I would try a different angle. I’m not sure if it would be better to go for more of a profile shot or straight on.

Would you critique my photos? Any of the photos on my blog are fair game! :)

I’m also not crazy about the angle. In this picture, I’m distracted by the fact that her limbs are cut off as well. Can’t see her arms/hands or her feet. One of those included would have helped. Also, her skin tone seems uneven. Love her beautiful blue eyes and DOF though. ;o)

Love the grass in the background! I always try to get down to eye level with smaller subjects (kids, animals, bugs). It makes them more of an active participant in the photo. Just a slight change of perspective would give a dramatic improvement.

LOVE this new feature! I’ll have a few photos to send for critiques. . . :)

This is actually good timing for me, we talked about critiques in my photography class this week.
I think that I would have liked to see more of the baby in focus. If you used a higher f-stop it would have made her hair, and chin in focus, not only her nose and lips. A higher f-stop would have also made it a little darker, I think that the white blanket in front of her face is so bright, that after I see the baby, my eyes move to the blanket. If the baby was a little more in focus, then I don’t think my eyes would wander.
I love the catch light in both of her eyes, and the blurred grass in the background.

This is such a great idea– I wish more people posted critiques on my blog rather than just comments!

With this picture, I love the baby blues and the catchlights in her eyes– if I had to offer suggestion, I might have opened up the aperture a bit more because it seems that the one eye seems to be slightly out of focus, as does the hair towards the back of her head. She’s such a cutie though!

I love the catchlights in her pretty blue eyes! I think a slight change in composition so her face isn’t in the middle and more in the left third so that she has somewhere to look in the photo.. (I swear I know what I mean, lol I just don’t know how to word it!) I would have moved in a little closer also to avoid any limb chopping :)

Ok here it goes this wwould be the first time I write a critique on a photo :) Also I will work on doing a post where people can critique a specific photo althought really all my photos on my blog are up being critiqued. Anything to make me grow as a photographer.

In my opinion I would have pulled back to see a little more of the scene, I would love to see what she is doing with her hands. Also to me it seems like it’s a little over exposed maybe try upping your shutter speed and raising you ISO. Does it make sense what I’m saying?

Okay there it is…..that felt weird! Does that go away with time/

Focus is nice and sharp on the face, the exposure is great as well. The balance of the green grass and her pink jumper against the white is also very pleasing. It would have bee nice if you had been a bit lower and down to her level for the picture. And you also cropped her arms which makes the picture feel unsettling. I’d recommend a tighter crop and cut out the arms all together and bring focus to her beautiful blue eyes!

The coloring on this shot, and the focus is spot on. I would consider a different angle…maybe get down lower to where you are at her level? And while you nailed the sharpness of the eye closest to the lens, I like being able to clearly see both eyes in a portrait. I think the brightness could be brought down just a bit. The pink on the white is a bit bright. All together, a REALLY cute shot!! Love her little dress and blue eyes!

I feel really uncomfortable critiquing this photo of your baby girl. I would love to go back and retake the baby photos of my son, with my current camera and knowing what I know now. But if it’s for learning purposes, here goes. I love the softness of the capture, it really suits a baby photo. Her blue eyes and catchlights are lovely. However, I feel the bright white blanket to the right of her face keeps drawing my eye away from her beautiful face. Maybe you could have taken the shot in portrait, that would show her arms and hands better too. Or you could lay down in front of her and take the picture with her pushing up with the grass as a backdrop. Otherwise I think it’s a lovely photo, and beautiful memory of a very special time.

Hey Courtney,
I’m not sure I can give a great critique but I will attempt it. I think it’s great that you captured the catch light in Emma’s eyes. For composition, I think I would have taken a few steps back and to the right so that her body wasn’t straight across the picture and her arms weren’t cut off. It would have been more interesting to see her body angled up towards the left corner of the picture.

That’s a lovely capture, her eyes look great. A few things that could enhance it are if you had left some looking into room infront of her using the rule of thirds in composure. I also find the blanket appearing directly behind her head distracting, positioning yourself and camera closer to the ground would have helped. Lastly her arms could be cropped in even further to avoid limb chop or more of her arms captured at the time.
I really love the colours and brightness of this photo.

I also get so uncomfortable giving critiques, I feel like I’m not qualified or something. haha. But I love it when I get critiques on my own pictures. LOL. Love the colors in this one, but it needs a better angle/composition. Probably would have gotten more down on her level, and either cropped in more on her face or pulled away and got more of the scene. To me the exposure itself looks good. She looks so little, growing up so fast! Is that Emma or Kate?

