Family Photos -- First time ... need feedback!

echoyjeff222 · Dec 30, 2012

Hey everyone -- I was called upon by my family to take some of our family pictures this year. This is my first time EVER doing any sort of family photography OR serious portrait photography, for that matter. I got through the looong, exhausting day - so mentally tiring! I'm on to the post processing, and was wondering if I was going in the right direction with these photos. I'm really new to all this post processing for portraits.

Any feedback for the composition/lighting and such would be nice as well -- I'll post one photo up for now! Thanks! Is the background too busy? I kept insisting on finding a simpler background, but they picked this indoor setting just because of the christmas tree, apparently :/

Also, does anyone know how to get rid of the annoying glare in the glasses?

Thanks!

JanetFamily by echoyjeff222, on Flickr

tirediron · Dec 30, 2012

The background is okay; it would be stronger were it more softly focused and, but it isn't bad as-is. I would close out the sign or whatever is in the upper-left-hand corner. A few things that bother me however: Excessive specular highlights (possibly blown) on the cheeks/forehead of the lady front left and the reflection of the glasses of the girl in the white t-shirt. The highlight issue indicates lack of diffusion on your strobe, and the reflection that the strobe should have been slightly higher.

A few general thoughts for next time: Try and coordinate the. With the your girl's white t-shirt and the gentleman beside her in a black/VERY dark blue jacket, you have an extreme dynamic range (which, you've dealt with reasonably well), but were everyone wearing more "middle of the road" tones, your exposure could have been even better. Two things to watch for when shooting subjects with glasses: as mentioned, the reflection and also the posiiton of the eye. Looking at the young lad in the blue top, the upper frame of her glasses is almost bisecting her eye; having her straighten up and raise her head just a hair would have sorted this (the gentleman lower right's eyes are correctly placed with respect to his glasses).

Have your subject's stand/sit straight. Not rigid, but straight. The girl in the blue top and the gentleman lower right are both leaning.

Overall, it's not a bad image at all, and my comments are more in the nature of nit-picks. I'm sure they're very happy!

echoyjeff222 · Dec 30, 2012

Thanks the comments -- I was using a ON FLASH camera, lol. I had no diffusers of any kind, I was just shooting fill flash straight on. I don't have any equipment

Ah, interesting tip about the glasses ... so you're saying that leaning her head even HIGHER would remove the glare (it seems like her head is already tilted upwards?)

Is there any way to edit the glare out?

And also, I was trying to get everyone to lean in a bit, which is why they're not straight. Is that okay? I was trying to show the family dynamic.

echoyjeff222 · Dec 30, 2012

Quick cloning ... removed the sign and spot highlights (not glasses)

JanetFamily2 by echoyjeff222, on Flickr

tirediron · Dec 30, 2012

The glare is a function of the angle of the flash with respect to the angle of the lens (search "family of angles"). Lowering her head would have worked too, but wouldn't have helped the image. You may be able to edit the glare out, it will be a bit finicky, but it is doable.

If the leaning in was a concious choice, fair enough. It's not the way I would do it, but it's not wrong.

echoyjeff222 · Dec 31, 2012

Woo hoo! Playing around in photoshop paid off!

Hmm. I just realized her eyes look REALLY small. LOL. Should I keep it this way? hahaah

On another note, does using "shadows and highlights" in PS create noise?

JanetFamilyFINAL2 by echoyjeff222, on Flickr

Designer · Dec 31, 2012

O.K., your edit in #6 is better, but the shot might have been even better if you had bounced the flash off a wall or the ceiling. Your edit has repaired the most egregious of the issues, so let it be.