Newborn Photography HELP!!!

too much info ..
 
I do agree with the teddy now that a few of you have said it, your right it should have gone into the reject. I'll be working even harder on focusing and the cropping.

And of course all your going to hear about on my twitter is beauty products im a BEAUTY BLOGGER..it only seems right :') how did you even find my twitter anyway lol
 
Honest answer. Someone asked me in a pm if I thought you are for real or if this is a troll job so I clicked on your profile, which has a web link and the website has a Twitter link. Takes 2 mins to find someone online these days, even less if they post a website link.

I am still torn on if you are for real or if this is a wind up.
 
asphotographymk said:
As i said i would be more than happy to hear which images you feel are not sharp where they should be.
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Just to reply here, the last two sample shots on the Portrait page for a couple of examples (baby on a beanbag with black background and the couple with a bulldog). Neither look sharp, or to be a processed 'style'. These detract from the other, very good sample images you have on the site.

Not a dig, but 'Approved' is still a typo on your homepage - my mistake as I said "approach" before. I see you've already sorted the other typo.
 
Morbid said:
Just to reply here, the last two sample shots on the Portrait page for a couple of examples (baby on a beanbag with black background and the couple with a bulldog). Neither look sharp, or to be a processed 'style'. These detract from the other, very good sample images you have on the site.

Not a dig, but 'Approved' is still a typo on your homepage - my mistake as I said "approach" before. I see you've already sorted the other typo.
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:agree:

Both of these shots are pin sharp but very badly processed when resized for the web so thank you for pointing them out. That baby is now 4 years old so possibly about time I lost that image. The one with the Bull dog i have no clue why it is on my site as i hate shooting on white so again thank you for pointing it out. I dont do much in the way of portraits as almost all of my work is newborn so I dont take the time to look at that page enough.

Many thanks.

I was searching for approach and just couldn't find it on any page. Fixed,Thanks for pointing it out. :);)
 
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caitlinjade95 said:
..I'm not going on about the matter any longer i think it's going on for far to long i've said what i want to say but ill say it again I DO APPRECIATE AND LISTEN TO WHAT YOUR SAYING so thanks :)
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Without wishing to drag over old coals Caitlin, all of the critique of the latest images was covered in the first images you shared, so you should be able to see the reason for the frustration?

Unsharp - covered
Lighting from wrong direction - covered
Teddy (distraction cos the parents wanted it) - covered

Whilst I agree 100% with Andy that what you need is practice, practice and more practice, there is a small point about which we disagree. I don't think it has to take you 5 years or 10 years to be good at this...

But, it takes a willingness to learn that's more than 'reeaalllly wanting to', it's about 100% commitment! Using your camera every day, posting pictures and asking for critique, learning from your mistakes, taking it on the chin.

I PMed you links to a guy local to me, and showed what's possible with that kind of commitment. Unfortunately, you seem to have taken the 'what's possible' without the 'if you work hard at it'.

This weekend, find a mate or a family member (easier to manipulate than a baby) and aim to shoot 1 good picture. Start simple, window lit or the softbox, but one decent image you can put up for critique. Next weekend, try a couple.

What we all agree on is that you'll never succeed at newborns till your camera craft is 100% and right now, your camera craft is nowhere near that. If someone came round and set up a perfectly lit and posed newborn for you to shoot, with props and thousands of £ of lighting; it'd still be no good because the camera craft isn't there yet.

Cooking analogy: learn to boil an egg before you try a soufflé.

Car analogy: you wouldn't learn to drive in a racing car you'd start with an underpowered hatchback.

Makeup analogy: you're trying to recreate cover girl makeup, but at the minute you're still splodging nail varnish all over your fingers (like when you were 7).

Get the simple stuff perfected before you move on to the tricky stuff.
 
Thankyou phil i agree maybe i am jumping ahead, i have the week off i might even see if it's do able taking a decent photo of myself. I darn't but anything up for review because im too worried about p***ing people off on the site. I get sarcasm and negativity so i post as little as possible.

I have huge willingness to learn. Just so you know the guy you pm'd me im speaking to right now, in depth and he's give me some positives and negatives that i'm very happy with.

Focusing and lighting is still something im going to be working on and fair point about it not taking 5 years but it isn't going to take me 5 minutes, i need to keep going and keep practising more and more and building up experiance
 
Phil V said:
W

Whilst I agree 100% with Andy that what you need is practice, practice and more practice, there is a small point about which we disagree. I don't think it has to take you 5 years or 10 years to be good at this...
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I think my point came across wrong with that or you have misunderstood. I dont mean it takes 5 - 10 years to learn. What I mean is after 5 - 10 years you should still be learning.

