Mother and daughter.

[zombiesniper]

Why did I take the shot?
This was another practice session for me and I was able to provide a photo to a friend.

What was my goal?
Since they both have very dark hair. I wanted to practice trying to separate them from a black background without using any lighting on the background our using hair lights. I know, I don't like myself very much. lol
I also wanted to try more skin processing. Yes even the dreaded frequency separation.

Did I achieve my goal?
Overall. Yes I did. Both mom and daughter are pleased with the image and I did manage to separate them from the background. I don't think I went to far in the processing although my skill with it may still be a bit clunky.

What issue did I overcome?
My lens was the first issue. We have just come back from vacation and my son was off to visit his grand parents. I forgot that I had packed my 70-200 in his camera bag. Crud, my 500mm wasn't going to work here so out came the trusty 18-55 kit lens.
I was initially having issues with the mothers hair being so dark that it all but disappeared. Raising the power or moving the lights closer was causing issues with exposure and shine skin.
I decided to narrow the angle between the lights and the camera and this caused an almost direct reflection of the light off of moms hair, virtually solving the issue.
Time was another issue. We only had two hours. This was something that was fixed and couldn't be changed but they are coming back for more shoots in the future.

If I could what would I change?
First I would ensure I had the gear I was expecting to at the ready. Live and learn.
I would have liked more time to "work the shot" but that is something we've discussed and they are willing to comeback agin for a longer shoot.
Lastly I would have moved them and the lights a couple of feet forward for more light to fall off of the background.

Gear:
Canon 7Dmk2 with Canon 18-55mm
1/200 at 55mm, F8 ISO 100

Lighting:
One 300 watt second monolight on camera left 4' away and 6' high at 3/8 power. One 300 watt second monolight on camera right, 4' away and 6' high at 1/2 power. Diagram below.
Black cloth background
Post processing:
Minor exposure correction in Lightroom. Blemish removal and first try at frequency separation in photoshop.

The Ladies by Trevor Baldwin, on Flickr

Lighting diagram

 

[tirediron]

Not bad at all! For future reference, some minor posing tweaks: The daughter's head appears MUCH larger than her mothers due to the difference in camera-to-subject distance; when using this pose, have the rear person lean forward slightly, and the front person lean back, so that there heads are closer to the same plane.

And, to get realllllllllly nit-picky, I think the mother's chin could have been dropped just a hair, and the daughter's head leaned slightly camera right and chin dropped just a hair.

 

[zombiesniper]

Great points.
I'll have to add them to the list.
Posing is something I really have to work on. I can easily off the top of my head nail all the technical things but it's the aesthetics I have to work at........crap I just made the comebacks way to easy there now didn't I?

 

[Black_Square]

This is a lovelly shot. I would echo the comments from tirediron, so only very minor quibbles!

 

[ZombiesniperJr]

Nice shot dad

 

[zombiesniper]

Thank you.

 

[smoke665]

Very respectable shot. Nice separation from the background, good coloring and skin tone, sharp eyes. You pretty much checked all the boxes.

Only minor thing I see and this is probably a personal preference, but the presence of double catchlights in each eye is distracting. Wouldn't be hard to clone one out.

The size difference in the daughters head and the mother intrigues me. I think Tirediron may have explained part of it but not all of it, because her head in relation to her body also seems large. I'm wondering if she may be a that awkward age when kids seem to grow unevenly at times?

 

[Derrel]

The first thing I noticed is the perspective distortion on the child's head, which is rendered quite large in comparison with the mother's head size; I suspected that this was shot from fairly close-in, with a rather short-ish lens focal length, which caused this. Otherwise, it's low-ration but pleasant lighting, and both subjects look nice, and comfortable. The nose shadows and under-chin shadows help show dimension to the faces.

 

[zombiesniper]

Only minor thing I see and this is probably a personal preference, but the presence of double catchlights in each eye is distracting. Wouldn't be hard to clone one out.

This doesn't bother me since I'm not trying to say it's natural light.

The first thing I noticed is the perspective distortion on the child's head

Yes. This in combination with the two focal planes I believe is causing this. They are coming back for more shoots at which time I'll steal my 70-200 back from Jr. lol

Thanks for the feedback.