What a GREAT idea to get specific feedback, on a photo! I will chime in… I love how you got a catchlight in there and the bokeh looks good. I took a picture of a baby the other day and, like in your photo, the blanket that the baby was on made me wish for more contrast with the subject. That baby is very fair skinned and the white blanket sort of washes out her coloring. You definitely captured a cute baby expression and I love the green grass background. I am off to patent the “green grass baby blanket” now-bye! Ha!!

Since she is not completing an activity (ie. playing with a toy) I would like to see her making eye contact with the camera with a closer crop focusing on the face. It is a little cool for my taste, but I love photos that have sharp focus on the eye closest to the camera with a softer focus on the eye away from the camera.

Great DOF and beautiful catch lights.

What an adorable baby (he he) I love the contrast of colors in her pink outfit with the green grass. I should have stepped back to include her whole body which would prevent the awkward arm/leg chop as well as give her space to look into. It leaves the viewer wondering what she is looking at and not in a good way. I should have not shot so wide open to be able to get both her eyes in focus since they are on two different planes. The fact that the blanket is going through her head is a bit distracting as well. I would also warm this up in PP. The catchlights are wonderful though! Besides the white balance the exposure looks great!! (My critic of my photo)

I have been BLOWN AWAY by your spectacular critiques!! I started you guys off easy this week!! Next week I’m going to pull out some of my recent stuff. With those kind of critiques you are going to help me grow so much!! Thank you!! I’m so proud of you guys especially the ones who had never critiqued before!! Yay!!!

Hi Courtney, quite honestly I think most of what I would redo with this photo has been hit on:
– Overexposed just a pinch, her skin is lightened by it
– Open up apeture, her heads a wee fuzzy
– Back up to get her hands, or change the angle for a closer profile or face shot.
Love your own critiques, we are the hardest sometimes but getting another view point is what makes us grow!

OK I didn’t read the critiques so I don’t know if I’m too late in adding mine… (I rarely have the nerve to critique others’ photos because of my lack of experience, even though I really, really appreciate the critiques that I get!)
I love the colors–the layers of pink, white, and green are totally beautiful. I think it would have been good to either include her hands (or whatever her eyes are looking at) or to somehow have her looking more at the camera. I’m impressed that you can still see her beautiful blues even with her looking away.
OK off to see how my critique lined up ;-)

Wow! She’s so tiny here!

I think you got some great clarity in her right eye. I would suggest shifting the frame a little more to the left so her face falls more on the right side of the photo. Also, I wonder if getting down even more on her level would allow more grass to be the backdrop for fair skin rather than the white blanket:)

(Does putting a smiley face at the end of the critique count as the final positive piece of bread in the sandwich?)

Ok, first critique and I’m an amateur… here goes…
What a beautiful baby! :) I would bring more of the cutie pie into focus, so her little features (fuzzy head, ear) are sharper (with a larger aperture setting) and maybe bump down the shutter speed a bit if needed. I would change angles, and catch her more at her level, to get more of her to fill the frame. I would try to get her more head-on and make her sweet face a more prominent subject. Also for composition, I would have used something other than the blanket and her body as backdrop, maybe the grass or something else in the surroundings…
What a sweet baby to photograph! And off-topic, I love this site! :)

I love the innocence and curiosity this portrays. I would pull back to include her full body and get down right next to her level. I am still learning f-stop but I am guessing that you need to open it to get more focus. I think the light catch in the eyes is very nice. Good job.

The colors and dof are great. I would change the angle, maybe lower. I would like to see her hands and get down on her level.

Gorgeous little girl. I too have the Nikon D90 & mainly use my 50mm 1.8
I love the pink & green in this photo, its really striking. I would have got down a little lower ( I am often on my belly taking photo’s of my little girl), & a little more around to the front OR had someone call to her so she turned her head.
I love how you’ve captured her relaxed mouth, it makes for a really innocent photo. Love it.

For starters, Beautiful Bubbie Girl!! Lovely colours and clarity here. Rule of thirds came to my mind here, so as many people mentioned alread, I would have perhaps used a different composition. Lying on your belly, so down at her levelI i would try positioning her slightly to the left and more to the front & perhaps more of her body and hands. This way you might capture a little of what she is looking at. or, i would have liked her looking briefly into the lens. I think it is an absoloutely beautiful shot anyway, and I am sure you are very proud!

The angle as many others have mentioned is a bit awkward. I feel like a shot that was straight on focusing on the full face would have made this picture better.

This is a great idea! I tjink this is a great image – the only thing I would change is the cropping so we could see her cute hands and feet. Also, I love when a baby makes eye contact with my camera. Keep up the great work! ;)

I feel it is a little over exposed. The white blanket is just so bright that it’s a little distracting to me. A different angle would help also.

I would like you to critiue on of my images. Where can I mail it?