How bad are these family photos? CC welcome!

Robin Usagani · Sep 27, 2010

1)

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

KAikens318 · Sep 27, 2010

I like the last two they are far more natural.

I know that kids are super hard to get smiling all at the same time and that little guy looked like he just was not having it!!!

The flash is really harsh on most of them, perhaps a warming filter in PP would soften it up a little? JMO

I like the one where the parents are in focus with the out of focus children playing in the background, maybe boosting curves a little would help brighten the parents up a tad

astroskeptic · Sep 27, 2010

Overall, very good I'd say. I suspect the 'rents will love the bubble shots (did you add the flares to the bubble in #7 btw? if so, nice touch). The flash seems to have been used effectively to bring out the subjects everywhere but #4.

#5 doesn't work for me ... blurred foregrounds generally are not a problem but in this case it seems to be; somehow the parents being oof seems to hinder this shot.

My guess is that you'll have some happy clients with these.

Robin Usagani · Sep 27, 2010

Cool... Thx peeps. I just realized the flares on the bubbles. So no I didn't add it. Hopefully the parents love them.

prodigy2k7 · Sep 28, 2010

More ambient light, less flash. Use the flash to reduce the harsh shadows, not make it look like they are in a studio.

WTF? · Sep 28, 2010

they'd all be pretty good if it wasnt for the direct on camera flash. getting the flash off the top of the camera will do a world of good in the future

Robin Usagani · Sep 28, 2010

This park is a hot spot for photographers. I saw maybe 5 other family photographers and they all used a flash on the camera. I feel like it is too hard to do. Maybe do it on models?

WTF? said:
they'd all be pretty good if it wasnt for the direct on camera flash. getting the flash off the top of the camera will do a world of good in the future

If I use more ambient light, the more blown background you see. I personally like this better than seeing yellow bright grass or white sky.

prodigy2k7 said:
More ambient light, less flash. Use the flash to reduce the harsh shadows, not make it look like they are in a studio.

ababysean · Sep 28, 2010

you know what I'm going to say
The flash makes them look sort of Point and Shoot....
I would rather blow the backgrounds then have such a visible flash in their faces....
But I think we disagree on this! haha

Robin Usagani · Sep 28, 2010

ababysean said:
you know what I'm going to say
The flash makes them look sort of Point and Shoot....
I would rather blow the backgrounds then have such a visible flash in their faces....
But I think we disagree on this! haha

LOL.. yeah we will disagree on this

. There is no way you can make a point of shoot do what I did though

ababysean · Sep 28, 2010

Do you have any where you did not use flash?
I am saying PS because the flash is so visible off their faces, their skin tone is just completely flashed out.
Numbers 4 and 5 look the best, did you use flash there?
The park I go to is littered with photographers also, and almost all have flash mounted on their cameras but I rarely see it actually being used. I don't know if they think this makes them look more professional or what?
and remember....
sometimes showers are not bad things to have..... lol

MohaimenK · Sep 28, 2010

As far as the lighting I do like 4 5 and 9 because they look more natural to me. As far as the pictures go, I like them all except for #5 because for that I wouldn't have had the parents look at the camera. Only because they're being out of focus and the kids are what should be focused. So I would have had them do something else, where they don't look like they're paying attention to the camera. Perhaps look at eachother, or give eachother or look away, or even look back at the kids.

But nontheless they're good pictures and I know for a fact the family will be extremely happy with them. Good job man

ghache · Sep 28, 2010

Like prodigy said, i would have exposed the ambient light a little bit more. so the flash would have looked more natural

Neil S. · Sep 28, 2010

I like 1-3 and 6-9 a lot.

I would be happy with the results if I was you.

These are very good in my opinion considering you are just getting into this type of thing. :thumbup:

Very good sharpness/color/contrast all around.

This is what I would expect from that lens though, so anything less would be a problem.

I know you are good at editing, and I dont think much could be done in post to improve these.

4 & 5 I find to be distracting, because its like there are 2 subjects, but only one is in focus.

You can't help also looking at the subject OOF (kids, or parents), and it just doesnt work for me.

I might have tried the same thing, because I am a noob with these types of shots.

I also find the lighting to be lacking in 4 & 5.

Were you using a flash diffuser for these?

I think it may have helped with what others are saying here. I would have to admit that the light is slightly "harsh" on many of them.

What may have also helped is if you turned down the flash power slightly.

Overall though you probably made the right choice using the flash, and not doing so would have been even worse in my opinion.

Hope this helps.

Robin Usagani · Sep 28, 2010

Good idea Mo.. I agree that the parents shouldnt have looked at the camera.

MohaimenK said:
As far as the pictures go, I like them all except for #5 because for that I wouldn't have had the parents look at the camera. Only because they're being out of focus and the kids are what should be focused. So I would have had them do something else, where they don't look like they're paying attention to the camera. Perhaps look at eachother, or give eachother or look away, or even look back at the kids.

But nontheless they're good pictures and I know for a fact the family will be extremely happy with them. Good job man

I used ETTL almost on all of these. I guess the only way I could make it use less flash is to put the FEC to negative.

ghache said:
Like prodigy said, i would have exposed the ambient light a little bit more. so the flash would have looked more natural

Yeah.. I've been getting mixed results with flash usage. I need to find a happy medium. I dont want my clients to have 50-50 like and dislike! I need to find a way so most people will like them. I did have a diffuser on but decided to take it off because the sun was just too bright and I need all the flash power I could get. Maybe I should have raise the FEC and leave the diffuser on. I looked at other photographer while I was there and all of them didnt have any diffuser so I did the same thing.

Neil S. said:
I like 1-3 and 6-9 a lot.

I would be happy with the results if I was you.

These are very good in my opinion considering you are just getting into this type of thing. :thumbup:

Very good sharpness/color/contrast all around.

This is what I would expect from that lens though, so anything less would be a problem.

I know you are good at editing, and I dont think much could be done in post to improve these.

4 & 5 I find to be distracting, because its like there are 2 subjects, but only one is in focus.

You can't help also looking at the subject OOF (kids, or parents), and it just doesnt work for me.

I might have tried the same thing, because I am a noob with these types of shots.

I also find the lighting to be lacking in 4 & 5.

Were you using a flash diffuser for these?

I think it may have helped with what others are saying here. I would have to admit that the light is slightly "harsh" on many of them.

What may have also helped is if you turned down the flash power slightly.

Overall though you probably made the right choice using the flash, and not doing so would have been even worse in my opinion.

Hope this helps.

bigtwinky · Sep 28, 2010

I dont like the flash shots. They look fake and do have a P&S feel to them. If you dont want to shoot with ambiant only because of blown out backgrounds, then find a different place to shoot where the background won't be blown out.

While its a helpful tip to find a shaded area to shoot in, you need to be mindful of what is around as well.

The standout image is #8 for me. Composition and exposure are both nice and there is action which makes the shot interesting, all the while being (or at least looking) natural.