My Staff - C+C

[jfrabat]

So, I decided to take a group shot of my staff here in Costa Rica. With us being IN Costa Rica, I wanted to have some nature in the shot (as much as I could find in the office park, anyway!), as this is kind of expected by our headquarters in Panama, Miami and Tokyo (cliche as it is).

Keep in mind that the shot I am posting is straight from the camera, so absolutely no editing has been done to it yet (I'll get to that tonight at home), but, considering that, I think it came out REALLY good (except for the one person on the left who was standing behind another employee, ignoring my instructions to stand BETWEEN the heads!). Still, any suggestions on the best way to improve on the shot are greatly welcome!

Shot details:

Camera: Sony SLT-A77V
Lens: SAL1680Z 16-80mm Zeiss
Focal Length: 55mm
Aperture: f/8.0
Shutter Speed: 1/90
Fill Flash (Sony HVL-F58AM placed on the camera's shoe) and tripod used
10 sec timer

Felipe

PS: since the ground had a small drop to the right side of the pic, I had the taller people stand on that side to offset it; I used the in-camera level to make sure the horizon was spot on, though...

 

[The_Traveler]

Looks like a decent result, especially SOOC

 

[fjrabon]

if this is the first time you've ever shot a large group, pretty good. You have one nearly completely obscured face (guy in the back row to the photographer's left) and one partially obscured (very next guy to the fully obscured guy's right). I'm not a big fan of the 'taking a dump' pose the guy in jeans on the far right is doing, but some people don't mind or even like that pose, so... I'd have had them take off their lanyards, but that isn't a real huge deal.

 

[MLeeK]

VERY NICE SOOC.
I'd have moved the subjects further away from the tree so that you got a little less tree in sharp focus. Gorgeous location for a business park!

 

[MLeeK]

I have time while I wait today.
I assumed you have shot raw so I processed in adobe camera raw for the most part.
Opened in ACR-CS6 and adjusted the white balance to remove the green from their skin. Adjusted the curve to keep the highlights down (shirts) and bring the darks up a bit. Sharpened
Opened as a smart object in PS CS6
Make a new smart object via copy.
Double Click to take the new smart object back to ACR
I restores the WB to as shot because I wanted to keep the great green in the trees, but it was still a little too yellow and I reduced just a slight bit.
Removed the sharpening
Used a light negative clarity
added some fill to the shadows.
Opened back to PS as a smart object.
Put the image with the people correct on the bottom
Masked the tree image so that the people with correct color show through.
I applied a curve adjustment that brought the shadows too dark for my taste
I added second curve layer to bring that up a little bit.

I really should start recording these when I do it!
I will gladly process the raw if you'd like and send you both a jpeg and the .psd file so you can see and adjust what I did. I have time on my hands this week!

 

[jfrabat]

MLeek,

I like your edit; I did shoot RAW, so I will tweek it a little once I get home to try to bring the faces out. By the way, I VERY MUCH like your edit, so I think I will follow your steps... In fact, I am SERIOUSLY thinking of taking you up on your offer! (THANKS for offering!) I see that your editing skills FAR exceed my own!!

Oh, and I kind of wanted the tree in focus to give it that "nature" feeling that has become to be expected from Costa Rica... And yes, the business park is quite nice (look up Parque Empresarial Forum 1 on the web; there are plenty of pics there).

The_Traveler,

Thanks, I was quite happy with the unprocessed results as well.

fjrabon

Yes, this is my first try at a group this big (I ussually shoot 4 people or less!). You have a good point, and I forgot about the lanyards; would have looked better if they had removed them, but too late now! I have to learn to pick on this stuff BEFORE pressing the shutter! And I THINK I can bring the faces out once I process the RAW file...

By the way, I only had time for 2 shots (there is a road between the camera and the people!), and both came out pretty similar (except the second one has a girl with her eyes closed; all else is the same).