studio family shoot

lindseydy

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Im working on my family shoots in studio. Cc welcome. Sorry about the giant watermark... I had selected the wrong thing when I exported ;)
 

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6 people looking good at the same time is quite an achievement!
The starkness of the studio setting juxtaposed with the red couch is not something I've encountered before but I think I like it. Did you get any at eye level? I'm not too sure about the way you're looking down on them.

.... AND let me be the first to welcome you to the forum! :D
 
i like it. right up my alley.
i like the contrast of the red couch against the plain clothes and gray background.
really makes it pop.
well done.
 
A couple of things stand out: (1) A light gray sweep is probably the most boring set I've ever seen for a family portrait. (2) The lighting is adequate, but... well... boring, and (3) the posing. It really looks like no direction at all was given to the clients, either in regard to their dress or their posing.

Thoughts for improvement: Separate your wall and floor. For shots like this, I prefer "normal" floors (hardwood, tile, etc) and a dark background. Lighting-wise I likely would have gone with a key about 15-20 degrees camera right, and a fill about 1 stop below just off-axis camera left. That should give you just a bit of contrasting shadow; even lighting that isn't quite flat. I would also probably boom in a strip box as a "bulk" hair light light, and maybe a contrasting gel on the background.

Clothing isn't bad, but did you actually do a pre-shoot consult and discuss clothing choices? That's a lot of gray, and while it doesn't work too badly with the red of the couch, it doesn't do a lot for their skin tones. The biggest area for improvement, IMO, is posing. Dad has legs apar, Mom has legs angled and daughter has knees together and feet apart. Everyone is leaning at least a little bit except for the infant and the young lady on the arm of the couch. I prefer to post families so that Mom and Dad are either in the center (The center of the family) or the outside (protective). In this case I think I would have gone for Mom & Dad in the middle, infant on Dad's knee, older boy on Mom's knee and daughter's flanking. That should give you a nice triangular pattern of heads (remember: Triangles are one of the most powerful compositional elements).

All that to say that it's by no means a bad image, rather that there are a lot of little things that could be improved and raise it from "Okay" to "Wow, I want that in a 30x40 float wrap!" On the upside, you could not have got the infant more perfectly posed!
 
6 people looking good at the same time is quite an achievement!
The starkness of the studio setting juxtaposed with the red couch is not something I've encountered before but I think I like it. Did you get any at eye level? I'm not too sure about the way you're looking down on them.

.... AND let me be the first to welcome you to the forum! :D
Most of the ones I have of this pose are from this height. I believe I was standing. I will remember for my next one to get a little lower. Thank you for your reply. :)
 
A couple of things stand out: (1) A light gray sweep is probably the most boring set I've ever seen for a family portrait. (2) The lighting is adequate, but... well... boring, and (3) the posing. It really looks like no direction at all was given to the clients, either in regard to their dress or their posing.

Thoughts for improvement: Separate your wall and floor. For shots like this, I prefer "normal" floors (hardwood, tile, etc) and a dark background. Lighting-wise I likely would have gone with a key about 15-20 degrees camera right, and a fill about 1 stop below just off-axis camera left. That should give you just a bit of contrasting shadow; even lighting that isn't quite flat. I would also probably boom in a strip box as a "bulk" hair light light, and maybe a contrasting gel on the background.

Clothing isn't bad, but did you actually do a pre-shoot consult and discuss clothing choices? That's a lot of gray, and while it doesn't work too badly with the red of the couch, it doesn't do a lot for their skin tones. The biggest area for improvement, IMO, is posing. Dad has legs apar, Mom has legs angled and daughter has knees together and feet apart. Everyone is leaning at least a little bit except for the infant and the young lady on the arm of the couch. I prefer to post families so that Mom and Dad are either in the center (The center of the family) or the outside (protective). In this case I think I would have gone for Mom & Dad in the middle, infant on Dad's knee, older boy on Mom's knee and daughter's flanking. That should give you a nice triangular pattern of heads (remember: Triangles are one of the most powerful compositional elements).

All that to say that it's by no means a bad image, rather that there are a lot of little things that could be improved and raise it from "Okay" to "Wow, I want that in a 30x40 float wrap!" On the upside, you could not have got the infant more perfectly posed!

I "actually" did not do a pre shoot consult. ;) I will work on my posing and lighting for future sessions. Thank you for your suggestions.
 
I "actually" did not do a pre shoot consult. ;) I will work on my posing and lighting for future sessions. Thank you for your suggestions.
This is actually one of the most important aspects of a retail shoot like this. While it's not a guarantee, it will help avoid couple showing up in "inappropriate" clothing such as the man in all black and the woman in too-tight jeans and a sleeveless white blouse. It also gives you an opportunity to get a feeling of what will work best for these particular clients. Ideally, in the studio is best, but failing that, a coffee-shop or similar meeting will work, and at the very least, a telephone consult will work in a pinch. The most common issue is that [usually] Mom makes sure everyone's dressed nicely, but there's no coordination. You don't need or want them all dressed the same [usually], but a coordinated look will really help the final result.
 
