3 hours and 520 photos later...

jwbryson1 · Dec 2, 2012

AgentDrex said:
These are some of the better santa shots I've seen. I bet these parents are going to be ultra-proud to have these photos!!! While I do agree with the cropping of fingers and arms (that's something you'll need to pay attention to) I'm going to politely disagree about the color tone. I LOVE the warmth of the original waaaaay better than the revised version. The warmth lends itself very, very well to that nostalgic feel that the parents who have them will undoubtedly feel as they look back over them through the years. The cool version looks bland (I'm not sure how to word my feeling any better than that). I can guarantee you've made some great lasting memories. Way to go!! w00t w00t

Wow. Thanks! :hail:

I appreciate the feedback! I showed my wife and she also agrees on the warmer tones because it makes them look "healthier" in her words. I am frustrated about the finger crops. :grumpy:

But live and learn.

It was fun and a great learning experience.

AgentDrex · Dec 2, 2012

A cooler tone would be great for like an outside ice-fishing shot where you want to portray the cold but the warmer tone sure lends itself well here. Santa should be warm, cuddly and pleasant. A cool tone makes him look like you'd see him a hospital all rigid and clinical. I'm sure that makes sense in my small mind but I hope that somehow others will know what I mean as well.

ratssass · Dec 2, 2012

...not being a technical kinda guy,i really like the moment captured in #5

Derrel · Dec 2, 2012

Santa's eyeglasses almost falling off of his nose is what bugs me the absolute most!!! That just looks....weird....

Color tone? Warm is good! The parents will not care too much one way or the other, but I think if given an actual side-by-side choice, the majority of parents or grandparents would go for the warmer-toned image 90% of the time.

jwbryson1 · Dec 2, 2012

No doubt, Derrel. We were wondering why his glasses were nearly falling off his face.

CherylL · Dec 2, 2012

I love #5 with the expressions. The parents will be thrilled with these.

TenaciousTins · Dec 2, 2012

I'm with Derrel, my only complaint is his glasses!

Sw1tchFX · Dec 3, 2012

Your exhausted because of nerves. I'm sure you were quakin' in your boots though most of it.

If I may ask, what did you charge?

In comparison to what i've been doing, this week it's 7:30am to 9:30pm for 4 days in a row. It's 10:15 and I just got home. Tonight i'm uploading just a tad north of 3,500 images. This weekend, I expect to have 12-18,000 images that need to be culled through, color corrected, resized, and delivered, and it's not studio or home studio stuff like this where the lighting is generally consistent.

Pallycow · Dec 3, 2012

this has nothing to do with your pp or shooting, but does santas outfit look a bit on the purple side to anyone but me? I dunno if purple is right, but when I think of santa I think deep red....that seems purplish to me.

jwbryson1 · Dec 3, 2012

Sw1tchFX said:
Your exhausted because of nerves. I'm sure you were quakin' in your boots though most of it.

I was nervous the week before the event and up to the point it started, but once it began it was all second nature to me. The hardest part was dealing with kids who refused to smile or cried the whole time. I was pretty self-conscious saying "say cheese!" or "smile" or "say stinky feet!" just to try to get some smiles.

Sw1tchFX said:
If I may ask, what did you charge?

I did it for free as a service to my community. Photographers in the past have been paid a $200+ sitting fee. I waived the fee. I am going to upload my photos to a website (ShootProof) and hopefully sell some emailed images from there. If I get some nibbles, great, if not then it was a good learning experience.

Robin_Usagani · Dec 3, 2012

jwbryson1 said:
Sw1tchFX said:

Your exhausted because of nerves. I'm sure you were quakin' in your boots though most of it.

Click to expand...

I was nervous the week before the event and up to the point it started, but once it began it was all second nature to me. The hardest part was dealing with kids who refused to smile or cried the whole time. I was pretty self-conscious saying "say cheese!" or "smile" or "say stinky feet!" just to try to get some smiles.

Sw1tchFX said:

If I may ask, what did you charge?

Click to expand...

I did it for free as a service to my community. Photographers in the past have been paid a $200+ sitting fee. I waived the fee. I am going to upload my photos to a website (ShootProof) and hopefully sell some emailed images from there. If I get some nibbles, great, if not then it was a good learning experience.

When you said free, what did you promise? Next time you do a free service like this, promise them ONE 4x6 for each family. Then send them to your website and hopefully they buy more prints.

The_Traveler · Dec 3, 2012

First, good for you. I think that a better lighting situation might have helped, with less light on teh background and more on the faces but these are really great shots, sharp as the proiverbial you-know

jwbryson1 · Dec 3, 2012

The_Traveler said:
First, good for you. I think that a better lighting situation might have helped, with less light on teh background and more on the faces but these are really great shots, sharp as the proiverbial you-know

Thanks, Lew. I had really limited space and with a crop sensor body (D90) I really only had 2 choices of lens to use for this to get wide enough. Either my 18-55 kit lens that I got years ago with my old D40, or my 18-200mm 3.5/5.6 which I love (despite the bad press and comments it gets in this forum). I went with the 18-200mm lens. The ambient lighting was sparse (!!) and I was using two 24 x 24 softboxes to light the subjects. In order get any ambient exposure on the tree and the background I had to shoot at ISO 800 and bring my shutter speed down to 1/40 or 1/60. I was pleased with the sharpness on these. Most were shot at f/4.0, but I also had some up to f/5.6. I was worried about DOF when parents stood behind the chair but I only missed focus a few times because of that. You can't win them all.

jwbryson1 · Dec 3, 2012

Robin_Usagani said:
When you said free, what did you promise? Next time you do a free service like this, promise them ONE 4x6 for each family. Then send them to your website and hopefully they buy more prints.

I didn't promise anything yet. I am going to put them all on ShootProof and in the cover email I am going to offer electronic copies of everything (no prints) via email (maybe a CD for a small additional fee). I haven't picked a price yet, but something like $15 for a single image, $25 for 2 and maybe $40 for 3 or more of their choice. I don't expect to make a lot of money--I did it for experience.

Thoughts? Is that a bad idea?

Robin_Usagani · Dec 3, 2012

jwbryson1 said:
I was using two 24 x 24 softboxes to light the subjects. In order get any ambient exposure on the tree and the background I had to shoot at ISO 800 and bring my shutter speed down to 1/40 or 1/60. I was pleased with the sharpness on these. Most were shot at f/4.0, but I also had some up to f/5.6. I was worried about DOF when parents stood behind the chair but I only missed focus a few times because of that. You can't win them all.

Good job. The high ISO was a good move. You could also probably kill the ambient light as well with lower ISO. You are in a pretty small room. It should not be that hard to light up the whole room with your flash. But you may have to shoot the flash at higher power so the recycle time is horrible.