First Family Shoot C&C Welcome

[Werley102]

Friends of mine asked me do do a family shoot for them. They have seen and liked a lot of my photos from weekend get aways with other friends and photos i have taken of my family. I am by no means a professional so I did it as a favor. This is the first time I have done posed and not candid photos. It was about a 20-30 minute shoot. I took about 25 shots and these are the ones that I was happy with. I used my Canon T3i and a 430EX-II (on camera with a small softbox attached for fill) They have seen the photos and are very happy with them but I'm looking for honest C&C so that I can improve in the future. Thanks in advance.

 

[12sndsgood]

Did you boost the saturation on the plants in the background? for me the background is just fighting for attention with the subjects, I probalby would have tried to pull them away from the bushes a bit more and gone with a shallower deapth of field to put all of the focus on the family. that's just the first thing that pops out at me.

 

[tirediron]

C&C per req:

1. The lighting is not too bad here, but there are definite hot-spots on their right (camera left) sides as well as some moderate "racoon eye" happening. Watch the crop; the two folks on the right have lost toes. Cropping little bits off is never a good plan.

2. Very nice; slightly under-exposed, and again, some catchlights would have helped a lot, but a nice shot. I would have preferred some of the empty space at the top be used at the bottom so that Mom's cuff and hand weren't cropped off.

3. Again, fill light and cropped limbs. The main issue I see with this one is the child's glasses. Always try and avoid having the frame "rest on" or cut through the eye. Having him push them up or remove them would have been better.

Over all, these are not a bad set of 'first shots' at all. You need to be more cognizant of your composition and watch your framing. When you get the composition you like, open up just a bit to ensure no one loses a limb! You also need to get fill light in; ideally a nice big softbox. An on-camera speedlight is just not big enough for a full family shot such as #1; I would suggest a >48" box with off-camera light

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[ronlane]

^^^agree with John. #1 would be very nice in my opinion if you stepped back another 3-5 steps to get the rest of Dad and Son.

 

[ktan7]

Great family portraiture

 

[sarah_19_nz]

I think these are really good! I agree with everything John said also. Well done

 

[Werley102]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.