Family Photos C&C

[willis_927]

Havn't posted too much lately so I thought I would throw up some Family photos from a recent shoot. Comments welcomed!

1)This one I wish I hadn't cut off his arm. Once I asked him to position his arm differently, I couldnt get all 4 people looking at the camera at the same time.

2)

3)

4) I am a bit up in the air on this so I thought I would add it and see what you guys thought.

 

[tirediron]

C&C per req:


1. Aside from the cropped arm, I'm not fond of the position of the young girl image left. She seems ather precariously balanced and the lateral cropping of her left leg is not ideal. Additionally, The lighting could be improved. There are dark shadows on the mother's(?) arms and it seems about 2/3 of a stop under-exposed. Can I ask why you chose to compose and light in this manner?


2. The post-processing blur is not well applied; it rather makes her look like she's leaning against a mirror. Again, this could have been given a slightly wider crop. Her expression seems rather forced, but I like the use of the flower.


3. This is a very awkward composition IMO; I suspect the young boy foreground is sitting on his knees, but the image makes it appear as if he is an amputee- it would have been a stronger image had he been looking at/toward the camera. Again, fill lighting was needed image right. The background also seems very odd; it rather looks like the boy is trying to kiss the girl.

4. This is a really nice idea; the use of the leading lines and the positioning of the subjects in relation to the shadow is ideal, Unfortunately they're rather too far back in the image, and it's almost impossible to identify them. I would crop at least 1/3 of the foreground away. The background highlights also appear too hot, or even blown.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[mrpink]

I would have kept #4.

The kids eyes in #1 are way over processed.





p!nK

 

[pixilstudio]

1 and 3 the WB is off too cool

 

[Chris R]

#1 The eyes on the mother (at least I assume that's mom) and the boy on the right look like they've been overly processed. They almost look like someone else's eyes were photoshopped over theirs.

 

[willis_927]

Good points everyone. Tiredon, I gues I can't really give you a good answere for the question you asked in number 1. I suppose I thought the composition and lighting was not too bad in it... Care to elaborate on how I could have made it better?

Also in the 2nd one, I looked back at the RAW file because I couldn't remember if I added blur or not.. It appears that I did not add blur... and if I did, it was very a slight amount.

And for number 3, it was in a way an accident shot that I kind of liked. The 3 kids were back where the older 2 are, just playing, and the little guy desided to walk away, so I shot and thus the result. I do see the amputation issue as you mentioned.

Thanks for your time with the C&C.

 

[willis_927]

here is 2 more from the set..

 

[tirediron]

The way I would have approached lighting this would have been with a two light set-up. Key light as a shoot-through umbrella 30-40 degrees camera left at probably (just a rough estimation) 6 - 7' high and probably two stops over background to knock down the distracting brightness. Fill light would have been a reflecting umbrella about 80ish degrees camera right and probably at least two stops below than key (or more as necessary) to provide just a bit of shadow.

There are lots of ways of doing this of course, and what I've mentioned above is just what I would use as a starting point. It might well evolve from there. You could use a single light & modifier and a large reflector as well. I only say umbrellas because they're what I tend to use in my "field kit" not having the patience to deal with soft-boxes when I'm on location.

If you didn't add blur on #2, my apologies. I've looked at it several times, and it still looks like a heavy blur layer has been added immediately behind the child. Do you recall what is causing that "person against a mirror" effect?

 

[willis_927]

Thank you for your detailed response! I looked again at the RAW file of #2, and that mirror affect seems to be there aswell.. Assuming we are looking at the same things.. (the blur directly to the left of childs face/head)?

 

[ababysean]

Your White Balance is off in all of them, they are way too "cool"

Your profile says ok to edit images, so I did. really quick I just upped the temp of the photo....