A family shoot please C/C

[Jeanelle]

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[LiveStrong2009]

I would say that they seem good as far as composition goes.

However, I do think that their faces seem a bit washed out. The first one especially gives them a rather ghastly look.

 

[MissCream]

Cute but overexposed, you can barely see their noses, I'm not sure if its the PP or just the picture. The third one looks like you focused on her jacket and not her face. Good family pictures for memories though

 

[Jeanelle]

Thanks for the cc guys!

 

[Jeanelle]

Here is one more see what you think.......

 

[Derrel]

The mother and daughter poses needs more headspace above the mom's head. Rotating the camera would have solved that AND allowed you to show the physical contact of the child and the mother that is cropped off by the camera being oriented wide-ways. The child is of a young enough age that she can still sit on her mom's lap; that is not shown, but merely sort of, implied. I am not sure if the Gaussian blur/layers technique here is the best way to do this: this looks like a screen with Multiply: I think it would look nicer if the soft-focus type effect were done using another method.

2: rotate the camera, and the child's head is in the frame totally, not lopped off. I love the sepia treatment. The bright,overexposed highlights on the fir tree branches behind her head probably look horrible in RGB color, but the B&W minimizes their distraction somewhat.

3: The background is controlled better in this profile, but the depth of field is very shallow, and in fact, her face looks out of focus. I thin k the camera is a bit too high, looking downward at her in this shot, and again, I wish the top of her head had a bit more space. It's nice to see somebody shooting a profile.

 

[Jeanelle]

Thanks Derrel once again for your cc, I always love it! You actually give good critical advice that tells me specifics about what to do! THANKS :thumbup:

 

[Jeanelle]

Oh and I have a problem with the thirds when I am shooting, I am trying to apply it and get their eye in the intersection, but this causes it to cut off their head and stuff......what I am I not doing correctly?

 

[Derrel]

Oh and I have a problem with the thirds when I am shooting, I am trying to apply it and get their eye in the intersection, but this causes it to cut off their head and stuff......what I am I not doing correctly?

I do not worry too much about the rule of thirds and the placement of eyes...I think that is carrying that concept too far. It's more important to have the body of a person presented to the camera in the best possible way, and to allow them some space at the top of the frame, both for avoiding visual "cramping" and also in order to have some space for alternate crops, like 4x5, or 5x7, or 8x10 crops.

One trick in a single person portrait is to have the body angled to the camera, and not presented straight-on, with straight, wide shoulders. Straight-across, wide shoulders look masculine, and football-player-like. if the chest of a person can be positioned so that it fills up the entire bottom of the frame, then there is a visual "base" (that's the term, a base) for the portrait. The rest of the image will more or less come together if you start with a base, and use any number of angles of the head in relation to the torso...the head can look in the same direction as the torso, or the opposite angle.

I would not, definitely not, try to place eyes at rule of thirds positions within the frame...body placement and overall framing are more critical I think.

 

[Jeanelle]

Thank you so much! I have felt so constricted almost with my shots because I have been trying to follow this. I think that I will be able to have much better shots if I can let that one rule go a little! Thanks again!!!!!

 

[Derrel]

Here are some pages of two of y all-time favorite photographers of people,and portraiture.

The first is one of my early influences, a long-dead guy named August Sander.
August Sander - Google Search

The second is a recently deceased photography genius who played a huge part in developing the careers of Madonna, Cindy Crawford, and Britney Spears. As well as dozens and dozens of other actors,musicians, authors, and celebrity figures. His name was Herb Ritts. He was a huge talent.

Herb Ritts - Google Search

 

[Jeanelle]

Thanks, those were really neat! I especially like Herb Ritts.

 

[shmne]

A common misconception (at least in my opinion) is that the subject is meant to be on the line of one of the thirds of the image. Following the rules of Gestalt it is best to place the most unified part and place that on the third instead, for instance consider the mother and daughter one blob that needs to be placed evenly over the line of thirds.

In other words, it isn't about getting your subject on a third but rather dividing the image into thirds! Having good eye flow is extremely important and this is one of the tools used to achieve this.