Baptise that baby!!! C&C Welcome

[KAikens318]

I shot a triple baptism, engagement, and family photos all for the same family on Sunday. Here are a few of my favs.

1. They are a kooky couple but so much fun!!!

2. This was the best of the bunch in my opinion

3. He was not happy when we got back to the house. Lol

4. The evil eye was given every time I pointed the camera

5.

6.

7.

 

[Speckles]

Is he licking her in #5? uke:uke: lol

 

[gsgary]

Too snapshot for me, looks like no thought has been put into them, too tight you would never know it was a baptism where is the font ?

 

[KAikens318]

Too snapshot for me, looks like no thought has been put into them, too tight you would never know it was a baptism where is the font ?

The priest requested that his photos not be posed online. The only ones I could take were after the baptism because they dont allow photos in the church during mass. Thanks for saying no thought went into them. Makes me feel like I did my job...

Where is the font? What are you talking about? Punctuation and proper grammar go a long way. IMO

How about some technical advice?

And yes...he is licking her. Lol that is what they do. They are a super fun couple.

 

[Speckles]

Where is the font? What are you talking about? Punctuation and proper grammar go a long way. IMO

The font is the thing that the priest gets the water from to put on the baby. "A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults."

They do seem like a fun couple, gross, but fun. I find it difficult to take good candids without them coming across as snapshots. The only thing I can say for sure is that #3 & 4 seem underexposed except for the white of the baby's sleeve being a bit hot in #3.

 

[Geaux]

5 is such a weird photo .....


Overall, lighting seems all over the place. Focus is spot on though.

 

[gsgary]

Baptismal font - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Josh66]

And yes...he is licking her. Lol that is what they do. They are a super fun couple.

That was my favorite one.

And #1 - I can't really pick up any context as to what exactly is going on, but they sure as hell are having fun. Same for #2.

#3 is just kinda weird without knowing what is going on.

 

[KAikens318]

And yes...he is licking her. Lol that is what they do. They are a super fun couple.

That was my favorite one.

And #1 - I can't really pick up any context as to what exactly is going on, but they sure as hell are having fun. Same for #2.

#3 is just kinda weird without knowing what is going on.

They started to play fight in #1 and he was giving her a noogie. She in return turned around and tried to give him one but ended up ripping his shirt pocket off instead. Lol.

Thank you for explaining what a font is. I am not religious in any way shape or form so I have no idea about any of this stuff. I was actually pretty uncomfortable sitting through the mass, especially when this little old bitty kept turning around and glaring at me because I wasn't saying the prayers with them or singing the hymns. She even tattled on me to the priest. Lol. But he just brushed it off. He was pretty nice actually.

All in all though the photos came out well and they have asked me back to shoot their wedding in October, so I guess that is a good thing!

 

[alewilliams]

cute couple, number 5 is hilarious!

 

[RedWylder]

They look snapshot-ish to me as well. I'm not sure if it's the angle, lighting, or the licking (ew). For the licking one (ew) I think taking it from higher up would be better and maybe more zoomed in. I mean if you're gonna get a picture of someone licking someone else (ew), go all out and get a nice juicy (ew) close up of it.

#1 I think would be better if you got more of the guy's face in it and tried to exclude weird things in the background like the whatever-it-is stuff on the bottom left.

 

[gsgary]

And yes...he is licking her. Lol that is what they do. They are a super fun couple.

That was my favorite one.

And #1 - I can't really pick up any context as to what exactly is going on, but they sure as hell are having fun. Same for #2.

#3 is just kinda weird without knowing what is going on.

They started to play fight in #1 and he was giving her a noogie. She in return turned around and tried to give him one but ended up ripping his shirt pocket off instead. Lol.

Thank you for explaining what a font is. I am not religious in any way shape or form so I have no idea about any of this stuff. I was actually pretty uncomfortable sitting through the mass, especially when this little old bitty kept turning around and glaring at me because I wasn't saying the prayers with them or singing the hymns. She even tattled on me to the priest. Lol. But he just brushed it off. He was pretty nice actually.

All in all though the photos came out well and they have asked me back to shoot their wedding in October, so I guess that is a good thing!

Same here, i hate anything to do with religion, it causes that much trouble in the world

 

[OrionsByte]

#1 and #2 - where was your flash? Was it on-camera or off? Were you using any kind of modifiers? It certainly looks to me like the flash was mounted on the hot shoe and not modified at all, or maybe with an 80/20 bounce on it.

#2 feels a bit too tight for me.
#3 could have been shot a touch wider too, and angled down a bit so the baby's head is a little higher in the frame, without cutting off the hand at the top. However, the way the sunlight is falling on the baby's sleeve and blowing it out presents a problem. This shot needs white balancing as well - it's too cool. Looks maybe like you used a fill flash on-axis.
#4 is probably my favorite of the bunch. It would have been slightly better if the baby's elbow wasn't cut off, but the framing and composition is good. Still needs to be warmed up though.
#5 is weird. So weird, it's honestly hard for me to look at from a technical perspective.
#6 is fine, but there's very little here that doesn't scream "snapshot!"
#7 is well-composed, but the blown-out window in the background draws attention.

