My first attempts at portraits. CC pls!

ConradM · Dec 18, 2011

I know these are far from perfect, but they're going to be christmas presents for my family and it won't take much to impress them. :mrgreen:

Struggled with the lighting on these first two...

#1

#2 I like this one cause it looks like they're having fun in the picture.

#3

Tried to get some of just the baby, but it didn't work out. Wifey insists that we try again tomorrow.

rexbobcat · Dec 18, 2011

The first two seem a little bit underexposed and the colors seem a bit cool (orange, red).

Also, I know this isn't always in the control of the photographer, but when I'm shooting a little toddler I always try to do some stupid face or something to get them to look at the picture if just for a few seconds and then I snap away. Or I ask someone else to try and get the baby's attention. Of course, every baby is different so no telling if this will work or not. Toys usually work too, I suppose.

I like the last one though.The composition is a unique in the fact the the left of the image gives the feeling of winter/cold, and it's bright. The right of the image gives more of a feeling of warmth, but it's contrastier (lol) and moody. Interesting.

The lighting is very nice as well. And the skin tones are more natural.

TamiAz · Dec 18, 2011

I really like the last one.. You have three beautiful kids!

ConradM · Dec 18, 2011

rexbobcat said:
The first two seem a little bit underexposed and the colors seem a bit cool (orange, red).

Also, I know this isn't always in the control of the photographer, but when I'm shooting a little toddler I always try to do some stupid face or something to get them to look at the picture if just for a few seconds and then I snap away. Or I ask someone else to try and get the baby's attention. Of course, every baby is different so no telling if this will work or not. Toys usually work too, I suppose.

I like the last one though.The composition is a unique in the fact the the left of the image gives the feeling of winter/cold, and it's bright. The right of the image gives more of a feeling of warmth, but it's contrastier (lol) and moody. Interesting. The lighting is very nice as well. And the skin tones are more natural.

Thanks for the CC! Yea, I had trouble with the exposure and white balance on the "studio" shots... But then again I'm using $20 shop lights. :lmao: As for the baby, he's actually only 2 months old and he has barely started to respond to our faces and voices. So, not sure how that's going to work out on a re-shoot.

ConradM · Dec 18, 2011

TamiAz said:
I really like the last one.. You have three beautiful kids!

Thanks!

AfroKen · Dec 18, 2011

#3 is a very nice shot, I think.

Pau1 · Dec 18, 2011

#1 & #2.. The hand is cut off, yet there's space at the top of the frame. You should never cut off hands or feet. #2.. The older child on the left is not looking at the camera.

Derrel · Dec 18, 2011

In #2 it looks to me that the mother is trying to make the kids look happy and good, and is ruining the photo session...pretty common occurrence for a parent to stand beside the photographer and try and get the kids to smile, thus splitting their focus and attention up into two distracting points of focus...A boy of the age of the oldest one is not quite old enough or practiced enough yet to handle a baby so that he can keep the little one's arms and limbs fully under control,so it's best to shoot a bit looser,and to make sure the pose is "safe". Actually, a pose of that type would not be allowed by many studios, with a child holding a 2-month-old infant, especially since most 2-month-olds can barely hold their heads up without constant support...with kids of that age difference, "most" established, professional studios will have the infant in a posing device, like a blanket-covered baby poser. You could substitute his car seat with a fabric or baby blanket over that. That will keep the baby safer by far, remove the other kids from having to hold him, AND allows a gift blanket from grandma to forever be included in a photo, AND allows you to show the baby's entire body and not reduce him to just a head and one arm or two arms--it shows his "baby-ness", head to toe.

manaheim · Dec 18, 2011

The last one is interesting except for a few things...

