Landon - 5ths

Lyncca · May 19, 2008

Landon's Mom wanted some family pictures for Mother's Day -- key word being FAMILY. Her husband flaked out, but then felt guilty so ended up meeting up with us later. He DID NOT want to have his pictures done, so I did the best I could to get him involved. He relaxed by the end and had a good time.

Here are my favs:

1. Not the greatest composition. I was just setting up my gear while we waiting on his dad to get there, but happened to catch this gorgeous smile:

2. Another unposed, she was just playing with him while we waited:

3. "Ok, since he doesn't want to look at me, yall look where he is..."

4.

5.

spiffybeth · May 19, 2008

numbers 3 and 4, the background is blown out and its really distracting to the picture. that baby is adorable though. i think number 1 is phenomenal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lyncca · May 19, 2008

spiffybeth said:
numbers 3 and 4, the background is blown out and its really distracting to the picture. that baby is adorable though. i think number 1 is phenomenal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know

I don't know how to prevent it. I'm fairly decent at controlling my exposures for landscapes, but when you add people in the foreground on a bright day I can't figure out how to not have this happen.

I looked for shady spots because they (the family) were completely blown out otherwise. As luck would have it, it was the first really hot and sunny day we have had. I don't think there was a cloud in the sky.

Do you just avoid having any sunlit areas in the photo at all? I know you aim for early, but by the time good ol' dad showed up it was freaking 12:00 straight up... Oh, did I mention that he also *decided* to not wear the coordinating white shirt, because he can, "dress himself just fine"? Men!

DragonHeart · May 20, 2008

being a daddy of 3, I like the last shot the best... has a very soothing and calming effect to it... All are great shots though.

Senor Hound · May 21, 2008

Lyncca said:
I know I don't know how to prevent it. I'm fairly decent at controlling my exposures for landscapes, but when you add people in the foreground on a bright day I can't figure out how to not have this happen.

I looked for shady spots because they (the family) were completely blown out otherwise. As luck would have it, it was the first really hot and sunny day we have had. I don't think there was a cloud in the sky.

Do you just avoid having any sunlit areas in the photo at all? I know you aim for early, but by the time good ol' dad showed up it was freaking 12:00 straight up... Oh, did I mention that he also *decided* to not wear the coordinating white shirt, because he can, "dress himself just fine"? Men!

What an idiot... Its like he wants the photos to fail...

I like the first and last one. The look on the mom's face in the second one isn't really doing anything for me, and like someone else said, the third and fourth are blown out. I would suggest a diffuser, or not shooting in the middle of the day (easier said than done). There SHOULD be some diffusers though that will at least help alleviate your problem...

createnetwork · May 21, 2008

I like 1 and 5 the best, they are very sweet.

motherlee · May 21, 2008

I love number 5. It seems like such a sweet moment! I think the soft blue of the dad's shirt adds to the overall appeal. Hopefully he'll be happy with it and not be so stubborn next time!

Number 1 is a fantastic smile -- great capture!

3of11 · May 21, 2008

#5 is great. I love the mood of the picture.

lilysmom · May 21, 2008

Very nice! Maybe for the ones that the background is a little blown out, you could try adding a vignette?

mr_baseball_08 · May 22, 2008

Lyncca said:
I know I don't know how to prevent it. I'm fairly decent at controlling my exposures for landscapes, but when you add people in the foreground on a bright day I can't figure out how to not have this happen.

I looked for shady spots because they (the family) were completely blown out otherwise. As luck would have it, it was the first really hot and sunny day we have had. I don't think there was a cloud in the sky.

Do you just avoid having any sunlit areas in the photo at all? I know you aim for early, but by the time good ol' dad showed up it was freaking 12:00 straight up... Oh, did I mention that he also *decided* to not wear the coordinating white shirt, because he can, "dress himself just fine"? Men!

The easiest way to do it would be off camera lighting. I'm not sure if you've heard of Strobist or not but if you do a lot of portrait work, it's something you should definitely look into. www.strobist.blogspot.com

Basically you meter for the background to get it exposed properly or even under exposed if you prefer. Then you hit your subjects with a flash or two and voila, perfectly exposed subjects and background.

The harder, trickier, more time consuming method would be using reflectors. Once again, you'll meter off the background for correct exposure and then use large reflectors to get more light on your subjects. Poster board or large white sheets can work, but you usually need help from someone else to hold them.

Another option would be burning the background in Photoshop later to make it a bit less distracting, but this is probably the last thing you want to do as it's kind of difficult and time consuming. It's better to aim as high as possible when you take the shot to keep PP work to a minimum.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me and ask.

Lyncca · May 22, 2008

mr_baseball_08 said:
Basically you meter for the background to get it exposed properly or even under exposed if you prefer. Then you hit your subjects with a flash or two and voila, perfectly exposed subjects and background.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me and ask.

Thanks, I was actually going to give this a shot next time. After thinking about it, that's what made sense to me too. I'm glad I am starting to be able to figure this stuff out!