Alright, with all that said, I want to address the "not thought out" comment. First, I know that this was an event, and you're not the director, and you can't tell people where to be and what to do and control everything so that every photo is spectacular. In these cases, your job as the photographer is to find those moments where all the stars align, and click away. That doesn't mean you can't put thought in to them though.

For instance, in #1, this was a moment that you had to capture because it was happening, right then, and in that moment you don't have the luxury of deciding which lens to use, what aperture would be best, where to bounce your flash, should you open up a window for more ambient lighting, etc. You just have to shoot. So all the thought needs to happen beforehand. All the decisions about what lens to use, what aperture to use, what lighting considerations to make, need to be thought out before you start taking photos. Maybe you did all that, I don't know.

In #2, I don't know what the context is, but this is a shot that looks like it was taken in a moment of opportunity, like #1, but it also looks like a shot that didn't need to be taken so opportunistically. Maybe this is right after he's been baptized, or whatever, but the thing is, it's a shot of a baby, crying, with someone we don't know holding him, and we don't know why. Without something showing the context, I just kind of see it as a shot I wouldn't have taken, or at least wouldn't have shared, because I would have tried to get some better photos of the baby later. What about that moment made you want to take a photo? Do you think that the reason you took the photo is evident in the result? In other words, if you were looking at this photo years later, and you did not remember the context, would the photo remind you of the context, or just make you wonder why you took a picture of a crying baby?

So that's kind of why they don't all necessarily look "thought out." I'm not trying to be mean or anything; I'm just sharing my impression and trying to give some technical critique. I hope you can see where I'm coming from.

 

[KAikens318]

#1 and #2 - where was your flash? Was it on-camera or off? Were you using any kind of modifiers? It certainly looks to me like the flash was mounted on the hot shoe and not modified at all, or maybe with an 80/20 bounce on it.

#2 feels a bit too tight for me.
#3 could have been shot a touch wider too, and angled down a bit so the baby's head is a little higher in the frame, without cutting off the hand at the top. However, the way the sunlight is falling on the baby's sleeve and blowing it out presents a problem. This shot needs white balancing as well - it's too cool. Looks maybe like you used a fill flash on-axis.
#4 is probably my favorite of the bunch. It would have been slightly better if the baby's elbow wasn't cut off, but the framing and composition is good. Still needs to be warmed up though.
#5 is weird. So weird, it's honestly hard for me to look at from a technical perspective.
#6 is fine, but there's very little here that doesn't scream "snapshot!"
#7 is well-composed, but the blown-out window in the background draws attention.

Alright, with all that said, I want to address the "not thought out" comment. First, I know that this was an event, and you're not the director, and you can't tell people where to be and what to do and control everything so that every photo is spectacular. In these cases, your job as the photographer is to find those moments where all the stars align, and click away. That doesn't mean you can't put thought in to them though.

For instance, in #1, this was a moment that you had to capture because it was happening, right then, and in that moment you don't have the luxury of deciding which lens to use, what aperture would be best, where to bounce your flash, should you open up a window for more ambient lighting, etc. You just have to shoot. So all the thought needs to happen beforehand. All the decisions about what lens to use, what aperture to use, what lighting considerations to make, need to be thought out before you start taking photos. Maybe you did all that, I don't know.

In #2, I don't know what the context is, but this is a shot that looks like it was taken in a moment of opportunity, like #1, but it also looks like a shot that didn't need to be taken so opportunistically. Maybe this is right after he's been baptized, or whatever, but the thing is, it's a shot of a baby, crying, with someone we don't know holding him, and we don't know why. Without something showing the context, I just kind of see it as a shot I wouldn't have taken, or at least wouldn't have shared, because I would have tried to get some better photos of the baby later. What about that moment made you want to take a photo? Do you think that the reason you took the photo is evident in the result? In other words, if you were looking at this photo years later, and you did not remember the context, would the photo remind you of the context, or just make you wonder why you took a picture of a crying baby?

So that's kind of why they don't all necessarily look "thought out." I'm not trying to be mean or anything; I'm just sharing my impression and trying to give some technical critique. I hope you can see where I'm coming from.

I definitely get where you are coming from. Thank you for the explination. Much better than just "you didn't put thought into these'

The biggest problem I had with this shoot was that we were in the house for most of it, and there were 2 windows. Hardly any natural light, no overhead lights. The mother wanted candid shots only. No formals. She doesn't like them (Which is why shooting her wedding is going to be awesome Lol). They are very fun and casual people so they didn't want stiff portraits. Yes, my flash was mounted on my hotshoe. I had no time to set up creative lighting, what I had to work with was my 50mm 1.8, a few other lenses that aren't great in low light, and the sb-600. The second one is tight because I was standing next to them and chatting, and the baby happened to make a cute face so I caught what I could with the natural light. I thought it was a nice photo because of the expressions on their faces. I do think the lighting in the house however makes them more 'snapshot' looking. I tried bouncing when possible but it was just too dark and people were moving too quickly. In the end the client was happy with them so I think that is what matters the most! But it was definitely a learning experience.