Family Pictures

[wamason]

I didn't have much time but was able to get the kids to cooperate for a few minutes before church Sunday morning.

Shot with a D750, 70-200mm f/2.8 Tamron lens, and a gold 24"x36" reflector.

I'd appreciate some feedback/constructive criticism. I'm still very new to photographing people, and would love to get some tips on how to improve. Don't be shy.

 

[The_Traveler]

You could have shot at a small aperture for better depth of field but.. the camera worked well, you were very lucky that there is enough depth of field to catch them all.
Color is good, sharpness is good.

pose is pretty awkward.
Their sizes are different enough so you could move them out of a straight line and then shot in portrait apect.
Get teh two littlest ones sort of in front of the two bigger ones, close down your aperture to 5.6 anf there would be a better grouping.
As it is, lots of empty space on the sides

Good start, nice looking and happy children.
Let's see some more.

L

 

[Advanced Photo]

Nice family picture.

 

[wamason]

Thank you both for the compliments and critique. I do need to work on posing. That's one of my weakest areas.

Regarding aperture, you mentioned decreasing it to increase the depth of field. As best I can tell all of the kids are in focus. Is there another reason you recommend decreasing the aperture? Or is it just a suggestion to avoid out of focus people/areas in the future, or if putting one person behind another?

I see what you mean by filling the entire frame. I guess I was attempting to show the setting/surrounding. Is there a situation where this would be desirable? Perhaps if the background/setting were more interesting or helped to tell part of the story?

Again thanks for the help.


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[Granddad]

With kids like that you NEED to get serious about photography. You have 4 models, probably 5 if their mom looks anything like her daughters.

Listen to The Traveller, he knows his onions! So do lots of others here. I learn more on this forum than I would on a college course.

 

[Braineack]

IMHO increasing the warmth and vibrance in this shot alone would go a long way.

 

[The_Traveler]

I tried rearranging the children to show you how a different grouping would look. Now it can be cropped as a 4:5 and the arrangement is more dynamic.
Warmed it up a bit and darkened periphery a bit.

This would need a smaller aperture to get a wider depth of field.
Since the depth of field is close to symmetrical front and back at longer focal lengths, you will need to focus on one of the two girld in the middle so that the depth of field will extend forward to the little girl and backward to the oldest one.

These are charming sweet-faced children and you will get great pictures as they grow. (The shadows aren't perfect but you get the idea.)

Here are links to two articles, a further discussion and a site that will allow you to calculate the DOF for any camera, lens combination.

DOF - Luminous Landscape
https://luminous-landscape.com/dof/https://luminous-landscape.com/dof2/
The Luminous Landscape Depth of field article.: Open Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Online Depth of Field Calculator

Lew

 

[wamason]

Good stuff. I'll check out the links. I really need to read up on posing too. Thanks for he help!


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[Granddad]

You can also get a DoF calculator as a free app on your smart phone.

I tried rearranging the children to show you how a different grouping would look. Now it can be cropped as a 4:5 and the arrangement is more dynamic.
Warmed it up a bit and darkened periphery a bit.

Really nice work Lew. I'd have to look twice to see that it's been edited (I get my new reading specs next week).

 

[The_Traveler]

Really nice work Lew. I'd have to look twice to see that it's been edited (I get my new reading specs next week).

So, I fooled a near-sighted guy, huh?

The image was really sharp and the selection was easy.
A bit of cloning to add trees, grass and shadows and it works for a demo.

but thanks for the attaboy.

Best,

Lew

 

[wamason]

Agreed. I had to look really close to find anything out of place.


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[The_Traveler]

What's missing/ wrong is the shadow at the bottom, which should have been solid.
I realized it after I posted and didn't go back.

 

[cauzimme]

I tried rearranging the children to show you how a different grouping would look. Now it can be cropped as a 4:5 and the arrangement is more dynamic.
Warmed it up a bit and darkened periphery a bit.

This would need a smaller aperture to get a wider depth of field.
Since the depth of field is close to symmetrical front and back at longer focal lengths, you will need to focus on one of the two girld in the middle so that the depth of field will extend forward to the little girl and backward to the oldest one.

These are charming sweet-faced children and you will get great pictures as they grow. (The shadows aren't perfect but you get the idea.)

Here are links to two articles, a further discussion and a site that will allow you to calculate the DOF for any camera, lens combination.

DOF - Luminous Landscape
https://luminous-landscape.com/dof/https://luminous-landscape.com/dof2/
The Luminous Landscape Depth of field article.: Open Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review

Online Depth of Field Calculator

Lew


View attachment 129717

Very nice edit! You really gave that photo the little punch it needed.

 

[leshamathes]

Great shot. Is amazing that you got them all cooperating at the same time . I remember Easter photos, I always ended up with photos that one child was doing something silly.

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[wamason]

I know right! The posing is partially a result of the (lack of) cooperation from the youngest, who is the life of the party by the way. I took 20-30 shots, some rapid fire and picked the best one.


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