I have worked in some form of photography now for 13 years, And i have alot to learn. I have learnt more in the past 3 years as a studio owner than i ever did before that. And critique also gets harder, once you have a good few years under your belt its easy to start to think you have it naliled and know it all. When someone comes along and tells you otherwise its much harder with experience than as a beginner. You have to learn to take critique for what it is - A way to help you improve.
 
caitlinjade95 said:
I darn't but anything up for review because im too worried about p***ing people off on the site. I get sarcasm and negativity so i post as little as possible.
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But this is whats frustrating. You are not getting "sarcasm and negativity" what you are getting is constructive feedback, for which you keep saying you are thankful yet contradicting with comments such as this.
 
All things in life should be seen as worthy of continuing/continuous improvement. Yes there some things were we reach our level of Max competence but even that should not stop the desire to improve if possible :)

There are folk that might say (in whatever field) that they have 40 years experience but based on seeing their expertise it becomes obvious as worst case scenario it is one year's experience they have been using for 39 more years :LOL:

TP as a site to share images and ask for constructive criticism is good but as noted by other posters with newborn work they are still looking forward to seeing your best imagery following putting into practice the guidance and suggestions already made?

As always , all the best with your endeavours and aspirations :)
 
caitlinjade95 said:
You could say 'its out of focus but i do like *xxx*' unless you don't like anything about them which im guessing is your emotion.
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Sounds like you want poo sandwich feedback.

caitlinjade95 said:
I darn't but anything up for review because im too worried about p***ing people off on the site.
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Noone is getting p***ed off giving you feedback, you seem to take umbridge with feedback that's received.

caitlinjade95 said:
how did you even find my twitter anyway
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It's not difficult as you've used your own name as your username. Easy to find your youtube channel aswell.
 
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I havn't used my real name :') my youtube is my first name but thats it, god only knows how many Caitlins there is out there lol

And yes, I know what i need to improve on.the last set of images i posted were totally out of focus and not sharp at all and the last set of images posted were SHARPER but not perfect as i've been told..and appreicate being told. They were also more in focus but still not perfect as i was told i also know i need to still work on lighting. Thats what im going to do and that is what i am doing.
 
caitlinjade95 said:
I havn't used my real name :') my youtube is my first name but thats it, god only knows how many Caitlins there is out there lol

And yes, I know what i need to improve on.the last set of images i posted were totally out of focus and not sharp at all and the last set of images posted were SHARPER but not perfect as i've been told..and appreicate being told. They were also more in focus but still not perfect as i was told i also know i need to still work on lighting. Thats what im going to do and that is what i am doing.
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So you're not Caitlin Jade from Manchester, with a blog called through the mirror? :confused:
 
UaeExile said:
So you're not Caitlin Jade from Manchester, with a blog called through the mirror? :confused:
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She may be Katie, Cait or whatever else her name can be shortened to... I think she could possibly be 19 years old and working in a nursery in Manchester. She could also very possibly be a huge lover or all things beauty and shopping related.... :banana:

I did enjoy finding our how to deal with my Acne and getting some smoky bronze eyes... That is my weekend look for sure....


So basically, anyone with even the slightest Internet presence is pretty easy to find.
 
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Ah well, puts my views up i guess! haha i don't mind being found at all i just wondered if you'd searched for 'caitlin jade' and no my names not caitlin jade. i'd just rather not use my second name online but hey, its good that you all found me ha!

Your the one following my blog on twitter :')
 
A few people had a feeling you may not be for real and this may all be some sort of joke. Its nice to see its not.
 
It's not a joke and to be honest if thats what people are thinking of me then let them because im not going to change anyones opinions about me. I hope through seeing my blog...even if your not a make up lover that i work hard at everything i enjoy i work 50 hours a week and i write every evening and photograph for it every weekend whilst practising other photography that im trying to improve to newborns but it dosn't feel like work because i love it!

I only hope through you seeing more of a personal side to me..kind of! That you realize im not joking about it and i am going to work hard to get to be where i want. If you look back at my blog from december last year when i started it and now, you'd see what i mean in terms of how i got serious and changed it around to where i am now.
 
I've 'liked' your facebook page if that helps?

You haven't put the 'pink' shot of baby S up on here though and it looks like an alright photo albeit with a strange angle.
 
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Jesus you guys have found the ins and outs of my life havn't you :')

and the one one the pink blanket? I was worried that the skin tones were iffy becuase the pink blanket was making the babies skin a funny colour!
 
It does look a bit over exposed, losing detail in the hat and the hand.

caitlinjade95 said:
Jesus you guys have found the ins and outs of my life havn't you :')
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Putting Caitlin Jade into facebook wasn't difficult to be fair.
 
