begin giving some thought to lighting and exposure...your images contain way too many blown highlights.

MesserschmittMan wrote in post #13553085
All of the images are excellent, no rubbish amongst that lot.

The last one is my favorite, it definitely tells a story. I like all that space around the child, to me it emphasizes how big the world is for a child or something along those lines.

I hope you made the most of that great lighting & got some close up shots of her too!

Thank you for the comments, it's always nice to here some praise when starting out.

chauncey wrote in post #13553597
Your composition is good but, you may want to begin giving some thought to lighting and exposure...your images contain way too many blown highlights.

Could you be more specific and maybe give an example using one of my images. I'm not sure if this is a technical/quality issue or just a difference in style/opinion. I use a lot of sun in my pictures, it seems to be a style I am leaning towards. I am still trying to learn a lot and am rather clueless on the technical/correctness of photography and the jargon.

Thank you in advance!

I like the composition in all of them but agree with the previous poster: unless it is intentionally... the exposure in shots 1, 2, 3 and 5 is way off. Blown highlights, lack of contrast. When shot RAW you could do a lot with #5 by using the GND filter option in the PhotoShop RAW converter to get rid of the over exposed left half. The halo in #2 is nice but with a reflector (or low fill flash you should have put some light in the family to make them clearer and get some contrast.
I think you got a good eye for what looks good but need to brush up on your technique.

Edit:
I also looked through a number of your shots on Flickr and noticed the same thing: nice compo but "flat" exposure with blown out backgrounds while some other shots have excellent exposure. In some there may have to be slight correction of the white balance as the skin tone sometimes looks a bit yellowish. I think you'll have to practice with fill flash and reflectors for the outdoor shots. The idea of backlight and halos can work well but needs a lot of practice to get it right.

I love the first two, and the blown highlights look like a deliberate stylistic choice. The blows highlights in 3 and 5 look unintentional (and I don't like them). I agree that you have a good eye for composition.