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Family Session...Looking for FEEDBACK please

Nmink100

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Hi Everyone
I did a family session including a Grandmother the other day and the light I wanted was practically non-existant. We shot at 4:30 (this was right before we switched the clocks) and I was hoping to get the warm western glow of the sunlight with nice bright eyes but instead it was VERY grey out and the sun was completely covered by a thick layer of clouds. I couldn't reschedule because grandma was going back to London the next morning. Let me know what you think and please feel free to be harsh and honest. I know in some pics I cut off limbs and that's a touchy subject on this board but with kids moving so fast sometimes it just happens...anyway thank you in advance for your feedback.
Natalie

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These are great! I like them all. You did a great job and I bet the family loves them. What a cute group! Great color and great moments captured in all of them.
 
Some really nice expressions caught and a very nice looking family. The seemed to enjoy the day.

Several of the shots are tilted. Check your horizon. See if you can remove the extraneous people in the last shot.
 
These are fantastic!! Cloudy days can provide great lighting because you don't have to worry much about shadws. They must be so pleased!!
 
I love them all, but I especially like the one with dad and the girls.
 
Thank you all for your feedback. I have at least 50 pictures or more from this session but didn't want to overload the board.

I had to do a lot of post-processing on many of these as they were underexposed so the sharpness and clarity I wanted is not there and there are dark shadows right by the eyes that are driving me crazy. Especially because all these kids have the most magnificent bright blue eyes that normally make for great photographs...

I captured great moments so the family is thrilled and they are not looking at them "technically" but the pictures are not up to par with what I wanted to get.

I had my 580EX external flash but I've only practiced using it while bouncing off walls and ceilings and not as fill flash.

I need to learn that ASAP
 
These are really cute! Makes me want to live near a beach!
My only critique would be to watch chopping off limbs and, like someone else said, watch people/things in the background.
 
Number 5 is what photography is all about.
 
Beautiful pictures! I would love to have a beach nearby, but . . . welcome to Utah!

I love the idea of having grandmother in the pictures. What a legacy to have for these kids!

They just look like they're having a blast!

Love the dad pic, as well as number 8 that red hair is beautiful!
 
#6 is fantastic. It makes me so excited to have a family someday! I also love that you included Grandma in the shots. They will be treasured I'm sure.
 
I can only say the same about these. All are excellent shots. If I have any critique to give it would be try and get the skin tones consistent in your shots. A couple look a little red. And in image with the three girls, their feet and heads are too close to the edge of the image - a little more care in composition.

But overall it's hard to say anything but very well done on a great job.

JD
 
Clouds are good! Overcast is like one big huge light diffuser :) I loved these photos BTW. Especially the one with grandma and the four kids. I maybe would have tried 'posing' them a bit differently because I find the legs in it distracting. These are things you notice after the fact (I know!) and not while you're firing away trying to grab the right shot.

Lovely photos though!
 
Los Angeles - your comment put a HUGE smile on my face. How right you are; and at times it's nice to remember. Thank you for that

Kristina - I know about chopping of the limbs (see my original post) and I try so hard to always watch out for that. But chasing after these kids was a real workout. I was literally out of breath trying to keep up with them

Twocolor - his red hair is amazing! All his older sisters are blonde as can be and he, the only boy, is a beautiful red!

EOS-JD - It's the critique I was looking for and no one mentioned the things that bothered me about them so maybe I'm being too hard on myself but the red skintones I definitely did not see. In what picture do you see that?
The 3 girls with the dad is definitely very close to the edge but again it was one of those split second moments. Gotta work harder on that issue.

acaldwell - thank you! Having a family is priceless.

Joanna - normally clouds work well but this was different in that the light had a very dark grey tone to it. No warmth and lots of dark shadows. Posing them was very difficult. I was not in very much control and everything was happening so fast I barely had a second to change my settings.
In that picture of grandma and the 4 kids there was literally a choir behind me of mom, dad, nanny and friend singing "the wheels on the bus" really loud! It was hysterical if I only had a video...so getting all 4 kids to look in the same direction was amazing. I had to shoot it in the split second it ocurred but I totally know what you mean. It's so much harder to think of every detail while in the moment and so much easier after the fact but that's what it's all about isn't it?
 
I think you did a great job capturing the moment!

As far as technical I would like to make a suggestion. Everything is a tad overexposed and the background is almost completely blown out. I would suggest bringing a strobe with you when you shoot in bright outdoors.

But I do think you did a great job with capturing the moments.
 
Natalie, these are VERY nice! I love my own photos bright, so I don't think they are overexposed at all... for the most part your whites are not blown which is great!

You already mentioned the cropped limbs/digits, so I won't mention it again.


Only cc I have is that #11 looks a bit cool and in #14 you need to crop out whoever's arms are in the background (to our left)! It detracts from a beautiful photo!

Well done on these!

Anelle
 

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