Children portraits C&C

Noxire · Sep 5, 2010

So I've photographed some of my friend's children.

I used a umbrella @ 60° from them angeled downwards @ 45° and a reflector @ 45° angled slightly upwards, and a flash behind them bounced against white backdrop making it white, but also working like a kicker of sorts.

1.

2.

oldmacman · Sep 5, 2010

NUmber 1 isn't showing for me, but number 2 is adorable. Maybe just a little lighter on the hair for the girl on the right.

Noxire · Sep 5, 2010

oldmacman said:
NUmber 1 isn't showing for me, but number 2 is adorable. Maybe just a little lighter on the hair for the girl on the right.

Strange 1 isn't showing ill try to fix it, and yes i know

i SO need another flash with ability to use manual setting.

Noxire · Sep 6, 2010

Critique anyone?

mrmacedonian · Sep 6, 2010

Noxire said:
i SO need another flash with ability to use manual setting.

i've recently started learning about off-camera flash so i'm no expert nor could i recreate these i don't think, but as far as the power of the light and light ratios, wouldn't moving that flash back be the equivalent of having a manual setting and turning down the power a few stops?

EDIT: Check out Derrel's Post

Noxire · Sep 6, 2010

yes the light reflecting back from the subject will decrease as i move the flash further away, however the quality of light will also decrease since the light is harder the smaller the light-source is relatively to the subject. Also if im to use the flash for hair light, i will need to move it almost straight upwards from the subject. And this is kinda limited due to roof-hight.

great thinking though :thumbup:

lizheaemma · Sep 6, 2010

These are really wonderful.
The only thing that I am uneducatedly wondering is....
would the harshness of the light be less evident if,
the background was not white?

Derrel · Sep 6, 2010

Looks to me like the highlights on their hair are a tad bit burned out, and that their faces and eyes could use a little tiny bit more "eye sparkle", either from a low-mounted reflector, or a tiny,tiny shot of fill-in flash from right on the camera-to-subject axis...even the pop-up flash at 1/16 power would have been nice. The two girls are absolutely adorable children! I think that they seem comfortable in front of your camera, so that's a positive. I think maybe the contrast could be lowered a bit in processing of these shots, and maybe the faces brightened up a tad bit, and the highlight tonal values brought down a little bit, to give a better-balanced look to these two shots.

Noxire · Sep 6, 2010

Derrel said:
Looks to me like the highlights on their hair are a tad bit burned out, and that their faces and eyes could use a little tiny bit more "eye sparkle", either from a low-mounted reflector, or a tiny,tiny shot of fill-in flash from right on the camera-to-subject axis...even the pop-up flash at 1/16 power would have been nice. The two girls are absolutely adorable children! I think that they seem comfortable in front of your camera, so that's a positive. I think maybe the contrast could be lowered a bit in processing of these shots, and maybe the faces brightened up a tad bit, and the highlight tonal values brought down a little bit, to give a better-balanced look to these two shots.

Thanks for taking the time to write a reply, i had problems exposing the kids equally, the one closest to the umbrella got overexposed, and i haven't really learned to feather really good with a umbrella yet (just bought it

).
And the catch-light in the eyes, blimey i didn't even notice till you said it :/
Do you think it would worked better if I would have placed the umbrella closer to camera? More even lightning over them and eye-sparkle visible on the top of the eye.

Thanks again

Derrel · Sep 6, 2010

I think perhaps I would have positioned the umbrella a bit lower, and more aimed directly at the two girls, to minimize the under-eye lines...the shadows there, under the eyes, show how high the light was positioned. So, yes, I'd say the umbrella a bit closer to the camera position would, in one sense, create a better result. With the umbrella a bit closer to the camera, you would get the eye-sparkle and create less of a shadow under they eyes.

Secondarily, it looks a bit like the image contrast setting is slightly too high.

Noxire · Sep 7, 2010

Derrel said:
I think perhaps I would have positioned the umbrella a bit lower, and more aimed directly at the two girls, to minimize the under-eye lines...the shadows there, under the eyes, show how high the light was positioned. So, yes, I'd say the umbrella a bit closer to the camera position would, in one sense, create a better result. With the umbrella a bit closer to the camera, you would get the eye-sparkle and create less of a shadow under they eyes.

Secondarily, it looks a bit like the image contrast setting is slightly too high.

Thanks again for great advice. With the wonders of PP i fixed some things though

Crap i cant fix the uneven lightning!
-reshoot

Naphtali14 · Sep 7, 2010

I absolutely love them! Great job.

The one thing I see is in the first portrait the tip of the head is clipped off. The other small niggle is that the taller girls eye's seem really baggy. But you only notice that if you really study it.