your collective wisdom please?!

[photo si]

Hi
New on here and looking for honest opinions of my work. It's a hobby that I want to develop so please be brutally honest and tell me how I can improve.

First up is a picture of my son taken in the garden late last summer.

Cheers
Si

 

[bfotosuk]

Hi Si, its not that bad that picture, Shooting up on people isn't always the most faltering, i think you get away with this because its a young child, if you had stood up a little bit you would not have the hedge going through his head. The exposure is ok it looks sharp enough. Stick at it .

 

[photo si]

Thanks for that Brad, hadn't really thought much about the hedge, but now see what you mean!

Below is something completely different, if anyone would care to comment?

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Cheers in advance!
Si

 

[TCR4x4]

First would have been much better at eye level, as it is, the hedge is very distracting and no eye contact. The sky is also blown out, although the exposure on the face seems pretty good

The second the sky is blown out and some of the shadows are clipped. The composition is pretty good, but I may have cloned all the people out to make the most of it.

 

[:AgitatoR:]

The blurry hand in pic1 is a bit distracting but I like the angle and I particularly like the way you've captured his gaze, looking out of shot - I find a lot of portraits very similar and very dull but you've succeeded in creating a wee bit of narrative here.

 

[photo si]

Thanks all, I'll keep at it!

 

[The23rdman]

When you shoot always consider the backgrounds and edges of the frame. It's far easier to recompose than photoshop stuff out.

 

[specialman]

Dont mind the blown highlights at all and the overall exposure is fine. I actually like shooting angle, but as said, the hedge is slightly overpowering the shot.

These kinds of shots are also worth trying on longer (50mm+) lenses at ground level because it helps put a bit of foreground/background blur into the shot to really focus your eye on the subject.

I'd be happy with that though