Could I do something more here?

[twoboysnmygirl]

Testing something...this is uploaded to photobucket and NOT resized...

Hmmm, so the problem seems to be resizing on photobucket.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I thought it was a couple watching a mother and her two kids :er:

And you were wrong, illustrating part of my point.

And now that I know what it is, what does it say? They're watching their kids... all in red... walk away from them... arm in arm... seemingly not concerned about it... what does that say? Is it what we want to say?

All in red? Little Red Riding Hoods getting ready to be eaten by the Big Bad Wolf, maybe

Or is it talking about the fact that kids grow up and as they do, they leave their parents behind? Everyone will have their own interpretation...

This is where I'm always questioning whether I want the shot to say something to EVERYONE or the family involved?

In this case, considering you are shooting for a family, the only thing that matters is what it means to the family. If they like it, great. If not, try something else next time.

The one thing to think about imo is that you can't really use this photo in a portfolio of family shots because most people who will see will not get it. But that doesn't mean you can't try different things and maybe get something that the family involved will like. There will never be anything wrong with being creative, getting outside the box so to speak, as long as you do the standard type shots so that the clients can go with the "safe" thing...

Don't stop trying.

 

[twoboysnmygirl]

Thanks! That makes a lot of sense to me!

It's pretty much what I do as well, I take lots of standard shots, but then also play around and try to get some creative, different stuff...b/c that's just how I roll.

 

[KmH]

I increased the exposure, got rid of the lens flare on the tree, and used a B&W adjustment layer to make the B&W version. I added a vignette weighted to the people in the photo, and I increased the mid-tone contrast.

The B&W version

 

[white]

I like how the couple are wearing black and the other people are all in red. Has symbolic meaning, or could, if it was better executed. The black & white version stripped away too much information.

And your photo looks soft because you uploaded it to that piece of crap Photobucket. Try flickr instead.

 

[KmH]

Interestingly, I use Photobucket, and have zero issues.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Thanks! That makes a lot of sense to me!

It's pretty much what I do as well, I take lots of standard shots, but then also play around and try to get some creative, different stuff...b/c that's just how I roll.

And keep on rolling...

I've said it a number of times but I'll say it again just for you forums are rarely the most creative places. They are good for technical questions, gear analysis, etc but forget the creative aspect.

And it is not to say there are no creative people here. There are. But creativity is a very subjective thing and forums have more newbies than they have experienced working pros and newbies tend to be very stiff, as in not very creative, because they don't yet know anything about creativity.

And there is nothing wrong with that because we all need to learn somewhere, somehow but they tend to be very stiff and uncreative. They tend to take an idea that was just given to them and run with it.

A good example of that is the "famous" rule of thirds. Some people will hit you over the head with the biggest stick because they just learned about this rule and they haven't yet learned that rules are meant to be broken when they don't work :lmao:

Just keep on rolling.

 

[twoboysnmygirl]

The B&W version

Nice! I am playing around with my B&W a lot lately, I really never realized how much goes into B&W's!

I believe the problems with photobucket are when you try to resize using photobucket. The times my shots look soft it's b/c I have resized them WITH photobucket. I won't be doing that anymore! Anyone use smugmug?

 

[KmH]

I resize mine with Photobucket all the time, still zero issues.

But then my computer display is calibrated regularly, and I have a color managed workflow.