First attempt at newborn - A friend's daughter Olivia

Hi everyone,
I've been a fan of this forum for a very long time but never have anything nice to contribute. Thinking about going into photography professionally, but still have a lot to work on.

Anyway, just did a newborn session for a close friend first born baby girl, Olivia.
These are a couple of my favorite. Please C&C! Please let me know what could be done better.

I shot these with a 7D and a 70-200 F4L on a tripod with a speedlight bounced off the ceiling using radio triggers.

Thanks for all of your inputs!!

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/96471639@N05/9​707817600/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/96471639@N05/9​707817396/

I like the feeling of the 2nd, but there is a big green spot on the thigh that looks weird to me. Perhaps fix that, then tone down a the highlights just a touch, and lose the vignette on it. Not bad

Both are blown out.

First one, I don't like the crop. I would rather see all the head and arm or have the whole thing a bit tighter. Also you can just see the leg at the bottom, and it looks out of place.
Second one i don't like the legs chopped off and the crop to tight to the head. Also it looks like there is a toy showing down by her legs like a little panda bear poking out or something.

On the plus side the eyes are excellent in the second and the pose is good just fix the lighting and the crop and it becomes so much better.

Try taking a shot where you can see all the detail in the blanket it will give the whole picture a more balanced look.

spesmeadeus wrote in post #16288376
Both are blown out.

First one, I don't like the crop. I would rather see all the head and arm or have the whole thing a bit tighter. Also you can just see the leg at the bottom, and it looks out of place.
Second one i don't like the legs chopped off and the crop to tight to the head. Also it looks like there is a toy showing down by her legs like a little panda bear poking out or something.

On the plus side the eyes are excellent in the second and the pose is good just fix the lighting and the crop and it becomes so much better.

Try taking a shot where you can see all the detail in the blanket it will give the whole picture a more balanced look.

Thank you for your critique! I'd definitely work on that. I think I need to trust my histogram more than own eyes since screen brightness does effects how I see the pictures.

newone757 wrote in post #16280450
I like the feeling of the 2nd, but there is a big green spot on the thigh that looks weird to me. Perhaps fix that, then tone down a the highlights just a touch, and lose the vignette on it. Not bad

Thank you! I'll work on that for sure!