My Daughters portrait for Mom's day

Tuffythepug

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I wanted to take a nice photo of my two daughters for a framed enlargement to give my wife on mother's day. This was the shot I selected. I enlarged to 11x14 and had it professionally framed. She was very pleased with the picture when I surprised her with it on her special day.

 
On camera flash really takes all the detail and modelling out of skin.
They look, as they are actually doing, like they are staring into a very bright light.
 
On camera flash really takes all the detail and modelling out of skin.
They look, as they are actually doing, like they are staring into a very bright light.

I can only say that I am glad my wife is not as critical of the results. But thanks for the response. I used the tools I had available to me at the time.
 
On camera flash really takes all the detail and modelling out of skin.
They look, as they are actually doing, like they are staring into a very bright light.

I can only say that I am glad my wife is not as critical of the results. But thanks for the response. I used the tools I had available to me at the time.

No problem.
It's best for your photography in the long run if you hear unbiased comments from viewers who don't have any emotional ties to the content - and I assume that's why you posted it in the first place.
 
On camera flash really takes all the detail and modelling out of skin.
They look, as they are actually doing, like they are staring into a very bright light.

I can only say that I am glad my wife is not as critical of the results. But thanks for the response. I used the tools I had available to me at the time.

No problem.
It's best for your photography in the long run if you hear unbiased comments from viewers who don't have any emotional ties to the content - and I assume that's why you posted it in the first place.


So I got one "nicely done" and one negative critique. Since I am not a professional photographer I assume that every photo I take could be improved in some way, shape or form.
Now that you've told me what I did wrong how about some advice in what I should have done ? I have a Nikon D-80 and a Nikon SB-700 speedlight which I used for fill in a very shaded area of a park. Bright mid-day sun made me think that a shaded area under the trees would be preferable so I put the camera on a tripod and mounted the flash for fill. I imagine keeping the flash off camera and held to the side and above may have provided more pleasing detail and modeling on their faces ? That wasn't an option without a sync cord unless I used the speedlight as a slave. You tell me. I am always willing to learn from those who are more knowledgeable. What would you have done ?
 
This wasn't really fill, the flash just overpowered any ambient light.
I would have started with spot metering (using the camera) to look at the difference between the bright and the dark side, then used the flash to correct any difference that is too great. (more than a stop or so.)
 
I see what Lew's saying but I still say its nice and serves its purpose well.
 
Now that you've told me what I did wrong how about some advice in what I should have done ? I have a Nikon D-80 and a Nikon SB-700 speedlight which I used for fill in a very shaded area of a park. Bright mid-day sun made me think that a shaded area under the trees would be preferable so I put the camera on a tripod and mounted the flash for fill. I imagine keeping the flash off camera and held to the side and above may have provided more pleasing detail and modeling on their faces ? That wasn't an option without a sync cord unless I used the speedlight as a slave. You tell me. I am always willing to learn from those who are more knowledgeable. What would you have done ?
What I would have done would have been to set the speedlight on a tripod just above and off to one side, and use some sort of diffuser (a quick trip to the Tupperware drawer would likely have yeilded a suitable one) and set the speedlight to manual, and use the on-camera flash to tirgger it, calculating rough exposure with the guide number and fine-tuning it by trial and error. Given the conditions etc, the image is fine; could it have been better? Of course, any image could have been better. If the family is happy then, that's all that matters!
 
Yes, my wife loves the photo. Sincere thanks to all who have offered advice on how to improve a shot like this next time. We had several families gathered in the park that day for a birthday party for my 1 year old grand-daughter. I set up the camera in one spot and invited any and all of the guests to get their families posed and I would shoot group shots for them. Of course these are all non-photo-savvy folks who use their phones if they want to take a picture so they were all very pleased when I e-mailed their photos to them a few days later. They don't look at photographs the way photographers do. I expected to get honest responses here and that's what I got.
 
Very nice photo! And as a Mom I would like this of my daughters.

One of my favorite photos of my daughters was unplanned. We scheduled the younger one's HS shots first and the older one's engagement photos second with the same photographer. After the HS shots we were leaving when the photographer took an impromptu shot of the girls sitting back to back and looking either left or right at the photographer. Of course I ordered some from that set too.
 

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