B&W Child Portraits

[Raskill]

I was recently in the Sunshine Coast area to do a few photo favours for friends. They paid my airfares as payment.

I thought I might post a few of the pics to show my portraits of my friends 2 year old and 4 month old. I now know why they say don't work with children and animals

I'm pretty happy with them. Flash off camera, lens was the unreal Sigma 24-70mm F/2.8.







My friends are pretty happy with the results, and I guess at the end of the day, if the customer is happy....

Comments please. I really want to improve on these. This is a good possible income source. I was also thinking of investing in a inexpensive portable studio setup to help with lighting.

Thanks!

[Steffen]

I'm afraid no's 2 and 3 don't really work for me.

Number 1, however, is an absolute ripper, a shot of such intensity, it is almost iconic. I'm sure you'll get lots of accolades for this one.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Raskill]

Cheers Steffen.

Not many accolades though... Number one is definetly my favourite. I have noticed that on very bright monitors you can see the pattern from the lounge the kids were on, but not on either of mine. Go figure.

Thanks for the comments. Anyone else? 70 views and 1 reply, surely they ain't that bad

[drifter]

Having a three year old i know how hard it is getting one kid into position and shoot let alone two .
The first one looks great .Looks natural and they're both looking at each other .Excellent shot .The parents should be wrapped with that.
The second one, bubs ruins this one by his worried look on his face.Same with the third one .Also these all need a contrast boost .They look a bit milky.Try giving it a tweek with curves or lift the shadows a touch if they were shot RAW .
How did you convert them to B&W ? Desaturate ? Its a hard one to nail .

[cawdor]

I have found that when it comes to young kids, it's all about expression. Having an assistant fooling around behind me to make the kids smile is a must for me, it got me some ripper shots.

But onto yours - number 2 and 3 don't work for me either, the expression of the baby is just not right (I know this is hard, so not your fault!). Number 2 especially seems too forced in terms of expression and pose.
Another point is balance - when you have only a dark background and your subjects you have to be careful to get the poses and framing right, otherwise it throws off the photo, like in #3. The baby is crawling left to right, yet you framed it portrait rather than landscape, it makes me want to move the camera to the right to center the head

You got the lighting right, but in number 2 a second light or reflector would have helped reduce the shadows between the kids. I realise you were limited in equipment so this is just a general comment.

Number 1 is nice, but I would prefer a natural smile from the boy on the right rather than him saying something and opening his mouth rather wide. Nice pose though.

In the end if the customer is happy that's all that counts, I hope the feedback here will help with future shots