First family photoshoot, lessons learned

[frommrstomommy]

I did indeed push the clarity slider a lot on these because most of them were slightly out of focus. I also added more sharpening than I normally would. So good catch on that.

I tried out an alternative to Lightroom, Capture One, and besides "clarity" it had an extra slider "structure". Structure doesn't blow out the whites like clarity can, it seems it is more edge detection sharpening. Whatever it does, it is a nice tool to regain some perceived sharpness without the shortcomings of Lightroom's clarity. It's too bad I found Capture One not as enjoyable to use overall.

The swirly bokeh is from the Helios, all the 44 variants have that. My other portrait lens is the Canon FD 50mm 1.4 which is more "restrained" but I think it lacks personality compared to the Helios.

What kind of shutter speed were you shooting at? I find really like 250 is a minimum for crazy toddlers vs my normal 160 comfort zone for people. I also tend to push my clarity to -10 vs in the positives for people.

 

[dsiglin]

Haha so I was shooting around 80. Lighting was horrible in that it was an overcast day about two hours before sunset. Originally we had planned on two hours after sunrise that day but the temperature was in the 40s then so we had to wait. Between this and another kid shoot I've learned the hard way you need a fast shutter.

 

[vintagesnaps]

You can't make little kids do things, it takes learning how to engage them and following their lead etc. (and I'd ask the parents before you offer treats). It might be better to think about working on framing shots etc. before doing portraits (unless you have family & friends that are willing to let you practice with them) - whatever length lens you're using it's necessary to move around and change your vantage point and adapt to the setting.

Pray 'n spray isn't a technique as much as what people seem to use when they haven't yet developed skills in photographing action/movement. I've done sports, it takes a lot of practice to get good at learning the timing to be able to get action photos.

 

[ImSoQuazy]

mmaria... Wow!

 

[frommrstomommy]

Haha so I was shooting around 80. Lighting was horrible in that it was an overcast day about two hours before sunset. Originally we had planned on two hours after sunrise that day but the temperature was in the 40s then so we had to wait. Between this and another kid shoot I've learned the hard way you need a fast shutter.

Gosh... yeah 80 is nowhere near fast enough for kids. I don't even shoot below 125 when I shoot adults. lol Older kids that sit still.. 125-160 for me, little crazies.. 160 is an absolute minimum! I shot a crazy 2 year old this afternoon. VERY overcast, and I was honestly thankful for the "bad" weather being that I chased him all over the place and didn't have to worry about crazy shadows being cast everywhere.

 

[OrionsByte]

If these were portraits of my family I'd be pretty pleased.

That bokeh is the only thing I don't like though, and the effect is intensified by the editing you made to bring some sharpness back to the photo. It almost counteracts the depth of field, because the background no longer really disappears like it should. You might want to try some selective editing on these to leave the background out of the clarity and sharpening adjustments.

 

[dsiglin]

Not a bad idea, I'll try it out and post an edited photo.

 

[Travel2Nowhere]

I think they could all use a tighter crop. I particularly like the father and son picture, but I would play around with a tighter crop for all of them.