Family Session on Watery Lane

twocolor · Nov 1, 2013

One of my favorite locations here in my little town! One of my favorite clients who drive 2 hours to come and see me!

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8. We even had a real live horse stop by and photo bomb us! The little girl has her own horse back home, and it thrilled her to no end that a horse was there for her picture!

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Robin_Usagani · Nov 1, 2013

They are strong except #5 for me.

twocolor · Nov 1, 2013

Robin_Usagani said:
They are strong except #5 for me.

Any specific reason on #5?

Robin_Usagani · Nov 1, 2013

Just the framing. You either need more of the feet, or more of the horse saddle. Right now I feel the horse saddle is more of a distraction.

twocolor · Nov 1, 2013

Robin_Usagani said:
Just the framing. You either need more of the feet, or more of the horse saddle. Right now I feel the horse saddle is more of a distraction.

Good point. I think I've got a horizontal one with her boots showing. Thanks for the feedback!

12sndsgood · Nov 2, 2013

I think horizontal framing for #5 would be good. Like the one of the girl in the road with hat on.

MiFleur · Nov 2, 2013

To me, in no. 3 the background is too distracting, it takes away from the people.
I specially like the 3 last ones, and the first two but I would crop no. 2, there is too much empty space on the right side.
A very nice set twocolor! beautiful smiles and nice set ups!

Braineack · Nov 2, 2013

These are REALLY great. I wanted to say I love #4, but I really like them all.

I agree that #5 is the weakest. I dont like the framing or the placement of the camera in relation to the subject.

twocolor · Nov 2, 2013

MiFleur said:
To me, in no. 3 the background is too distracting, it takes away from the people.
I specially like the 3 last ones, and the first two but I would crop no. 2, there is too much empty space on the right side.
A very nice set twocolor! beautiful smiles and nice set ups!

Thank you! #3 I can see how the background does pull your eye away from the subject. On #2, I cropped it that way on purpose. Eye line is right on the top third and the center of their faces is right on the left third. Power corner. I also leave a little space for crop when ordered at a size with a different ratio then what comes out of camera.

tirediron · Nov 2, 2013

Two point penalty for the use of cliché chair/suitcase/other prop that doesn't belong!

Very strong set, but 6, 7 & 8 are absolutely friggin' outstanding!!!

vintagesnaps · Nov 2, 2013

You seem to interact with people well and have them with great expressions in your photos. I think the bright sunlight is somewhat distracting like in #2, 4, and 6 where it's near their heads; the portraits are lovely of the people I'd just think about the backgrounds in some.

I've done sports and events where I have to watch for poles, lines, etc. so I tend to notice distractions especially along edges of the frames. With something like #8 I usually try to not have a post along the side where you can just see the edge of sunlight - I'd usually rather see something to be able to tell what it is or not have just an edge of it in a photo.

I'd probably think about where you're cutting people off like the dad's fingers and hands in #3; or having something like the edge of the chair in the lower left of #4. I just like to have a clean composition and try to keep distractions out of my pictures as much as I can.

twocolor · Nov 3, 2013

tirediron said:
Two point penalty for the use of cliché chair/suitcase/other prop that doesn't belong!

Very strong set, but 6, 7 & 8 are absolutely friggin' outstanding!!!

Awe MAAANNNNN! (that's the whiny voice my kids use!) If I get extra credit for the others, does it balance out?!

twocolor · Nov 3, 2013

vintagesnaps said:
You seem to interact with people well and have them with great expressions in your photos. I think the bright sunlight is somewhat distracting like in #2, 4, and 6 where it's near their heads; the portraits are lovely of the people I'd just think about the backgrounds in some.

I've done sports and events where I have to watch for poles, lines, etc. so I tend to notice distractions especially along edges of the frames. With something like #8 I usually try to not have a post along the side where you can just see the edge of sunlight - I'd usually rather see something to be able to tell what it is or not have just an edge of it in a photo.

I'd probably think about where you're cutting people off like the dad's fingers and hands in #3; or having something like the edge of the chair in the lower left of #4. I just like to have a clean composition and try to keep distractions out of my pictures as much as I can.

I truly appreciate the detailed critique. I am a great finger cropper, but the edge of the chair. I truly didn't even notice it until now and it truly doesn't bother me. I agree about distractions in an image as well, but there is a time where you capture a moment when you see a moment happen. I don't "script" out all of my shots. When a little 3 year old is in a picture, sometimes you stand by and record the moment that dad tries to coach a smile from her by tickling her with his beard, or the moment when I ask the little girl how much she loves her mom and she just leans over and gives her the biggest hug ever. I can't script these expressions and these moments would be lost. So, though I agree with your critique, is there a point where we miss an expression because we are overly concerned about how busy the background is?