Friend & her sweet family. C&C very much apprecited!

[rachelrach11]

My friend Shelly allowed me to take a few shots of her sweet family yesterday. This particular area is much more "photo friendly " ( as most places) later in the afternoon, but these were taken around 10:00am.

I tried working around the harsh sun and shadows as much as I could but I'm still not super happy with certain areas being overexposed.

 

[kathyt]

Your concepts and poses are amazing but the lighting is way too harsh. If you look at your shadows you can see how harsh your shadows are. #3 is super cute though. #1,#2, and #4 looks like the focus is pretty soft. Your post processing looks good.

 

[tirediron]

The poses are good, but for me the stool just doesn't make sense. Why would the stool be there?

 

[Derrel]

I think you can rescue these with some Minus exposure compensation, and some fill light and some highlight recovery. I thought these were overly-filled flash shots at first. You used the direct sunlight of morning almost like a hard light source, like a large parabolic reflector with studio flash. With a bit more processing work, you can elevate the look of these shots a bit higher.

 

[kathyt]

I love the stool! Men don't get it Rachel.

 

[The_Traveler]

what they all said.

I think the leading lines of the sides of the road work against the images here. They are obvious, draw attention and aren't needed.
I would rather have seen the people posed so that the background was not so obviously used.

Lew

 

[tirediron]

I love the stool! Men don't get it Rachel.

:greenpbl:

 

[Derrel]

I love the stool! Men don't get it Rachel.

You're probably right...Germans love stools...most of the rest of the world does NOT get it, and does not like to look at stools. Or piano benches either... German Toilets

 

[kathyt]

I love the stool! Men don't get it Rachel.

You're probably right...Germans love stools...most of the rest of the world does NOT get it, and does not like to look at stools. Or piano benches either... German Toilets

My maiden name is Althauser, so maybe that's why I love stools.

 

[Derrel]

Lol!!!

 

[rachelrach11]

I have to admit that the stool AND the piano bench were totally my idea. I have been in love with this particular road and I guess I was trying to attempt a little more variety to the photos.

The lighting was a nightmare!! The trees (bordering the road) are spaced out only enough to shade a portion of the person that I was photographing.

I used a rather large reflector on the opposite side (thinking that it would even things out) but now in retrospect , I'm thinking that I probably would've gotten better results using the diffuser portion of the reflector in between the sun and the subject????

 

[Robin_Usagani]

Yeah.. men dont get it. Why is there a stool in the middle? Makes no sense at all! Anyway.. there is really something wrong with #1. I am surprised none of you brought it up. You photoshopped the shadow of the stool legs??? I really do not like the placement of the sun. Sun from the right, subject in complete shadow, background lit up by the sun. I rather the subject get hit by the sun as well OR find background that is in the shadow as well.

 

[kathyt]

Yeah.. men dont get it. Why is there a stool in the middle? Makes no sense at all! Anyway.. there is really something wrong with #1. I am surprised none of you brought it up. You photoshopped the shadow of the stool legs??? I really do not like the placement of the sun. Sun from the right, subject in complete shadow, background lit up by the sun. I rather the subject get hit by the sun as well OR find background that is in the shadow as well.

If she used a larger reflector in #1 on the opposite side of her subject, wouldn't that be why there are no shadows around the stool legs?

 

[theeph]

I don't know, Kathy. I saw it in #1, too. Makes the background look fake, it blew my mind.

 

[NorthbyNorthwest]

I am a man, and I like seats in random locations. So maybe it's just that guy... Though I will say I like them better in fields and nature. I agree the lighting is harsh or just a bit off, but great set otherwise.