Learning the hard way..... A set of senior pics from today. C&C very welcomed.

[Stradawhovious]

Like the title says.... I seem to be learning things the hard way. the mom will be pleased, but all i can seem to focus on are the things I could have done better.

At least I'm starting to see these things, and can use this disappointment in the future to make me better.

Anyhoo, here are some of the pics from today, C&C would be appreciated, and dno't be afraid to be brutal. The worst that will happen is you making me cry like a 4 year old with a skinned knee. (I'm sure my wife will find it to be hilarious.)

Here is the first one.

I guess I don't find the lighting to be painfully difficult to look at on this one, but it does seem a bit flat. My main beef are the legs. I'm wondering if I couldn't have ad him put his weight on the other leg.... Hmm.......




Second one.....

Lighting still seems a little flat, I'm wondering if I could have bumped the shutter speed or aperture up a stop to help with that...... I guess I will ahve to take the kiddo out and practice this one, since I do like the location.




Number 3

I like the lighting in this one, but what do I know from lighting, right?

Here is the thing that pisses me off most on this one...... I cropped off his damn toes. How very rediculoulsy rookie of me.

Grrr.




4th one, and in my opinion probably the strongest one of the set.

Lighting still seems a bit flat. I really need to work on that, but am stuck a bit on it. I have received a whole lot of great tips but can't seem to get them through that mile thick skull of mine.



Last one here......

Yeah, I know you aren't supposed to pose people where you are shooting into the crotch, but it seemed OK here to get this shot. Again, a great location, and I was going for kind of a dark woods feel, which think comes through a bit.






Well, there they are, please dont hesitate to tear them apart. Like I said, my Wife loves to watch me cry.

She points and laughs. It's pretty embarassing.



EDIT looking at the post, the all seem a bit soft. The originals don't appear to be that soft, and Flickr usually doesn't soften them up that much. Not sure what gives.

 

[powasky]

I really love the DOF of the last one, even if it is kind of weirdly posed. Maybe you should try using larger apertures to draw more attention to your subject and away from the background trees and shiv? Also, 3 and 4 have a pretty yellow tint to them if you want to fix that.

For the record, I've never shot portraits, so take all of this with a grain of salt

 

[vtf]

Sharpen them a tad. I think when you get to nit picky you've done well. Uncrop his cut off toes and you'll have a great set imo..
Now lets hear from real photographers.

 

[Scoody]

You weren't actually going to try to get money for these...were you? J/K. They are all pretty good except for the bad crop on the toes on one. Do not worry about the crotch shot. There are only a few ways a guy can sit.

 

[Stradawhovious]

I really love the DOF of the last one, even if it is kind of weirdly posed. Maybe you should try using larger apertures to draw more attention to your subject and away from the background trees and shiv? Also, 3 and 4 have a pretty yellow tint to them if you want to fix that.

For the record, I've never shot portraits, so take all of this with a grain of salt

Much appreciated! the yellow tint might be a product of not having a calibrated monitor, and PP on two different machines....... I should really get that addressed. THe DOF, I gues I'm OK with the DOF on these. They were all shot in the f/4 to f/8 range, since those seem to be the "sweet spots" for the lenses I used..... but you are absolutely correct I could have easily brought more attention to him by dropping to 2.8 or so.

Thanks again for the opinions, I'm lovin' it.

 

[Stradawhovious]

You weren't actually going to try to get money for these...were you? J/K.

Wow. ask for brutal, and these folks really bring it, eh?

Nope. I know better than to charge for mediocre photography, and have the gift of knowing that's the subset that best describes my pictures....... Seems like a rare talent.

Some day I might be good enough to get some cash for pics, but until then its just for the experinece and for the fun of it.

 

[johnh2005]

You weren't actually going to try to get money for these...were you? J/K.

Wow. ask for brutal, and these folks really bring it, eh?

Nope. I know better than to charge for mediocre photography, and have the gift of knowing that's the subset that best describes my pictures....... Seems like a rare talent.

Some day I might be good enough to get some cash for pics, but until then its just for the experinece and for the fun of it.

He was kidding when he said the bit about charging. I think you could get a reasonable amount for these if you took the time to fix what you could in PP. Of course you would not want to charge top dollar like some 5 star studio but whatever the mom/pop decides is good.

 

[MissCream]

Did you mess with the clarity in ACR or Lightroom?

 

[Scoody]

Nope. I know better than to charge for mediocre photography,

I, on the other hand have no such scruples. I would not know a scruple if it bit me on the butt. In fact, I got bit by a scruple the other day and I had no idea what it was until my wife told me.

 

[Stradawhovious]

He was kidding when he said the bit about charging.

Yeah, I caught that...... it was the "J/K" that gave it away. I might be pretty dense, but the lol filter still works.

Did you mess with the clarity in ACR or Lightroom?

Sadly I have neither. Pretty sorry excuse for a "photographer", eh? I did what I could with my limited knowledge of adobe elements 9. but that is the extent of my PP arsenal. Im sure I will play with them some more in the very near future.

I got bit by a scruple the other day and I had no idea what it was until my wife told me.

Did it have large talons?

 

[Scoody]

And a beak!

 

[oldmacman]

original:

You can definitely work with these. There is just some processing to take care of under exposure which is also adding to the red cast of the images. Here is the first pic edited with:
- about 1/2 a stop increase in exposure to the figure, leaving the background a little darker
- red reduction
- selectively sharpened figure

 

[D-B-J]

original:

You can definitely work with these. There is just some processing to take care of under exposure which is also adding to the red cast of the images. Here is the first pic edited with:
- about 1/2 a stop increase in exposure to the figure, leaving the background a little darker
- red reduction
- selectively sharpened figure

Except for a slight halo around his right arm, this is a good edit. Exactly what i would have done. But maybe ever so slightly less on the brightening.

 

[mrstravis]

And a beak!

You're too funny...lol

 

[mrstravis]

On some of the pics he has a shine under/on his chin, not sure if it's just me seeing it bc no one else mentioned it so take that with a grain of salt.