Hanging On
by jpochard

Comment by Beetle:
I totally agree with megatherian.
Furthermore, I find the black background too harsh, and the blanket is just plain ugly :-(
I like the composition, but too many elements in this photo are too harsh to complement a newborn. I gave it a 5.

Hanging On
by jpochard

Comment by kari1:
Hi, I did not vote, but this is lovely. I think though it hits the b&w overkill, natural soft baby skin would have added much to this picture. I also agree with an earlier cooment that having the photographer higher may have added better dimension as well.

Hanging On
by jpochard

Comment by rebelgirl:
I didn't vote I guess just so busy lately. I thinking it's very moving picture and I agree. Lighting is excellent.

Hanging On
by jpochard

Comment by Kivet:
I gave you an 8 because I am a sucker for beautiful babies. The composition was very lovely and I think if this had a softer warmer feel it would be a sure 10 from me.

Hanging On
by jpochard

Comment by CalliopeKel:
It is a special photo. To any woman who has had a child. And this time of year when we celebrate Christs birth.

The only thing I feel it needed was a new baby blanket 'less wooly buggerish'. And bump the contrast a tad. Otherwise a wonderful first portrait.

Hanging On
by jpochard

Comment by DjFenzl:
Well the baby is very cute and delicate.

I gave it a 4 though. Some of the things that caught me were:
It's pretty high contrast. With it being so starkly white and black it makes the image seem colder overall. With greater tonal range and smooth grays I believe it would have felt warmer.

I'm not sure if you removed the background but the area of the hat over his head looks blurred or smoothed or something. There's a loss of detail on that edge.

The thumb also has an odd slight focus issue, perhaps a motion blur? Overall the rest of the image is very crisp and clear - perhaps a little too crisp in spots. With the lint and textures of the blanket especially by his mouth it seemed almost gritty and harsh where I'd expect softness in a picture like this. Again the contrast didn't help with this either.

And lastly is the shininess around his eye I found distracting a bit. That is a very tiny baby so I understand it's natural so not a huge deal, but thought I'd point it out since it did stand out to me.

Compositionally I think it's pretty nice, the hand does a very good job of conveying the scale of the tiny baby. I think it would have been better if you were a little higher looking more down at the baby though. It would have just furthered the feeling of small delicate size in the picture.

Hanging On
by jpochard

Comment by pa_cuthbert:
Very new child indeed. I'd say maybe the shot needs a little Gaussian Blur to it to give a very warm surreal atmosphere.
I wish I could tell you exactly the pin pointing area to where it gives you that little exta "umph" and wow factor to make it to a 7. There's an atmosphere missing to the shot. I don't know what it is.

Personally, if this were to be framed, I'd say not those huge gigantic portrait frames, but rather a small 6 by 4 frame will do.

Hanging On
by jpochard

Comment by whiteroom:
precious!

Hanging On
by jpochard

Comment by Art Roflmao:
I love it Judy! Moves me. But I am on the verge of getting one of those babies myself! (hee hee "one of those babies")

Be proud of it - it's wonderful!

Hanging On
by jpochard

Comment by bucket:
oh man..sooo sweet..you'll be keeping this one forever..excellent work..