Did you shoot in RAW, have you tried reducing the exposure?
 
Now I dont know why but sme of the shots you have on facebook are much better than the shots you have posted here. Both the prilfe images for example are not bad at all despite the weird falling backward down a hill angle of shot number 2 I really like it.
 
caitlinjade95 said:
Thankyou phil i agree maybe i am jumping ahead, i have the week off i might even see if it's do able taking a decent photo of myself. I darn't but anything up for review because im too worried about p***ing people off on the site. I get sarcasm and negativity so i post as little as possible...
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I appreciate this is as frustrating for you as it is for us, but:
I could take 20 half decent portraits in an afternoon, but I'd be lucky to get one decent selfie (I've been learning 30 years), you need a model so you can see what the light is doing and you can't focus on something that's not there (you can't be in front if and behind the camera at the same time).

And putting up shots for critique is a shortcut to improvement, look at Andy's reaction to the critique in this thread. Read my post as specific advice rather than something you can turn into something 'easier'. We keep telling you easy isn't the way forward.

Find a willing victim from your FB 'fans'; free makeup for a night out and new FB images in return for a couple of hours modelling.

If you can't find free models as a young girl, then no one can.
 
asphotographymk said:
She may be Katie, Cait or whatever else her name can be shortened to... I think she could possibly be 19 years old and working in a nursery in Manchester. She could also very possibly be a huge lover or all things beauty and shopping related.... :banana:

I did enjoy finding our how to deal with my Acne and getting some smoky bronze eyes... That is my weekend look for sure....


So basically, anyone with even the slightest Internet presence is pretty easy to find.
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I was begining to wonder if she was actually a 30 + year old bloke called Joe from the midlands with a passion for discussing toilet habits.... good to see that she's not (even the unspeakable one wouldn't go to that much trouble to create a believable dupe account.)

However given that she's for real it makes me wonder why a personal twitter about beuty blogging is linked from a photo website :confused:

Oh and smoky bronze eyes will make a change from the 'just punched' look you were sporting last time you posted a selfie ;) :lol:
 
big soft moose said:
I was begining to wonder if she was actually a 30 + year old bloke called Joe from the midlands with a passion for discussing toilet habits.... good to see that she's not (even the unspeakable one wouldn't go to that much trouble to create a believable dupe account.)

However given that she's for real it makes me wonder why a personal twitter about beuty blogging is linked from a photo website :confused:

Oh and smoky bronze eyes will make a change from the 'just punched' look you were sporting last time you posted a selfie ;) [emoji38]
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Just look at us lot. We clearly need beauty tips..
 
asphotographymk said:
Just look at us lot. We clearly need beauty tips..
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you speak for yourself , I have the bdy of a young greek god (must get rid of that before it starts to smell ...)
 
I wouldnt be offering you beauty tips and i must have linked it when i first opened my account.

Thanks for the comments on the profile photo on fb and yes it did link to the image. It appears i must have posted the worst of the worst then. I now know what i need to do to improve, thanks for all your critique and your positive comments im off to practise :D

Phil i meant with a remote i have for my camera i wasnt going to do selfies ha.
 
caitlinjade95 said:
Phil i meant with a remote i have for my camera i wasnt going to do selfies ha.
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Even with a remote using yourself isnt a realistic option - you need to be behind the camera looking at the fall of light etc , and you can't do that while you are also in front of it.
 
yes i know what you mean ive asked a couple of friends might try a couple of different things and see what works best!:)
 
caitlinjade95 said:
...
Phil i meant with a remote i have for my camera i wasnt going to do selfies ha.
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It's a self portrait whether you're using a pencil, paintbrush, remote release or phone. It's a tricky task compared to shooting someone else.

Give your mum a makeover, I'll bet you normally just take pictures of her sat in front of the telly when she's knackered. Give her a makeover and have a read up on flattering lighting angles for older models.
 
Thankyou, we're both off tomorrow so ill bribe her if she lets me give her a make over and get some photos ill get her some wine lol! that should do it!
 
caitlinjade95 said:
Thankyou, we're both off tomorrow so ill bribe her if she lets me give her a make over and get some photos ill get her some wine lol! that should do it!
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If you do a good job of it, just having a nice picture of herself should do it. :)
 
she hates having her photos taking and she hates make up lol! shes very much wake up and out the door kinda woman lol
 
Another 'photographer' lesson, and why we are still doing OK:

Everyone likes to see a nice photo of themselves. (Speaking as the kind of person who took up photography to avoid having my picture taken)
 
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