I too like the red couch and the white background/floor.

Like tirediron I suggest the lighting is less than flattering.
Except for the baby, everyone's eye sockets are dark to one degree or another.
Note the almost blown out right cheek of the young boy compared to the left cheek of the daughter camera right.
The lighting also delivers a general gradient left to right on the entire scene.
 
I too like the red couch and the white background/floor.

Like tirediron I suggest the lighting is less than flattering.
Except for the baby, everyone's eye sockets are dark to one degree or another.
Note the almost blown out right cheek of the young boy compared to the left cheek of the daughter camera right.
The lighting also delivers a general gradient left to right on the entire scene.
Thank you for the reply. My current lighting is an AB800 with a 72in PLM and I also have a large panel reflector. I had the PLM set up next to me pointing towards the subjects at a slight angle and the reflector was next to the girl on the right. The light was pointing at the subjects not the reflector, but I was hoping to get some fill at least from the reflector. Do you have any suggestions to make the lighting better next time using only the one strobe?
 
Cc welcome.
This is a good example of when posting more than one shot will help with further critique. Ordinarily I recoil at someone posting half a dozen shots asking for C&C. I usually don't offer much in that case.

Here that giant watermark superimposed over one subject is right out. I presume this is one shot that the family will not receive.

The couch and most of the group is nearly centered in the frame, but one person's legs and feet are way off to one side. That pose will work in different circumstances, but not this time.

To get a more "photographic" balance in your lighting, you might try moving the PLM more to the left, and just a bit closer to your subjects, and aim it to "rake" your subject's faces more, and catch the reflector more. Think of the set as a circle, where the camera is at "six o'clock", the subjects are at 12 o'clock, your main light is at around 8 o'clock (you'll have to experiment with the exact placement) and the reflector is at 4 o'clock (same for that).

Having fixed the legs sticking way out to the right, the next thing you'll notice is that there is a lot of empty space around your subjects, particularly a lot above their heads.

Speaking for myself, I would like to see a couple more shots from this session, particularly if they are way different. If they're the same, then never mind.
 
Do you have any suggestions to make the lighting better next time using only the one strobe?
Yes, buy another light. Seriously... ABs are very inexpensive, and this scene is just too big to light artistically with only one light. A reflector isn't going to be a lot of use; it will add a little fill, but just not enough. The first technical step in a shoot like this is to plan your lighting. The first step in planning your lighting is determining your lighting ratio. For something like this, I'd want probably no more than 2:1 (shadows 2 stops darker than highlights or to put it another way highlights one step above mid tone and shadows one step below). This will give you some definition through highlight and shadow, but keep the overall image on the brighter side (an important consideration for photos of this nature which are often sent to older relatives with less than perfect eyesight).

I would probably light this with at least three lights, and use a large, gridded SB as the key. If I were going to do this with your single PLM, I would re-arrange the family so that the children are seated on the couch and Mom & Dad are standing behind. This will lessen the spread of light required, and allow you to pull your key off to the side a bit more, say 20 degrees. Remember that if you do this, you will have to pull the light a bit farther back to avoid fall-off.
 
Do you have any suggestions to make the lighting better next time using only the one strobe?
Yes, buy another light. Seriously... ABs are very inexpensive, and this scene is just too big to light artistically with only one light. A reflector isn't going to be a lot of use; it will add a little fill, but just not enough. The first technical step in a shoot like this is to plan your lighting. The first step in planning your lighting is determining your lighting ratio. For something like this, I'd want probably no more than 2:1 (shadows 2 stops darker than highlights or to put it another way highlights one step above mid tone and shadows one step below). This will give you some definition through highlight and shadow, but keep the overall image on the brighter side (an important consideration for photos of this nature which are often sent to older relatives with less than perfect eyesight).

I would probably light this with at least three lights, and use a large, gridded SB as the key. If I were going to do this with your single PLM, I would re-arrange the family so that the children are seated on the couch and Mom & Dad are standing behind. This will lessen the spread of light required, and allow you to pull your key off to the side a bit more, say 20 degrees. Remember that if you do this, you will have to pull the light a bit farther back to avoid fall-off.
I am planning to purchase another one in about a month or so. :) Its top of my list of things needed.
 
Thanks for the other shots. The one on top (#2?) has a very nice "line". If you connect the subject's faces, you'll see that the line goes in a nice sweep, catching all but the smallest child's face. This is good.

#3 the line is broken badly, with the boy's face being completely out of line with everybody else's face.

Oddly, the oldest girl appears to be squinting in all three shots. This might be her natural expression, or she may be anticipating the flash, or maybe your modeling light is too bright. Mom is squinting in two of the shots as well. Watch for that, and figure out why, and make adjustments.

Yeah, too bad they aren't all dressed to coordinate. That really spoils the whole session.
 

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