I think the lighting in this is very good. It’s nice to have some contrast on the face where the light hits and the shadows fall off, but I feel like it’s a little too dark on his right eye. If you can’t bounce or fill some light there I would at least try to brush it in LR or PS to make it a little brighter. Other than that I think this is a very nice image :) It’s definitely one that I’d deliver to a client if I took it!

I really love the relaxed feel of this picture – the baby just looks so relaxed and happy! I wish the background was blurred a little more to make the people pop a little more. I love how the dark edges create their own border.

The feel of this photo is so awesome. You can tell that mommy and baby love each other. I love how the focus is on baby, with mommy just loving on him. My tip would be that the shadows on his face are harsh. The left side is so much darker than the right, and takes away a smidge of his cuteness. Turn them so his face is more in the light, or use some sort of reflector. That or if all else fails, edit it a bit to at least smooth out the contrast of the shadows in your editing program. Then voila: Even CUTE pic! :)

I really love this picture a lot, it is real and you can feel the love. The only thing I would even consider changing would be, as the ladies above also mentioned, the shadows over the one side of his face and especially that eye. But having said that, it is still a great photo that doesn’t need to be changed – great work Juli!! :-)

Great pic! I agree with the above comments, especially #3. I would also tone down the highlights on the very closest part of the mother’s beautiful hair.

Love the lighting in this – it really fits the overall mood of the two of them together. His eye contact is GREAT, but I would have loved to see a bit more of mom looking at him rather than the back of her head, maybe just moved the camera around to the right a bit and angled in so you could see her beautiful profile. Gorgeous black and white conversion, love the glittery light through the shade!! Great work!

I LOVE this! I really had to search to find anything to suggest! I love that you can just feel the love the mom has for her baby! {I’m assuming it’s her baby…i guess it doesn’t have to be} Anyway, I might lighten the right side of baby’s face a tad, but not too much that it would take away all shadows. Fantastic work!

I love this photo. The catch lights in his eyes are gorgeous. The right eye could use a little brightening up, but at first glance I couldn’t even tell. The exposure of the whole photo is almost perfect. I would like to see the woman’s features a little more. Her face is a little too bright maybe bring down the brightness so that her mouth is a little more visible? I love the color though and the background texture makes the picture feel really beach as does his shirt. Overall wonderful photo.

Great great shot! So sweet and in the moment. Plus, she’s got phenomenal hair and an adorable baby, so that doesn’t hurt. :)

I’m not sure how you would do this (maybe play with levels a bit) but I would love to see some of the blacks pulled out. I’m not sure if you’d want to boost the contrast because you’ve already got really strong whites in here but I would love to see the blacks a little bit more black, if that makes sense. This could (and probably will) make his right eye (so the eye on the left…our left, his right) really dark so you would have to go in and make that lighter … maybe dodge it a bit? I’m terrible at editing software, but these are just some suggestions.

This really is a fantastic photo, though! One to look back on and smile.

What a beautiful picture! I love the interaction between mom and little one, and the connection of his beautiful eyes looking right at you. Mom’s skin is distractingly bright to me, I’d use an adjustment brush in LR to try to bring that down a bit. Great picture, I’d love to have a similar one of me and my little one.

I love this picture of mother and son, and especially enjoy the happy expression on his face. He’s a real cutie!
I would have dodged the area of the right side of his face a little, especially his eye. Since he has light colored eyes the contrast between the eye on the shadow side and the eye on the lighted side is a little jarring because the one eye is so much darker than the other. I also might have tried moving around a little to camera right to see more of the mother’s face. These are minor details in an overall good shot. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you all for your input! I will definitely take in all in and apply it to my photography. I was nervous about putting a photo up for critique but you all made it painless and helpful. I was inspired by Emma Wood’s black and white portraits when I took the photo so the whole time I was shooting I knew it was going to be in black and white. Your input about lightening the baby’s darker eye slightly and toning down the brightness on the mom was good input. This photo was part of an assignment I was doing for a workshop I took and I specifically asked the mom to keep her gaze on her son. I was working in about 4 feet of space smashed up against a glass door and a wall so I had to use my 35mm 2.0 lens. The tight quarters and 2.0 f/stop didn’t allow for much bokeh. I definitely agree, more blur would have been nice. Thank you again for all the wonderful input.

Such a beautifully captured laid back and intimate moment between mama and babe. I like the choice of black and white here. That little darling baby really looks tack sharp. The only thing I could think of to suggest is that I would like to see more detail in mom’s face. Since the focal point is the babe, I like the positioning of mama and babe and wouldn’t change that. Perhaps tone mom’s face down to see more detail. Possibly in her hair as well.

I really love pictures of kids and moms at this angle. I don’t mind that you don’t see a lot of mom.
The only thing I would have done differently is got more light to the boys left eye, but you have to be quick to catch those precious moments with kiddos.
But the backlighting and texture is amazing :)

You’ve captured a Mom really adoring her son! I agree with the other women who are offering lighting advice, and I would add one different posing technique to consider. The first thing I saw in the picture was the Mom’s shoulder and bra strap. Take a moment to arrange her beautiful hair further over her shoulder to cover her bra strap & her skin. Then the baby’s face will be the main focus! This image is a lovely capture of emotion!

i think its a beautiful image. If i had to change something it would be the background. I would had looked for a blank wall or something neutral to take the photo infront of..other than that its great!

I adore this photo! You captured such a sweet moment. Although I agree with the above comments about the shadow on the babys face I think the Brightness on the mom is more distracting. Also, I would have liked to see the top of her head. You really did a great job catching the light in his eyes : )

I love love this pic! This is the kind of photo I think a mom treasures, I know I would! I think the shadows are hard and I have some shots with the same problem and never really know how to fix them, so I dont have any advice there. I dont think they ruin the shot though. The only think I would do would make it a bit more sharp. I think this photo would actually look good with some grain. That might actually solve the shadow “issue”.