I'm trying....

delete

I really like this - you've nailed the focus, I like the tight crop, the background is nicely blurred, there's not hot spots, but still have catchlights in the eyes, her furry hood really frames her face nicely. I'm not sure if it's slightly under-exposed, but all in all, this is a great shot! I wish you luck getting some clients - you certainly seem to be able to get the shots right!

Out of interest did you shoot RAW?

Love the pink hood fur framing her face, Pamela. The main thing I would do is try a little dodge brush to brighten her eyes and then sharpen just the eyes and lips. Just a little work can really make the photo pop into life. It really is an adorable shot.

If you want a little help with Post Processing, go into to edit your sig and turn on the "Image Editing OK" button.

Thanks so much! No, I didnt shoot in RAW. I'd like to give it a try, but from what I'm understanding, I need a card reader because my programs won't read RAW files directly from my camera. They just wont show up. Does that sound right? If so, then I'll have to buy one to give RAW a try. I love editing photos.

Thanks for the feed back!
Pamela

Thanks Maureen You can give the photo a go if you'd like and show me what you mean. I can't wait to get my 580ex flash. I think that will help me alot with lighting. At least I hope! LOL

Pamela

Pamela - you can pick up a card reader for around $5. They save your camera's battery, and speed up copying files over.

Your 20D will have come with RAW conversion software, otherwise, you can just plug the camera in to your computer, and you should see it as an extra drive in My Computer - you can manually copy the files over to your computer, before opening them up.

There are gazillions of threads discussing RAW - the main benefits are that you get more exposure latitude - so you can save a shot which is a good couple of stops under-exposed with far less noise than if you shoot JPG. Secondly, you set the white balance yourself - the software will show you what the camera guessed, but you can change it.

The downside, is that it can make it slower to process your images, as they need to be converted to a 'normal' image format like JPG, and they are much larger files, so you need more storage space (although they are larger because they contain loads of information that is discarded when the camera makes the JPG).

Here's my attempt based on Maureen's feedback. I used the polygonal selection tool with a 5 pixel feather, and anti-aliasing enabled, so select the eyes, and lips, which I put on a separate layer. I then did one pass of USM at 125,0.3,0 to sharpen them up, and then a second pass at 15,50,0 to boost the contrast.

Finally, I added a colour balance adjustment layer, to make it slightly less blue (more yellow), and more red.

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That looks pretty good, Goatee.
Pamela, I am just finishing up at work and I'll give it a go when I get home. No promises, but stay tuned.....

Thanks Maureen - I've been continually impressed by the images / edits you post. I'm slowly learning how less is more - at times, I've been known to oversharpen - something which really spoils photos of kids.

I look forward to your edit Maureen

Thanks Goatee... I see a difference for sure. Your edit has more dimension. I'll have to try my hand at the photo again with the suggestions.... when my daughter isn't pulling at my arm yelling "come play with me!" LOL

Pamela

great shot pamela, and a great model

I like the corrections made by goatee, it fixes some of the lighting issues and makes her skin look a little brighter.

What a gorgeous shot!
I adjusted curves and also took down the blue (and magenta) w/selective coloring than made a more dramatic curve adjustment as a color dodge layer above the normal layer at reduced opacity and below a color layer at reduced opacity. Cloned to clean up under eyes and some of skin (and to get rid of a few hairs), then sharpened.
Hope you like it!

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This is a really beautiful composition and a gorgeous child!! Try RAW.......you will have much more control over your final output.

I love this type of shot

and kids are the best practice as they don't stand still long enough so you have hit the shutter on instinct

Shortie

The other joy of shooting kids is that they have flawless skin (and even if they don't, they've not been conditioned by years of advertising and marketing), so no retouching of the child needs to be done.