Lookin for CC

Terri Walsh · Feb 10, 2008

Did my second photoshoot today. Here are a few of the (edited) photos. What do you think? CC welcome!
If anyone is interested in CCing them all, I could give you a flickr link....

Terri Walsh · Feb 10, 2008

anyone?

ghpham · Feb 10, 2008

I like the third one the best. Number one looks good as well, but I don't think the family are far enough from the background. The second pic. looks kind of busy, and the skin tones on the children looks a bit off. The last pic looks a bit overexposed.

Happy Hour · Feb 10, 2008

They all look great. But Next time when you are dealing with people with pale white skin I would recommend a darker background or at least move them further from the white wall. The last one the boys tend to blend into the wall.BTW I love the B&W!!!

SpeedTrap · Feb 10, 2008

I am not trying to be harsh just a true C&C
1) You left space at the top but cut her off at the elbows, as well they are too close to the background. As well you need to be aware of hand placement, moms hand looks like a claw.

2) I like the idea of this one, but watch for the socks, all on or all off,

3) This is my nice, good catchlights in the eyes.
4) Again good Idea but watch the hand it seems a bit aquward

5) This could have been a very strong picture if they were both looking at the camera

6) I like this one but I would have liked to see it from a bit higher up and without the vent on the left side.
I think you are doing a grat job, you just have a few small things to watch out for.

John_Olexa · Feb 10, 2008

That third one is awesome!!! the others are just minor things.like

#1 a little further away from the background. sometimes a slave pointed at the background helps.

#2 to many distractions. Cropping out across the top from the black thing with the 2 eyes in upper right lol would help alot!! Scroll up on the screen until that black light (?) disappears and you will see what I mean

#3 Awesome!

#4 I like!!!

#5 I like!!

#6 The vent in bottom left.

Really, all just minor things!!!!

Tasmaster · Feb 10, 2008

CC can sound harsh, but that's what CC is - the intention is to help others improve, so if you even think something could be improved, point it out. If you are looking to improve, there is no such thing as "negative" feedback. If people are commenting on your photo in a meaningful way, that means you have an interesting photo to begin with. Well, unless everyone is posting stuff like "omg this is bad", "you suck!" or "I CAN'T LOOK AT IT I BROKE MY MONITOR!!" :mrgreen:

That said, nice photos overall, here is my CC:

First one, your subject (the family) looks off-center because of the empty space to the right. The background also feels wrong, imo it should have been a bit darker and further back.

Second pic, the lighting is too harsh. You probably needed some diffusing. reflecting, and filling-in to do there but i don't know much about that. Another thing, you could have picked a slightly different angle if possible, so the mother's head would be against the same, light coloured, background as the father's.

Next three photos, i like the middle one, nice skin tones that work well against the dark bg. Partial desaturation is up to taste i guess, but on the second B&W one the children look a bit... dead!

I think you should have let the colour in their eyes.

Last pic, a darker background would really go a long way. I like the composition, what the kids are doing, and the colours, it is just the bg that spoils that one for me.

Here is a really quick edit (sorry about the quality really!):

edit - sorry looking at it again it looks terrible, i promise to do another version later, but well, it shows what i mean!

Terri Walsh · Feb 10, 2008

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate and need the feedback, thats why I have posted!
As for overexposure of the last one, I dont think the orig. was, I may have done too much lightening (adjusting levels), I can fix that.
As for the socks, the one had them off and the other refused to take his off, so the parents left them. I did attempt to change that...
I did have a hard time getting them to look at me. They were often looking at their parents. Asked parents to leave the room at one point, but i am not sure I was clear, as they did not. Will be sure to be clear on that in the future!
Not excuses by any means, simply lessons learned!
I like the idea of color in their eyes, thought of that but one has blue eyes and the other brown so was not sure how that would look, will try it and see!
Will also try the last one again!

AlexParlett · Feb 10, 2008

Just a quick post, its 4am, and i have to sleep, but a note on the lighting on the second one. You have the lighting coming from the left side, leaving the right side of the face in shadow. Either you want to place a difuser to the oposite side, or use 2 off camera lighting sources so that you get equal soft lighting. On the note of soft lighting, youll want to look at defusing the light as well, or possibly stopping off camera lighting down, its a bit harsh, picking out too many highlights instead of creating a softer look. But other than that its a great shot.

Terri Walsh · Feb 10, 2008

slightly revised, better?
working with orig, got rid of vent...

Cropped the lights out, changed to an 8x10

I added a bit of color back into the photo...

And another one of the cards table

Chibamonkey · Feb 11, 2008

I like all of them except for the last one....overall, I would say not a bad start. Keep up the good work!

One thing that I notice after looking at the two versions of the photo of the parents on the divan/sofa w/ the kids on the floor is that there is a scale issue. I am not a professional, by any means or stretch of the imagination, but the scaling of the kids vs the parents appears slightly artificial and out of proportion to my eye.

I do like the cropping in the edited version, and it helps w/ the issue above.

Bear in mind, I have no formal training in photography other than a basic photo class in college back in the early 80's, and the only true experience I have is shooting several miles of tri-x outdoors when film was cheap and beer was cheaper.

No matter what, the customer service is what matters most.....keep up the good work!

Fliphishermon · Feb 11, 2008

Your second one has two challenges that are easily fixed.

First you have a depth issue. While not a problem necessarily, family "portraits" generally have a shallower depth of field, allowing both the photographer and the viewer to concentrate on the people and not the composition. Put the kids on the laps and bring everybody together.

Second, your foreground is a black or dark rug, the parents are sitting on a white couch, the back right is dark and the back left is light. You introduce light sources from the upper back left, the upper back right, and somewhere off to the left which causes shadows on the faces.

You've composed a setting that by itself, makes for the possibility of a first rate photography iffy, at best.

Most of the setting issues could be fixed by selecting a different setting or at least a different sitting and lighting arrangement within the same room.

Take shots. Lots of shots!

fred333 · Feb 11, 2008

I really like the one with the child holding the blanket. Beyond just remember the more the merrier when you are at a photo shoot.

ghpham · Feb 11, 2008

For your updated photos:

1. The skin tone looks better and the over all pic does not look wash out like before. I'm not sure I like them being up against the wall.
2. There seems to be a DOF problem. The mom's face looks soft while the kids are sharp in focus. The father's face seems sharper than the mom's but I think he is sticking his head forward?

All in all good pictures though. I struggling myself

Sandspur · Feb 11, 2008

Lots of good comments and suggestions already, so I won't add any. Your corrected ones are better.

But ... (you knew there was going to be a "but" didn't you? ) ... in the very first picture there are two things that bug me. (And, having done quite a bit of this sort of photography myself, I certainly understand how these little things can be missed.
#1 - Dad's right hand swallowing the kid's foot. #2 (I admit this may just be a "guy thing" for which I apologize to everyone on behalf of myself and all the other men in the world ...) to whit: There's bare skin (of the breast variety) showing through the gap between mom's long hair and her blouse.
Probably not too noticeable in a 4x6. But I assure you that it WILL be noticeable if that image ever gets blown up to an 8x10 or 11x14.

Easily fixed, of course, with a little cloning in PS.