Family Self Portraits

[bigalbest]

Went on vacation this past week to California, mainly going to Disneyland for several days. I brought along my new AB1600 and Vagabond for some family portraits by the ocean. I took my inspiration for these shots from THIS THREAD and tried to get a similar look. Taking timer shots of your own family can be really frustrating and there are a lot of mistakes in these but overall I like them a lot. Let me know what you think and how I might improve these next time.

1)

2)

3)

 

[Do'Urden's Eyes]

colour seems a bit cool in the first one.
I dont like how you can see the range of the flash onthe sand in basically all of them. the lighting needs some work for sure. i just read a thread explaining how to properly balance ambient light and flash light

i think the second one is the best, the flash is not as noticable.

read this it will help:
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142081

 

[bigalbest]

colour seems a bit cool in the first one.
I dont like how you can see the range of the flash onthe sand in basically all of them. the lighting needs some work for sure. i just read a thread explaining how to properly balance ambient light and flash light

i think the second one is the best, the flash is not as noticable.

read this it will help:
http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142081

I was really looking more for specific suggestions for improvement rather than directing me to strobist.com or something. If you don't like the way something looks please offer a solution. I think the main problem with these is that i've underexposed the ambient a little too much and a slower shutter speed might have fixed this. I think it's also true that I very often make my use of strobes a little too obvious and a more subtle look might be appropriate. Thanks for the comment, anyone else?

 

[OnlyAGlimmer]

hmm... I actually really like that first one! I know nothing about lighting with anything other than the sun so I'm not help there LOL. But, with some edits I think that first picture could be great. I might play with it for a few min's to see what I can come up with.

 

[OnlyAGlimmer]

Here are my plays. The first one seems a bit cool so I warmed it up a bit and added some contrast.. lightened it up a bit and cloned out a few background things. I tried to even out the light on your kiddo's faces.. the cutie in the back was a bit dark and the one in the front a bit bright. I think I got it a bit to bright overall though. Oh well.. it was fun.

and a vintage play

 

[Do'Urden's Eyes]

I was really looking more for specific suggestions for improvement rather than directing me to strobist.com or something. If you don't like the way something looks please offer a solution. I think the main problem with these is that i've underexposed the ambient a little too much and a slower shutter speed might have fixed this. I think it's also true that I very often make my use of strobes a little too obvious and a more subtle look might be appropriate. Thanks for the comment, anyone else?

I wasnt directing you to the strobist. if you read that thread theres some information on what i was saying. all i was offering was help on balancing the light in the foreground and background.

after reading your own diagnosis it seems like you DID read it. hope it helped.

 

[bigalbest]

Here are my plays. The first one seems a bit cool so I warmed it up a bit and added some contrast.. lightened it up a bit and cloned out a few background things. I tried to even out the light on your kiddo's faces.. the cutie in the back was a bit dark and the one in the front a bit bright. I think I got it a bit to bright overall though. Oh well.. it was fun.

and a vintage play

Thanks OnlyAGlimmer, I like the way you evened out the kids but I'm not so sure about the vintage play. I'm always trying to nail it in the camera and usually don't do much editing, but I think with the right touches these could be pretty good.