Wow. Seriously. What can I say about this photo?? It’s absolutely precious, stunning, gorgeous! I love the catchlights in her eyes, I love her expression! It’s wonderful!

Two things I would personally change are the colors and the crop. I feel like there’s just a little too much open space on the right side of the photo, so maybe closer to the headband. Also, I’m not a huge fan of the coloring of the photo, but that’s more of a personal preference. I personally don’t do actions or textures to any of my photos because (again, to me) it takes away from the picture itself (it stops being a memory). Her skin is just too olive for my own particular likes. It’s definitely not terrible or horrible or bad or anything, but I would have liked it a lot better in a more natural color.

That being said, I ADORE THIS PICTURE! You did such an AMAZING job capturing the moment and expression, and the composition is near flawless. Great job!!

I just wanted to point out that this photo looks completely different in Google Chrome than any other browser! The tint is very green and cool. I switched to Mozilla and it looks great. The subject is adorable! I love the headband. The only thing I might have done differently is to try to keep the background cohesive so it’s not distracting. So if mom is wearing a dark color I’d have a dark back ground too. I know that’s not always possible of course!! I really like the lighting, it’s natural and flattering!!

Love this. You got the catch lights in her eyes and good exposure. The very first thing that caught my eye is her placement. Maybe it’s the crop, but I think she needs to be framed more to the right. There is wasted space there and I want to see as much of her as possible. Also, always be sure to white balance first, especially with babies. Maybe you did and it’s just my screen. I was just looking for a bit more peachy tones in her little body. Overall, very nice job! I’m sure this mom is very pleased with this beauty.

I had to switch to Internet Explorer, and the color shift issues with Google Chrome were resoled. On Chrome the picture is greenish & dull. On IE the pic is vibrant and colorful. It does appear to have the contrast increased, was that a setting on your camera? I think the picture is beautiful and I love the black/white balance of Mom’s black shirt on the left side of the image & the empty, gray/white color on the right to balance it out. The edge of the black shirt does have a greenish tinge to it, which might be due to the compression of the photo to make it internet friendly. I also wonder, what color format was this saved in? RGB or sRGB? That might change how it appears in Chrome too, as Chrome’s color management is nonexistent.

What a lovely picture. I looked a this photo in both Internet Explorer and Firefox, and didn’t experience the greenish color issue that others in this forum have. The colors are beautiful–her red headband really pops, especially against her beautiful skin tone and the neutral black her mother wears. Her eyes look a little soft–more sharply focused eyes, especially the one closest to the camera, would be one very slight improvement I’d suggest. I know with an aperture of 1.8 with the subject so close to the camera can be tricky to focus. One trick may be to try focusing on the eyes, holding the shutter halfway down, and then recomposing. I have a Canon and don’t know if this technique works on Nikons. Another technique I’ve tried with close focus on both my 50mm and 85mm lenses is to use auto focus on the eyes, and then switch to manual focus if I see that the focus shifts. Thanks for sharing such a beautiful photo!

Gorgeous photo!! The only advice I have is to allow for space around the subject for different crops…8×10 is different than 4×6 :) I think the lighting is great and the catch lights perfectly on her eyes :) beautiful baby too!

What a beautiful little girl :). I am not sure the composition and crop are capturing her personality in this shot. I always like to see the connection and emotion between a mama and baby. I think it evokes feeling and brings the viewer in touch with their special bond. * warm fuzzies just thinking about it * :). The way this is framed I feel we are missing that because mama’s face is out of view and baby looks a bit unsure and is casually gazing out of frame. Thank you for sharing this sweet photo!

I personally LOVE the use of negative space in this photo. The dark color of the mom’s shirt balances the wupper right corner nicley. I like th epunch of color with the flower as well.

My suggestion would be to have your focal point be right on the eyes next time. They look a little soft in this.

Great white balance on getting the baby’s skin right. (Always a tricky thing for me.)

I love this photo, what a sweetheart. I really like the skin tone (I am on my iPhone-color looks great!)

The only thing I would change is the crop, it such a beautiful picture I’d like to see it pulled in a bit on the right.

Otherwise LOVE this! It’s a tricky age to shoot :)

I love the catchlights in her eyes and how the bright colorful bow really pops! If I were to change anything, it would be to crop it a lot closer and just have her sweet face and her shoulder. I only say that because of the way her hand is grabbing her skin on her chest. It isn’t as delicate as the rest of the picture. But you nailed the coloring and the focus is great!!

This is a lovely photo! I like the contrast of the background with the mom’s shirt. It helps me know that she is being held and not just lost in a see of dark colors. It adds a story. This is difficult to critique, but my critique is going to purely a preference thing. I would like to see a crop with a more traditional ratio. I think a horizontal crop would really look nice, but I know there is a movement towards the square crop for storyboards and wall displays.
The color is fantastic and the lighting is divine. You really did a great job with this!

Hello Girls,

Thank you very much for all the feedback.
I agree with the critiques about the cropping. I will be hard to get a traditional size print out of this file. I will fix it.
I will definitely take all the other critiques in consideration as well.

I appreciate all your help and for taking the time to critique!

Alessandra

Oh how I love this picture! Such a precious time for mommy and what a great picture to remember it!!! I had to truly search for something to critique, and the only things I can say I would do different would be the lightening on the cheek closest to the mom. I love the crop, colors and tones of this picture! Great job!!!

Alessandra,

The composition isn’t great but I’m guessing you wanted “lead room” since she was looking to her left. I bet it would have looked better if the person in the black shirt was on the other side since it would have made things not so one sided.

Why did you change the picture you submitted? I liked the girl and suitcase. The grass and entire photo looked so creamy. What camera/lens did you use? Did you do much editing in the computer?

Wow…this mother will cherish this picture…that baby looks so soft I can almost feel her! I think the lighting and the simple colors are gorgeous…I pass on the cutesy outfits in favor of baby au naturel :) That being said, I still like this headband because of the single color. I liked what one commenter said about shooting in front of a dark background so there’s less distraction behind the baby. Well done! This is a shot that draws you in to a beautiful moment.

I love love love this photo!!! She’s PRECIOUS!!! Not too much to critique, but maybe the cropping. I would have gone with a vertical crop. Only because this is such a precious photo we could have seen more baby! Wonderful job though; love the contrast of colors. Makes her headband look even brighter :)

Hello. The colors are nice. Her skin is smooth and creamy. It is nice and sharp too! Exposure is good. I am not sure how I would crop it different because I would need to see the original, but this works because of the way her eyes are looking (toward the negative space). I would have tried to take the photo from over moms right shoulder with some eye contact too. I would have put the babies hands in the frame, even if i had to move them. I think it would it would have added some interest and baby cuteness. She is cute and I love how you kept the edits natural and not over done!