1. Where the brick wall dissappears off on the left... it's a bit distracting. I would clone it so it goes all the way or crop it.
2. I would have positioned him so the brick wall wasn't right dead center in his head. Would add some extra interest to the composition and I find the line to his head a little alarming.
3. Your kid's head is dead-center. You want your boy taking up more of the frame, and his head not in the middle of the pic. Better composition. You can fix this to some degree in post by simply cropping out more of the top. (which will cause you to crop more of the sides, of course, to keep aspect ratio)
4. When shooting kids, don't stand over them. Get down on your knees and get at eye level with them. Makes a better composition.
5. The hood up on his jacket makes his head dissapear into the darkness. This isn't necessarily bad, but it reads as a little sinister to me. Think of it this way, if he wasn't smiling, he would probably look like he was up to no good.
6. All these points aside... the brick wall... the hoodie... a lot of elements of this shot come across as "look! a gang member!" to me. Now granded, I live in the sticks and always have, so it might just be my reaction. There are elements that disspell it... like the big warm smile... but I think you want to try to innocent-it-up a little more. Take his hood down at the very least. Crouch as I suggested. I think it will take most of it away.

If you do it again, try a number of different angles and compositions and look at each and analyze the results.

BTW, don't take offense at my picking it apart. I ONLY do this when the shot is interesting and I think there's something that you can do to make it great. If I thought it were utter garbage you would never hear from me.

(I agree with everything Derrel said, btw)

ConradM · Dec 18, 2011

Pau1 said:
#1 & #2.. The hand is cut off, yet there's space at the top of the frame. You should never cut off hands or feet. #2.. The older child on the left is not looking at the camera.

They're cropped that way so the step stool they're sitting on doesn't show.

ConradM · Dec 18, 2011

Derrel said:
In #2 it looks to me that the mother is trying to make the kids look happy and good, and is ruining the photo session...pretty common occurrence for a parent to stand beside the photographer and try and get the kids to smile, thus splitting their focus and attention up into two distracting points of focus...A boy of the age of the oldest one is not quite old enough or practiced enough yet to handle a baby so that he can keep the little one's arms and limbs fully under control,so it's best to shoot a bit looser,and to make sure the pose is "safe". Actually, a pose of that type would not be allowed by many studios, with a child holding a 2-month-old infant, especially since most 2-month-olds can barely hold their heads up without constant support...with kids of that age difference, "most" established, professional studios will have the infant in a posing device, like a blanket-covered baby poser. You could substitute his car seat with a fabric or baby blanket over that. That will keep the baby safer by far, remove the other kids from having to hold him, AND allows a gift blanket from grandma to forever be included in a photo, AND allows you to show the baby's entire body and not reduce him to just a head and one arm or two arms--it shows his "baby-ness", head to toe.

The baby is big and strong for his age, holds his head up well. We tried to do shots of just the baby laying on his stomach cause he can push up and keep his head off the ground... But he wasn't to happy about it this time.

ConradM · Dec 18, 2011

manaheim said:
The last one is interesting except for a few things...

1. Where the brick wall dissappears off on the left... it's a bit distracting. I would clone it so it goes all the way or crop it.
2. I would have positioned him so the brick wall wasn't right dead center in his head. Would add some extra interest to the composition and I find the line to his head a little alarming.
3. Your kid's head is dead-center. You want your boy taking up more of the frame, and his head not in the middle of the pic. Better composition. You can fix this to some degree in post by simply cropping out more of the top. (which will cause you to crop more of the sides, of course, to keep aspect ratio)
4. When shooting kids, don't stand over them. Get down on your knees and get at eye level with them. Makes a better composition.
5. The hood up on his jacket makes his head dissapear into the darkness. This isn't necessarily bad, but it reads as a little sinister to me. Think of it this way, if he wasn't smiling, he would probably look like he was up to no good.
6. All these points aside... the brick wall... the hoodie... a lot of elements of this shot come across as "look! a gang member!" to me. Now granded, I live in the sticks and always have, so it might just be my reaction. There are elements that disspell it... like the big warm smile... but I think you want to try to innocent-it-up a little more. Take his hood down at the very least. Crouch as I suggested. I think it will take most of it away.

If you do it again, try a number of different angles and compositions and look at each and analyze the results.

BTW, don't take offense at my picking it apart. I ONLY do this when the shot is interesting and I think there's something that you can do to make it great. If I thought it were utter garbage you would never hear from me.

(I agree with everything Derrel said, btw)