Some holiday shots -- Really love this hobby

As I progress through this hobby I find I love it more and more. I think it is the only "work" I look forward to doing. I just sat at my computer and edited for an hour and it seemed like 5 minutes. I really think I need to start focusing on this more because I love it so much. I am in no way saying I am good. I just love the challenge of trying to take great pictures.

Anyway, here are some shots:
#1

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/bennymod/835960​1477/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/bennymod/829355​2886/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/bennymod/836066​3326/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/bennymod/836066​8222/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/bennymod/836068​3892/

I have no pointers for you but I really like 1 and 2.

Maybe soften the obvious blemishes between the brows on shot #3. Probably not a lot that can be done, but the spittle of the child on the item (maybe an ornament) is a little offputting. But I like them all pretty darn well.

1. lil oof

2. nice capture

3. underexposed

4. seems to be focused on the dogs nose

5 . oof again and bw conversion could use some work


Nice shots though!

What seemed to work pretty well for me when my kids were babies was to pop up from behind the camera to establish eye contact and then drop back down behind to take the shot. My kids would tend to follow the movement of my head and ended up looking straight into the camera. Your little elf there may be too young, though.

If you've got two subjects in the frame, you either need to use a much narrower (larger number) aperture to increase the depth of the area in focus, or you could reorient yourself so they are on the same plane. Of course this might not give you the composition that you want, so pick the subject you want in focus most.

Love the dog with the stick. Nice capture with good depth of field. If it were mine I would tone down or clone out the bright spots in the trees, especially around the ear. Wait, was it running so fast that it was producing vapor trails?