Fail?

Today turned out sunnier then what I thought it was going to be. I decided earlier this week I was going to take my kids costume pics today and I have 3 that I am okay with. I loaded up this heavy ahem mirror and drove to the nearby park that has tons of trees. I was looking to do something different, reason for the mirror. What do you think? The mirror shots seems a bit noisy to me, and I tried correcting it in PS but alas I am a noob at PS and still learning. Critique is HIGHLY welcomed. Thank you!

Exif

Exp 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 28 mm
ISO Speed 200

i love the idea of the mirror and the last shot is just plain adorable. beautiful kids. what i recommend is just working contrast, saturation, and sharpness a little (i dont have PS so i have no idea how to explain it in those terms).

Great idea and concept! Really think #2 does well. Putting her a little to the left of the center of the mirror would have given more room to crop to thirds. I would crop top and bottom off number two as well as some of the right side, to move her face in the mirror to more of the upper third of the corner of the picture. Make sure she is totally in shadow so you don't have a blown white spot on the shirt, and everything can be exposed correctly in on image. But you may be able to level and layer to bring the shirt detail back a bit.

#1 picture I like, but again, need to mover her left so her image is more centered in the mirror, and there is something going on so there is a line down the middle of her face.. but if she is up to it, I'd go back and shoot this some more, making sure everything is in shadow, and maybe try to bring in a reflector for more light.

#3 is a cute costume, but is this picture about the kid or the beautiful tree? Plus you have an 'almost merge' that is distracting on his head and the tree trunk.. he needs to be in the shade as well, and make the picture all about him! (or all about that tree.. nice!)

I went ahead and did an edit, as it says ok, I used photoscape, but any program can do at least some of these things---

re-cropped, darkened the shoulder, lightened the face in the mirror, and added a bit of vignetting on the edges.

Please let me know if you think this is better or worse- or if you'd like me to remove it!

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

just had another thought.. any reason you couldn't use the mirror on the long side to the ground??

I like the idea with the mirror but I think it might work better if you were at the same level as the princess and perhaps abit closer. Also, some DOF could be good.

I think these are delightful images that will gain value in your photo album as the years progress. Good job.

What I would recommend is to read up on composition. In the fairy pictures, she is on the right side of the image looking out the edge. Better composition would be having her look into the middle. In the third one, the baby is a very small part of the image. Yet I understand that you sought to draw a contrast with the size of the tree. It's just that everything is too centered. You might try moving him(?) closer to the tree and to one side and go for a square crop. Just thoughts.

The first with a little off the top would be my choice. Top marks for the inventiveness.

Wow thanks for the responses! Trying to get my darling princess to move a little more to the other side seemed a bit too complicated for her... She is 2 btw I tried and tried to get her center, was not happening. Ksbal, thank you for the edit! I do like the fact that you did bring more detail into her shirt and the crop. Thank you for showing me what I can do! As for turning the mirror on the side, she was standing most of the time and she is as tall as the mirror. She sat down for like 2 shots. I will have get back out before the leaves all fall and try this again!
The neat thing about that tree was it was like 50 yards away, I see what your saying about it growing out of his head. I definitely have to watch that in the future!

Thank you all again for the wonderful comments and critique!

My only suggestion would be in composition. Have your daughter sit further to the left, so that her reflection is more centered in the mirror and not competing with the mirror's frame or beveled edge.

My little guy is almost 3, so totally get the cooperation part!
Maybe if she had some special leaves to play with (really pretty colored ones) she would sit, and you could get some more good captures!