A couple recent shots

[Big Mike]

Here are a few shots from a recent shoot. I set up my lights in their living room, which didn't give me a lot of room. I decided to use their wall as a backdrop, rather than setting up my own. This helped with the tight space but wasn't really ideal either. Turned out OK, I think.

#1.

#2. She recently lost weight so she wanted a shot 'in her jeans'.

#3. Cute twin girls.

#4. I shot a few of these 'candid' type shots and I think they turned out well...certainly more natural looking than the posed shots.

C&C welcome.

 

[Christie Photo]

Atta boy, Mike!!

I think you know I'm not a fan of shooting "out of key" (light clothing on dark background).

The shots of the girls are wonderful!! I absolutely love the last one. I suspect you'll do a bit with the presentation... cropping, shape, matting, etc.

Very nice!!

-Pete

 

[bdavis]

Nicely Done!

I love the poses in #2 and #4, and the colors in all of them are nice and warm. I'm not so sure I like the white molding that goes behind the woman in #2, it seems a little distracting to me. Out of curiousity, why did you have it set up that way?

All in all, very nice portraits!!! What gear do you use?

 

[Big Mike]

Atta boy, Mike!!

I think you know I'm not a fan of shooting "out of key" (light clothing on dark background).

The shots of the girls are wonderful!! I absolutely love the last one. I suspect you'll do a bit with the presentation... cropping, shape, matting, etc.

Very nice!!

-Pete

Thanks Pete.
If I were to set up a background for their clothing, I would have chosen something light. Heck, If I had more room, I might have cranked up my background light to really brighten the wall. All in all, I think the warm tone of the wall helped as it does sort of compliment pink and maybe even her white sweater.

Any suggestions for presentation etc? I tried to leave room for tighter ratios (8x10 etc) so these 2:3 might look a little loose.

I showed them the photos on the camera, right after the shoot. (I realized this might not have been a good idea, but the promise of that was needed to calm the girls down near the end). Anyway, one of the shots didn't sync with the shutter very well...and it looked like a very heavy vignette...and they loved it. So I added quite a bit of vignette to all the shots.

Nicely Done!

I love the poses in #2 and #4, and the colors in all of them are nice and warm. I'm not so sure I like the white molding that goes behind the woman in #2, it seems a little distracting to me. Out of curiousity, why did you have it set up that way?

All in all, very nice portraits!!! What gear do you use?

The white molding is the baseboard on their wall. Not much I could do about it. I guess I could have cloned it out but that might look weird. For the post part, I tried to be low and shoot against the wall, rather than the floor and wall...but she wanted a shot of her standing in her jeans...and I wasn't going to shoot up at her...so I had to stand up and shoot.

My gear: Canon 20D cameras, I think these were all shot with my Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 lens. I had four Alienbee lights. Softbox main to camera right. Umbrella fill to camera left. Background light with scoop and a hair light on a boom with honeycomb grid.

 

[Arch]

Nicely done Mike, gotta love the last one, bet thier parents loved it too :thumbup:

 

[Big Mike]

A couple more with the twins

 

[Captain IK]

Really nice work Mike. Well done.

 

[bdavis]

I guess when you put it that way, there really isnt anything you can do about that baseboard. Given that, you did a great job working with it. All the photos turned out great, especially ones of the twins, they are so cute!

 

[Christie Photo]

Any suggestions for presentation etc? I tried to leave room for tighter ratios (8x10 etc) so these 2:3 might look a little loose.

My first reaction for all of these is square format. Now that I see the addition images, I think some sort of montage is in order. You certainly have enough variety for it.

I showed them the photos on the camera, right after the shoot. (I realized this might not have been a good idea, but the promise of that was needed to calm the girls down near the end).

I'll sometimes do this (only a few of the shots) to build enthusiasm during the session.

 

[Big Mike]

They all really loved seeing the photos after the shoot...I even hooked up the camera to their TV and ran through them.

The problem is that they ooh and aah at every shot...even the ones that are certainly not keepers. I'm not going to keep (process) all the shots so I'm worried that they will ask me where the rest of them are.

I much prefer if they don't see all the shots, but I don't mind showing them some of the good ones during/after the shoot.

 

[bdavis]

They are the clients so I would say if they liked the ones that you thought were not "keepers" you might as well give them up since those are the ones they want. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and if they think those shots are the greatest thing since sliced bread, then let em think that.

I do freelance graphic design and I often present a variety of options to a client and 9 times out of 10 they like the ugliest one, but that's there opinion and as long as they are happy with it, it doesn't matter to me.

 

[Big Mike]

I don't proof the images with them at that time...I just let them see the photos because it's exciting for them. Unless it's something specific...I don't remember which ones they like or love the most. I might show them 50-100 shots...but I'm only going to deliver 20 finished images...that's the problem, I have to cut many of the shots before I go through the editing process...otherwise it would take much too long.

 

[Big Mike]

Anyone else?

 

[ksmattfish]

Nice, but when I crop that shot with the baseboard to exclude the baseboard I think it gets a lot better. You need a seamless.

 

[Big Mike]

I tend to agree but...

#2. She recently lost weight so she wanted a shot 'in her jeans'.

For the post part, I tried to be low and shoot against the wall, rather than the floor and wall...but she wanted a shot of her standing in her jeans...and I wasn't going to shoot up at her...so I had to stand up and shoot.

I decided to use their wall as a backdrop, rather than setting up my own. This helped with the tight space but wasn't really ideal either.