Cold Evening - Family Portrait

[Heather Koch]

That same evening with those cute girls, but this is the family shot. Just had time to edit it completely.

Anything I could add or do different?

Thoughts?

DET_0073 by heather.koch43, on Flickr

 

[Rick50]

Came out quite well. They are all smiling, did you ask them to say cheese?
Love how you framed with the tree's. Only improv would be flash, flash,flash.

 

[Heather Koch]

Came out quite well. They are all smiling, did you ask them to say cheese?
Love how you framed with the tree's. Only improv would be flash, flash,flash.

Yes flash, flash, flash. I finally have one! Woot. That little one is the hardest to get to smile, so a half smile i worth a lot.

Yes the trees, I've had this idea in my mind for awhile and finally captured it. I was proud

 

[Heather Koch]

Also, not only do I have to say, "Say cheese!" I had to say, "Look at the camera!" lol the girls were wondering eyes!

 

[D-B-J]

I like the tree idea, but think it could be improved. This looks to me like it was shot with a standard (50mm?) prime on a crop sensor, with a medium aperture, yes? To really emphasize the tree idea you'd be better off by backing up and using a longer lens to really compress that stand of trees, and to help separate them from the trees as well.

And as others have said, a bit of fill wouldn't have hurt, but nicely posed [emoji106]

 

[Heather Koch]

I like the tree idea, but think it could be improved. This looks to me like it was shot with a standard (50mm?) prime on a crop sensor, with a medium aperture, yes? To really emphasize the tree idea you'd be better off by backing up and using a longer lens to really compress that stand of trees, and to help separate them from the trees as well.

And as others have said, a bit of fill wouldn't have hurt, but nicely posed [emoji106]

I actually had my 18-200 but this was shot at 38mm. I always keep that rule of thumb, 70mm and up for portraits, but this time I totally forgot. After running around with the girls freezing their little buns off, I missed that...

 

[D-B-J]

I like the tree idea, but think it could be improved. This looks to me like it was shot with a standard (50mm?) prime on a crop sensor, with a medium aperture, yes? To really emphasize the tree idea you'd be better off by backing up and using a longer lens to really compress that stand of trees, and to help separate them from the trees as well.

And as others have said, a bit of fill wouldn't have hurt, but nicely posed [emoji106]

I actually had my 18-200 but this was shot at 38mm. I always keep that rule of thumb, 70mm and up for portraits, but this time I totally forgot. After running around with the girls freezing their little buns off, I missed that...

We've all been there. [emoji16]

 

[Heather Koch]

Too many times... There is honestly so much to remember when shooting people. And having 5-7 people to watch and make sure everyone is looking good... AHHHH lol Practice, practice, practice...Flash, flash, flash...

 

[astroNikon]

write yourself some cheatsheets/checklists and keep them in your camera bag.

 

[Designer]

Anything I could add or do different?

1. As already mentioned; add flash. Some fill light would have highlighted the group to make them stand out from the background.

2. Camera position is too high. Here you could have bent low to center the group in the frame rather than looking down on them.

3. Speaking of background; add more blur to the background.

4. Depending on how picky one wants to get, the faces do not "flow" as in; creating a line. There is a "Z" line, but the smallest child is "orphaned" without any line to her face.

 

[Braineack]

3. Speaking of background; add more blur to the background.

I disagree here, everything already looks artifically softened too much as is. but I think that's more to do with it being shot at 1/25sec.

I really think this could use a punch of contrast/vibrancy/clarity/sharpening

and I agree with others: FLASH!

I might have gone 2 stops of light darker on the ambient. That could have got you back to 1/60 and iso 800. and the flash would have froze any motion blur on the subjects.

 

[Granddad]

I'd imagine the family will like this shot, I do. Getting ALL of them looking at least vaguely in the direction of the lens with ALL looking at least reasonably happy in the same shot is an achievement to be proud of. If you'd had the perfect focal length, DOF and flow you'd probably have had 2 or 3 of them gurning or yawning.
When shooting groups I usually have to take a shed load of shots and switch heads around between them to get them all looking good at the same time.

 

[Heather Koch]

Anything I could add or do different?

1. As already mentioned; add flash. Some fill light would have highlighted the group to make them stand out from the background.

2. Camera position is too high. Here you could have bent low to center the group in the frame rather than looking down on them.

3. Speaking of background; add more blur to the background.

4. Depending on how picky one wants to get, the faces do not "flow" as in; creating a line. There is a "Z" line, but the smallest child is "orphaned" without any line to her face.

My tripod would have come in handy for the positioning, I agree. The smallest child, is VERY hard to shoot. Every shot, she is making a different face and eyes are all over. On another shot I had to transfer heads...

3. Speaking of background; add more blur to the background.

I disagree here, everything already looks artifically softened too much as is. but I think that's more to do with it being shot at 1/25sec.

I really think this could use a punch of contrast/vibrancy/clarity/sharpening

and I agree with others: FLASH!

I might have gone 2 stops of light darker on the ambient. That could have got you back to 1/60 and iso 800. and the flash would have froze any motion blur on the subjects.

For this shot, I didn't need to touch the background, it was already blurred enough to my liking. As for contrast and sharpening, I can adjust that some, I agree.

I'd imagine the family will like this shot, I do. Getting ALL of them looking at least vaguely in the direction of the lens with ALL looking at least reasonably happy in the same shot is an achievement to be proud of. If you'd had the perfect focal length, DOF and flow you'd probably have had 2 or 3 of them gurning or yawning.
When shooting groups I usually have to take a shed load of shots and switch heads around between them to get them all looking good at the same time.

They do, this is their favorite. Oh yes I had over 250 shots with this family...

 

[vintagesnaps]

Go practice with just your camera and equipment in various lighting conditions on getting appropriate settings - that's an awfully slow shutter speed if the little one so much as breathes! lol And yeah, doing families with little kids means knowing how to work with little kids.

Looks as someone mentioned somewhat artificial (skin tones) - mom looks peachy and the little one looks pale almost sickly (and they may all have lighter or darker skin but the first thing I saw was mom's almost orange-ish face). The girls needed the long hair arranged some too the way it hangs over the shoulders.

If you're taking that many pictures and doing this much noticeable editing that should be telling you to get more practice before you take on clients.

 

[Heather Koch]

Go practice with just your camera and equipment in various lighting conditions on getting appropriate settings - that's an awfully slow shutter speed if the little one so much as breathes! lol And yeah, doing families with little kids means knowing how to work with little kids.

Looks as someone mentioned somewhat artificial (skin tones) - mom looks peachy and the little one looks pale almost sickly (and they may all have lighter or darker skin but the first thing I saw was mom's almost orange-ish face). The girls needed the long hair arranged some too the way it hangs over the shoulders.

If you're taking that many pictures and doing this much noticeable editing that should be telling you to get more practice before you take on clients.

They all should have the same skin tones? Also what noticeable editing are you referring too? JW...