LeaNC
TPF Noob!
- Joined
- Nov 25, 2015
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos OK to edit
"Embarrassing" is an understatement for how I feel about these images and myself as a photographer... But I desperately need some help, preferably without judgement because I'm ashamed enough as it is! I should absolutely know better considering my experience, I guess my personal issues are reflecting onto my work.
I wouldn't even be sharing these for help if this wasn't SO important to this family! - This was their parents 50th wedding anniversary, and the father is ill, so this may be the family's last event with him... no pressure right?
So I stupidly took on the very important job of photographing a friends parents 50th anniversary after not picking up my camera for a few years, thinking it would be like riding a bike (I've been going through a lot of personal/financial hardships, which have caused me to take a good 2 years break from my photography - I also had to drop out of college where I was studying photography for over a year because of said hardships), but I crashed the damn bike and ruined the outdoor portrait portion of my photographs - the photos during the event turned out great, I'm clearly not good with outdoor portraits.
I've photographed portraits(indoors) and events in the past, and all have turned out great, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to get back into what I love! Unfortunately, once I was photographing the family I had forgotten many vital techniques, even the common sense stuff like checking the histogram as I shoot - thus leaving me with disgustingly under/over exposed, discolored messes. And since the family was on edge that day, and VERY impatient during the portrait session, I rushed everything like an overly confident amateur (no excuses, I should have done a better job of making it fun for them, and taken more time to check my settings.)
I also used a large homemade reflector, which I used wrong, and made a bad situation worse.
So needless to say, these photos are my worst to date, and I'm in a panic trying to fix them for an anxious family hoping to use them for the holidays!
There is absolutely no option to re-shoot this, it was a one time event, and there's just not enough time anyhow.
I've managed to make some huge improvements in Lightroom and Photoshop, but unfortunately my edits just aren't doing it (and look even worse when exported from Lightroom.)
I'm not skilled enough in post, and I'm finding myself over editing all of these.
Meanwhile, I have the client contacting me frequently asking when they will be ready because the family is getting anxious, so panic has fully set in at this point.
I'm about to give up completely, and return their money - But this means so much to them, and myself.
Finally getting to the point here, I'm in desperate need of some post production assistance!
I understand that I can't just have someone in this forum take over my entire post production, but if there's anyone who can help me make these photos bearable you will be a lifesaver!
What I need most is someone with a better trained set of eyes, and more experience with post production, to work with them and see what you can do. Then send it back with a little explanation of how you got it to that point.
Or just any advice on how I can improve these asap!
I have a total of 13 different photos, with extra shots of the larger groups to fix anyone who blinked or moved, giving a total of 45 photos.
I've included a link to my Dropbox folder with everything needed to help - Including the original CR2 files, as well as the DNG/Tiff to see where I got with my edits. :
**Removed link - Thank you for the privacy advice!**
I apologise for writing a book here!
Thank you very much for your time, and help!
-Lea
* I've attached an example of what I'm currently working with (original file, and edit from Lightroom+photoshop thus far) as an example before going to my dropbox.
I wouldn't even be sharing these for help if this wasn't SO important to this family! - This was their parents 50th wedding anniversary, and the father is ill, so this may be the family's last event with him... no pressure right?
So I stupidly took on the very important job of photographing a friends parents 50th anniversary after not picking up my camera for a few years, thinking it would be like riding a bike (I've been going through a lot of personal/financial hardships, which have caused me to take a good 2 years break from my photography - I also had to drop out of college where I was studying photography for over a year because of said hardships), but I crashed the damn bike and ruined the outdoor portrait portion of my photographs - the photos during the event turned out great, I'm clearly not good with outdoor portraits.
I've photographed portraits(indoors) and events in the past, and all have turned out great, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to get back into what I love! Unfortunately, once I was photographing the family I had forgotten many vital techniques, even the common sense stuff like checking the histogram as I shoot - thus leaving me with disgustingly under/over exposed, discolored messes. And since the family was on edge that day, and VERY impatient during the portrait session, I rushed everything like an overly confident amateur (no excuses, I should have done a better job of making it fun for them, and taken more time to check my settings.)
I also used a large homemade reflector, which I used wrong, and made a bad situation worse.
So needless to say, these photos are my worst to date, and I'm in a panic trying to fix them for an anxious family hoping to use them for the holidays!
There is absolutely no option to re-shoot this, it was a one time event, and there's just not enough time anyhow.
I've managed to make some huge improvements in Lightroom and Photoshop, but unfortunately my edits just aren't doing it (and look even worse when exported from Lightroom.)
I'm not skilled enough in post, and I'm finding myself over editing all of these.
Meanwhile, I have the client contacting me frequently asking when they will be ready because the family is getting anxious, so panic has fully set in at this point.
I'm about to give up completely, and return their money - But this means so much to them, and myself.
Finally getting to the point here, I'm in desperate need of some post production assistance!
I understand that I can't just have someone in this forum take over my entire post production, but if there's anyone who can help me make these photos bearable you will be a lifesaver!
What I need most is someone with a better trained set of eyes, and more experience with post production, to work with them and see what you can do. Then send it back with a little explanation of how you got it to that point.
Or just any advice on how I can improve these asap!
I have a total of 13 different photos, with extra shots of the larger groups to fix anyone who blinked or moved, giving a total of 45 photos.
I've included a link to my Dropbox folder with everything needed to help - Including the original CR2 files, as well as the DNG/Tiff to see where I got with my edits. :
**Removed link - Thank you for the privacy advice!**
I apologise for writing a book here!
Thank you very much for your time, and help!
-Lea
* I've attached an example of what I'm currently working with (original file, and edit from Lightroom+photoshop thus far) as an example before going to my dropbox.
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