Hunter

[Evertking]

My son.

 

[Jeff1547 47]

Lovely image but it's a shame you cut the top of his head off..

 

[BrentC]

I'm going to let everyone else deal with the technical aspects. What I have to say is a general comment on all your family photos. We never see any smiles. I think back on all your posts of wife and kids and there is not one with a smile. Always that same expression. You have a lovely wife and kids and think that if you get them to smile it will really light up your photos. Just my thoughts and something I've noticed for a long time and wanted to mention.

 

[tirediron]

I'm not a fan of the crop; both the head and hand being cropped as they are, are visually "irritating" to me. I do like the lighting and overall look of the image very much. As a moody image of a child, this is a 10/10; as a family photograph? I'm not so sure; I agree 100% with @BrentC as far as the smiles go.

 

[Evertking]

I'm going to let everyone else deal with the technical aspects. What I have to say is a general comment on all your family photos. We never see any smiles. I think back on all your posts of wife and kids and there is not one with a smile. Always that same expression. You have a lovely wife and kids and think that if you get them to smile it will really light up your photos. Just my thoughts and something I've noticed for a long time and wanted to mention.

I kinda disagree. Could be all the work I out in trying to get them to be serious lol..
BUT I think a simple could ruin a photograph, depending on what your after.

 

[smoke665]

As far as smiles go, IMO it depends on the intended mood. The other thing is that unless you catch a child unaware that you're photographing them they seem forced/fake, but catch them unaware and they will radiate like the sun. As to the crop agree with the others on the hand at the bottom. On the top of the head, I wish I knew the answer, because I've struggled with that one myself. The only real negative for me is the skin seems slightly over processed smooth. A little texture might be a better match with those fantastically sharp eyes.

 

[BrentC]

I'm going to let everyone else deal with the technical aspects. What I have to say is a general comment on all your family photos. We never see any smiles. I think back on all your posts of wife and kids and there is not one with a smile. Always that same expression. You have a lovely wife and kids and think that if you get them to smile it will really light up your photos. Just my thoughts and something I've noticed for a long time and wanted to mention.

I kinda disagree. Could be all the work I out in trying to get them to be serious lol..
BUT I think a simple could ruin a photograph, depending on what your after.

I didn't necessarily mean that this photo should have a smile. It's that over the years I haven't seen one of your photos with a smile. You have the same expression on all of them. Mix it up a bit. I would like to see what you can do with a happy, joyful image.

 

[DanOstergren25]

The lighting is great, and I tend to like portraits that have eye contact with no smiles. That said, he's a young boy; you don't need to smooth his skin out. Young children already have smooth skin, so even the tiniest bit of editing on their skin can be too much, but in this case it looks like the editing was taken way overboard. With any sort of editing, especially family portraits that you want to be authentic, subtlety is key.

 

[Evertking]

The lighting is great, and I tend to like portraits that have eye contact with no smiles. That said, he's a young boy; you don't need to smooth his skin out. Young children already have smooth skin, so even the tiniest bit of editing on their skin can be too much, but in this case it looks like the editing was taken way overboard. With any sort of editing, especially family portraits that you want to be authentic, subtlety is key.

First off, you work is amazing. And I got a question for ya. I look at other people's work that I like and yours included. How much of that is Photoshop? Am I putting to much in to Photoshop when I should be working more on my lighting? I hope this makes sense cause I have been thinking about this no stop. You and his name is Kyle Cong have a look to them. I'm guessing it's color grading??
Guess what I'm saying is, what's the secret??
just get out and shoot till my shutter gives out??

 

[DanOstergren25]

The lighting is great, and I tend to like portraits that have eye contact with no smiles. That said, he's a young boy; you don't need to smooth his skin out. Young children already have smooth skin, so even the tiniest bit of editing on their skin can be too much, but in this case it looks like the editing was taken way overboard. With any sort of editing, especially family portraits that you want to be authentic, subtlety is key.

First off, you work is amazing. And I got a question for ya. I look at other people's work that I like and yours included. How much of that is Photoshop? Am I putting to much in to Photoshop when I should be working more on my lighting? I hope this makes sense cause I have been thinking about this no stop. You and his name is Kyle Cong have a look to them. I'm guessing it's color grading??
Guess what I'm saying is, what's the secret??
just get out and shoot till my shutter gives out??

Thank you.
It's not as much photoshop as you would think. I rely heavily on making sure the lighting is perfect in order to get my signature look, and prefer to apply minimal amounts of editing in photoshop both for color toning and skin retouching. The secret is perfect light, accurate white balance (mine is set to "shade" almost 100% of the time), and subtle editing.

 

[Evertking]

The lighting is great, and I tend to like portraits that have eye contact with no smiles. That said, he's a young boy; you don't need to smooth his skin out. Young children already have smooth skin, so even the tiniest bit of editing on their skin can be too much, but in this case it looks like the editing was taken way overboard. With any sort of editing, especially family portraits that you want to be authentic, subtlety is key.

First off, you work is amazing. And I got a question for ya. I look at other people's work that I like and yours included. How much of that is Photoshop? Am I putting to much in to Photoshop when I should be working more on my lighting? I hope this makes sense cause I have been thinking about this no stop. You and his name is Kyle Cong have a look to them. I'm guessing it's color grading??
Guess what I'm saying is, what's the secret??
just get out and shoot till my shutter gives out??

Thank you.
It's not as much photoshop as you would think. I rely heavily on making sure the lighting is perfect in order to get my signature look, and prefer to apply minimal amounts of editing in photoshop both for color toning and skin retouching. The secret is perfect light, accurate white balance (mine is set to "shade" almost 100% of the time), and subtle editing.

Ok, thank you. I have a question. If I get the correct white balance and then do color toning was getting the correct white balance a waste?
I appreciate the help and advice.

 

[DanOstergren25]

The lighting is great, and I tend to like portraits that have eye contact with no smiles. That said, he's a young boy; you don't need to smooth his skin out. Young children already have smooth skin, so even the tiniest bit of editing on their skin can be too much, but in this case it looks like the editing was taken way overboard. With any sort of editing, especially family portraits that you want to be authentic, subtlety is key.

First off, you work is amazing. And I got a question for ya. I look at other people's work that I like and yours included. How much of that is Photoshop? Am I putting to much in to Photoshop when I should be working more on my lighting? I hope this makes sense cause I have been thinking about this no stop. You and his name is Kyle Cong have a look to them. I'm guessing it's color grading??
Guess what I'm saying is, what's the secret??
just get out and shoot till my shutter gives out??

Thank you.
It's not as much photoshop as you would think. I rely heavily on making sure the lighting is perfect in order to get my signature look, and prefer to apply minimal amounts of editing in photoshop both for color toning and skin retouching. The secret is perfect light, accurate white balance (mine is set to "shade" almost 100% of the time), and subtle editing.

Ok, thank you. I have a question. If I get the correct white balance and then do color toning was getting the correct white balance a waste?
I appreciate the help and advice.

No, because if you’re going to tone your image, you should be toning it in a way that harmonizes with the colors that already exist in the photograph.


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