Family Photos - C/C Welcome!

deepsixphoto · Aug 26, 2012

Did a shoot with the sweetest family the other night. I was a little concerned that the light was going to be poor, but it ended up being better than I expected. It was a great evening on the beach. The little girl was just not in the mood for photos. She was just adorable when she was smiling, so luckily I was able to catch that when it happened! Any and all critique welcome - I'm still editing these, so suggestions are welcome!

(Photos from Facebook, so the compression is yucky.)

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deepsixphoto · Aug 28, 2012

Just a little bump - any suggestions would be appreciated!

amolitor · Aug 28, 2012

In #4 and #1 you are right on the edge of losing the whites in the shirts. Um, the light is a little bit flat (I assume it was overcast?) In several of the images they appear to be squinting as if looking to much toward the sun for comfort.

tirediron · Aug 28, 2012

C&C per req:

1. Please tell me that you discussed the whole white shirts & black trousers concept ahead of time and they just ignored, you. Please! I really can't say for sure, but the faces in the middle of the group seem slightly soft, and as the boards in front of them are tack-sharp, I have to ask, was this shot wide open? It's a nice group shot, a shame about the youngest child, but I have to wonder, was there no better background?

2. Well.. half the group is looking at you; good work on the exposure here and kudos for not having that pole "grow" out of someone's head!

3. Cute; I wish her eyes were open a little more. Have you thought of cropping most of the sand off of the bottom to get things a little off-centre?

4. Nice; again not sure the wind-fence is the best background. Good job on the exposure again.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

MLeeK · Aug 28, 2012

I would really love the first one if you were more able to get rid of the city in the background. Either by shooting above or below. Flash would also have helped making the background darker and less busy. Needs to be leveled. THe slanted bridge boards make me want to tilt.

Second one has some closed eye issues or very close to closed. I'd clone out the pole sticking up behind.

Third one is cute! Sometimes kids make life hard as hell for us. Especially if it's getting late and they're getting cranky. It's very cute.

The last is a good image, but the posing is really lacking. Her bent knee is nice, would have been great to have them a little less just standing there.

Parker219 · Aug 28, 2012

IMO tirediron AND MLeek nailed it. Overall nice pictures, just being picky. I'm sure the family will love them.

MLeeK · Aug 28, 2012

Oh and the guy with the washed too many gray shirt needs to have his shirt burned down a bit!

rexbobcat · Aug 28, 2012

Nothing beats a cloudy day in terms of light quality. Haha.

They look pretty good.

In the first one I like how the group is posed and placed. Everybody's visible and flattering. However; the busy streets behind kind of detracts. Was the ocean behind you? I'm wondering if maybe it would have been "cleaner" if you turned them around so (I assume?) the ocean is behind them.

In the second, background. There's a pole not quite growing out of a head, but instead it acts like an unnecessary element, and if you want to get really into the whole content discussion it could almost be seen, in my eyes, as a divider between the man and the group instead of a unifying element for the family. There are also only two people, the guy in white and the little girl, looking at the camera. It makes me think that they were distracted and that there was another photographer there. It's kind of disorganized.

The last two are really nice. The fence does cause some kind of weird unease that I can't put my finger on, but overall it's a good image.

deepsixphoto · Aug 28, 2012

Thank you so much everyone! Tired, I was shooting wide open. I could kick myself over that focus issue.

The boardwalk where the first shot was taken, we almost had to do because the beach was incredibly crowded. Unfortunately, facing them any other way was an impossibility - and we had folks leaving the beach walking behind us between shots (yikes!). The cars drive me crazy, too. I'm going to see what I can do as far as making them less painfully obvious. Not sure if cloning will fix all that.

I also agree that the photo of the kids could do with a bit of a crop. I usually try to avoid crops as much as I can (just one of my things I guess) - but I do think then shot could benefit from losing some of the sand on the bottom, the more I look at it.

The pole in the shot where they're on the beach is a good call, and could definitely benefit from some cloning out.

Thanks again everyone! Your time is much appreciated! Now off to more editing!

Jaemie · Aug 29, 2012

Besides the C&C already mentioned, the cloudy day light feels like a wet blanket on the otherwise happy mood. Too bad the weather wasn't more helpful. Otherwise, nice work.

Unrelated observation: "deep six" (usually meaning to discard or trash) seems an unusual name for a photography business - or almost any business except perhaps paper shredding. Of course, I'm sure people remember the name very well!

janineh · Aug 29, 2012

The background if the first isn't that great. All shots are very posed to me. I prefer more a natural shots. Walking along the beach, having a chat and a laugh etc...

deepsixphoto · Aug 29, 2012

Thanks guys! The clouds did totally put a bit of damper on the day - but on the same token I was glad the kids weren't squinting.

There is a story to go along with the same. To be honest, when I and my partner were picking names - for the life of us we couldn't find one we liked that hadn't been used in some capacity. We're very nautical and beach oriented, so we had wanted a name that would align with those interests and our photo style. After at least 2 weeks of looking and googling names - I started getting fed up. I found a dictionary of nautical terms at the library, and began to go through it. It was STILL tough to find names that weren't taken. Eventually for fun, I googled Deepsix Photography. It wasn't taken! By anyone! At all. I deliberated for a while if it was ok to use... and then went all in. We are the only folks that show up if you google that name - which I love. It is also a conversation starter, and people are usually curious about it. And it does help clients remember us!

I tossed the family a couple suggestions about walking on the beach, but they were uncomfortable. In the end - while they do indeed look a bit posed - it seemed to be what they wanted - which is what counts. I did get some lovely candids - so there is more variety in the full set than the ones I included in this post. I love the natural candids too!