Christmas Card Picture Preview :-)

Here they are.  All the good ones at least.  I tried a different style of editing this go around and I'm not sure if I like it.  What are your thoughts?  I'm really struggling on my pp lately.  I'm really lacking something but I don't know what.  I know what I want to achieve, just don't know how to get it.  And these are in no particular order.  Blogger was taking {forever} to upload and I wasn't about to rearrange.

ps-I made those headbands  :-)  I'm kinda proud of myself

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

You know I need help...and a confidence booster  :-)  I did these for a client.  She wanted two to choose from, one being more traditional and one being more festive.  The second one is definitely out of the box, but not sure if I went too far with it  :-)  The only difference between the last two is the year at the top corner.  Is it too much?  Should I put the date elsewhere, and if so, where?  I'd love your feedback, as always!!  I'm new to creating custom cards and trying to self teach myself with photoshop (super frustrating by the way!)  Thanks for your input!!

ha ha..just saw that my dot between Jace and Jett fell.  I think I'll go fix that now...

I need you.....

My first attempt at newborn photography.  I think my skin tones are all over the place.  How in the world do those professionals get that beautiful, consistent skin tones?!?!  Please tell me what you think.  I've got many  more to edit from this shoot but wanted to give the Mom & Dad a sneak peek.  Any CC would be great!!!  And just so you know, the shot with him resting on his arms...nearly impossible to get.  I REALLY wanted to try that pose, but that's the best I could get.  Seriously, who would've thought posing a newborn would be so tricky?!?!

Skin tone didn't look so bad in photoshop, but wow he needs some color!  I think I took out TOO much red!

Color or B&W?

AHHHHHHHHH!!

Ok, here's the problem.  I'm so not consistent. But I do the same thing every time I shoot.  So how come I'm all over the place?  Lens, camera body or just user error?  Not too proud to say it could be the latter.  I just need to know so I can fix this annoying little issue.  Here are 4 shots, all SOOC with vital info below each pic.  Tell me what you think.  I really need some help before I throw my camera in the pond next door.  Seriously I'm so frustrated!!!
1.  Good clarity (a little dark!) but focus on the eyes is spot on.  Taken back in May just after getting my new camera and lens.  This is how all my pictures were at that time.

f2.8   1/400    ISO 320    35mm

2.  Taken yesterday.  I focused on her eyes, like I ALWAYS do.  But focus landed on her outfit.  And with the aperature on f5.0 the focus should be on that whole plane.  What gives?!?!

f5.0   1/125   ISO320   35mm

3.  Taken last week. Again, focus is perfect on her eyes.  I just did what I always do.

f2.5   1/160   ISO200   35mm

4.  Again, taken yesterday.  Shot wide open but she's completely in focus EXCEPT her face, which is what I set the focal point on. 

f1.8   1/640   ISO320   35mm

Please, help me!!!

First customer!

 

Hey Georgia!!  I miss you guys already :)

 

I had my first paying customer.  It’s one of my friends kids (one of Sophia’s BFF) I had a different customer but she canceled the morning of.  I think my friend felt sorry for me and she booked her spot.  I hadn’t planned on her paying me but she is stubborn and ended up paying for the session.  I obviously really want to make these great so please check them out and let me know what you think!

Did you ever get anywhere on the book?  I did not.  I really am kind of struggling with it.  On a good note my big brother gave me CS4 (yay!!) and asked ME to partner with HIM!!  Is that cool or what?  We are going to have two separate businesses and then also work together :)

 

Meet Grant :)

I happened to catch one of his sisters for a millisecond and this is what I got. I know the sun is serious but I like it in a weird way.

 

I think this one is one of my favorites. 

Grant has a lot of pink in his skin, I toned it down…does it need more?  He started to look a little blue. 

I like this one but don’t….do you think it needs more contrast?  The backlight was totally blown and I toned it down but something seems off.  His eyes or hair or something?

This is kind of vintage looking, I might switch it to BW

Does this work?

His daddy is a huge fisherman.

I like these but Greg does not.  I still feel like something is off in each one.  Is the color one too green?  I keep thinking I need to warm up the bw verson.

That’s it…or at least that is all I’ll make you suffer through :)

 

I can’t wait to see what you do in GA!!

Help.

Help me. I am so frustrated. I am going backwards and it is driving me nuts.

These are not great but I have always wanted to do something in a field of wildflowers. The sun was setting and Sophia was clean. I am not a fan of her being in the pettiskirt but we were on our way back from a party and they requested she wear it. They weren't really planned and were rushed but still they should have been better.

Just look over these and give me some feedback. What would you have done differently.

I tried to process them but they just seem blah to me.

I like this one the most. It has less haze and seems more natural.

The sky totally blew. I tried to fix it but I couldn't.

I cropped it hoping that would help but....

This one is okay...a little too much haze right?

I swear one minute I feel like I could hang my sign and learn and the next minute I want to throw it away.

I think my camera is acting up. When we were in Indy My Aperture mode kept totally blowing out the pictures. I thought it was because of Sam's lens but it is doing it all the time now. I try to use Manual but I like aperture for action shots.

Addie's 7 month photos

I'm about ready to throw my lens out the widow!!  I took Addie Grace's 7 month pics this morning.

Perfect light, perfect outfit, perfect disposition.

I ended up with not-so-perfect pics.

Same issues as before.

So I'm headed up to the camera shop tomorrow to find out what's going on.

Anyways,

I edited these 2 and couldn't decide.

Which do you like better?

You know B&W are not my forte.  Do the whites look TOO white?

And does the color pic look oversharpened?  The sun made a haze over her but instead of it looking cool,

it just looked like

haze.

So I tried to defog it a bit.  Not sure if I helped or made it worse.

I'm totally in a photography slump right now.

I'm blaming it on the kids  :-)

Someone has to take the blame, right?!

Anyways, I'd love your opinion!!

Indy Photowalk-Melinda

Ok, so here they are.  Other than the obvious issues of clarity and focus, what do you see?  I felt like my composition was pretty good in most photos...a few I would've done differently.  I really felt like I was struggling with my pp with this session.  Kyla's face came out red in so many photos and I had to desaturate on most of her photos.  Are there any pics I over sharpened?  I tried not to over compensate for the lack of clarity.  Feel free to rip these apart.  I'm already disappointed in them.  I'm doing a shoot tomorrow morning for Addie's 7 month update and Crista's 4 year old portraits.  I'm hoping to have better luck with those.  Andi (from the photowalk) is going to help me  :-)