First post here

[Travis F]

Hey everyone! I'm new to the forum and just wanted to introduce myself.

Here's a couple recent shots I did of my daughters. CC is always welcome.

1

2

3

Thanks for looking,
Travis

 

[Travis F]

Nothing?

Any CC to offer? Tips on lighting, poses, etc? Any advice or comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Travis

 

[Early]

Daughter #2 is not pleased.

Color wise, at least the facial tones, and a nice subtle smile, make #1 my fav.

I like the the poses and composition on all of them, but not the flesh tones on the last two.

 

[tirediron]

C&C per req:

1. Lots of potential here, but I really don't like the background. You've done a good job of keeping it soft and unfocused, but the hard line between the brown and orange is visually rather jarring. As far as the composition goes, I think this should have been executed in a vertical aspect (Think: 'Portrait'), and lastly, I think some minor adjustments to your lighting are in order. Your key light needs to be raised a bit, and illumination reduced by 1/3 stop, and you definitely need a kicker/hairlight, image right to provide some additional illumination. I could crop this to a vertical, and do some levels/curves adjustments to bring out some more detail in her hair.

2. Good pose and expression, but it looks like it was lit almost totally with an on-camera flash. I would move the keylight to the left a little and reduce it by 1/3 - 1/2 stop (note the almost blown collar and over-bright facial highlights). I would also reconsider dark clothes on a dark background. Lastly, I would try something different with her hand, it looks very un-natural. (Don't forget to clean the lint off of her trousers).

3. I really like the contradiction of expressions here; one serious and one almost silly. Again, a little too much oomph on the key light. I think a reflector at about 45 deg image left, or perhaps a low output kicker would have reduced the dark shadows on the right side of their faces and helped a lot. I would also crop the top of the image so that only the concrete beam and not the blue steel members were visible, and the bottom immediately above the bottom of the right cuff of the blue denim jacket to eliminate the hands, feet, socks etc which all seems slightly awkward to me.

I can't really comment to much on skin tones from this computer. Overall, very nicely done, with only some minor niggles.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

 

[Travis F]

Daughter #2 is not pleased.

Color wise, at least the facial tones, and a nice subtle smile, make #1 my fav.

I like the the poses and composition on all of them, but not the flesh tones on the last two.

Thanks for the comments.

Daughter #2 was trying her "serious" expression LOL. She needs a little work on that I think.

Now that you mention it the flesh tones may be a little orange. I'll have to go back and tweak them a little.

Thanks again,
Travis

 

[Travis F]

C&C per req:

1. Lots of potential here, but I really don't like the background. You've done a good job of keeping it soft and unfocused, but the hard line between the brown and orange is visually rather jarring. As far as the composition goes, I think this should have been executed in a vertical aspect (Think: 'Portrait'), and lastly, I think some minor adjustments to your lighting are in order. Your key light needs to be raised a bit, and illumination reduced by 1/3 stop, and you definitely need a kicker/hairlight, image right to provide some additional illumination. I could crop this to a vertical, and do some levels/curves adjustments to bring out some more detail in her hair.

2. Good pose and expression, but it looks like it was lit almost totally with an on-camera flash. I would move the keylight to the left a little and reduce it by 1/3 - 1/2 stop (note the almost blown collar and over-bright facial highlights). I would also reconsider dark clothes on a dark background. Lastly, I would try something different with her hand, it looks very un-natural. (Don't forget to clean the lint off of her trousers).

3. I really like the contradiction of expressions here; one serious and one almost silly. Again, a little too much oomph on the key light. I think a reflector at about 45 deg image left, or perhaps a low output kicker would have reduced the dark shadows on the right side of their faces and helped a lot. I would also crop the top of the image so that only the concrete beam and not the blue steel members were visible, and the bottom immediately above the bottom of the right cuff of the blue denim jacket to eliminate the hands, feet, socks etc which all seems slightly awkward to me.

I can't really comment to much on skin tones from this computer. Overall, very nicely done, with only some minor niggles.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

Thanks for the insightful critiques! Much appreciated.

#1 the background is a bridge embankment. I liked the way the sunlight was hitting it, but I agree it gets distracting where it opens up to the outside.

#2 I needed a third light to light the background, in hindsight. I wanted to rim light the hair a little but lost that with the key light too high I think.

#3 Again, would have liked to have a third light to fill from camera left. Believe it or not there was a reflector there but it wasn't very effective.

I am going to revisit a shoot like this soon with my wife, I hope. I'll have to use my speedlight to add a little fill or use a hair/accent light. You know that say, you don't learn without making mistakes!

Thanks again,
Travis