Photo Shoot at Agua Caliente Park

vipgraphx · Dec 12, 2011

I had to do a photo shoot this past weekend and thought I would post the pictures for critique. This is a family that hired me. Unfortunately the weather was not the best. It got a little cold but real breezy. Even with a smile the body langue showed some cold bodies. The clients kinda got rushed with their kids so we are going to reshoot after christmas. I knew it was not going to be a total success going in but I wanted to make the clients happy as they wanted to proceed. Next time I will have to be more assertive so I do not waist my time nor theirs. Its all good though they left happy and ended up choosing a handfull of photos that they will be able to give to their relatives.

These are a few of the photos. My flickr account maxed out for the month so I could not load any more photos. I guess I might have to upgrade the account.

family10 by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

ted and boys small by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

tamaris and lelanni by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

tamaris2 by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

kidssmall by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

family1 by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

ted_wagon by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

I used photo bucket to upload more. Photos may not be as good quality from past experience.

CC please!!

TenaciousTins · Dec 12, 2011

Well despite the "cold body" look I love this set. Natural looking for the most part and a beautiful family. I'm not good on giving critique so I'll leave it at that...just wanted to comment that I really like these, especially 4, 10, and 13 (might be helpful if you numbered them)

Good job!

VTanner62 · Dec 12, 2011

Nice work. I would like to suggest that when you shoot, lower yourself so that you're not shooting down on your clients. A take a mid-chest point of view to give the subject a better perspective. It's more appealing that way, just give it a try. Also, posing people without them looking posed is always tough. Some of the poses look, well, posed. Keep it up though. Overall they look good in spite of the cold.

Sent from my iPad using PhotoForum

Robin Usagani · Dec 12, 2011

too processed IMO. You added blur and soften the skin quite a bit, didn't you?

vipgraphx · Dec 12, 2011

Thanks for the comments. I really tried to follow all the rules but sometimes get caught up in the moment. I will make sure next time I try your suggestion 8)

vipgraphx · Dec 12, 2011

Schwettylens said:
too processed IMO. You added blur and soften the skin quite a bit, didn't you?

Yes but, that is what the client wanted. They brought some images taken a few years ago that had the glamour glow effect and they wanted me to incorporate that. One of the daughters and mother has a lot of blemishes on their face and wanted it not to show as much thus this effect.

gopal · Dec 12, 2011

good processing...and a good series...with kids--more [email protected]....www.selgupp.blogspot.com

o hey tyler · Dec 15, 2011

vipgraphx said:
family10 by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

Posing is pretty good in this photo. However, the girl on the left in the back has a seriously underexposed face. The background is somewhat distracting, as the bright orange tree on the right draws a lot of attention. You may want to mask it and tone down the red channel.

ted and boys small by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

There's a lot of unnecessary negative space surrounding the father and sons. Shooting this at a longer focal length would have helped isolate the subjects from the background. There's also hot spots on the left hand child's face.

tamaris and lelanni by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

This is underexposed by roughly 2/3 of a stop. The girl on the left looks a little awkward and reserved. Their faces look overly smoothed. There's a line between removing blemishes, and nuking the skin.

tamaris2 by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

This is one of the stronger photos from the bunch. However, the skin is heavily processed in this one as well.

kidssmall by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

The girl in the back is underexposed again, and the girl on the right looks very awkward in this photo. It helps to build a relationship with the clients and get them laughing or more comfortable in front of the camera.

family1 by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

This photo suffers from underexposure of the people in the back of the frame. The fake vignette is also a bit strong, and detracts from the image. The young boy on the left has a foot that is disappearing towards the edge of the frame.

ted_wagon by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

This is also underexposed by 2/3 of a stop, perhaps more. The composition is not very strong, as the father is looking down outside the frame. Makes it look laborious lugging those kids around in that wagon, rather than enjoying the experience with his children.

I used photo bucket to upload more. Photos may not be as good quality from past experience.

In this photo, the exposure is pretty good. The harsh vignette harms it though. This one looks very obviously posed, and could stand to look a bit more natural. Again, building a rapport with your clients really pays off in making them feel more comfortable.

The girl on the left has a barely visible face, and the girl on the right has a very unflattering look on her mug. Personally, I would have deleted this photo, and not shown the client.

This photo is out of focus, another one that I would have refrained from showing the clients. The hunched over position also accentuates some things that a girl of her size may not want accentuated. If you catch my drift.

This one is not bad. The background isn't overly distracting, and the exposure is pretty good. The skin looks nuked again though. Over processed. There are techniques that make skin smoothing look more natural. I think I've come across a few tutorials on youtube, that might be a good place to start.

The subjects are underexposed, and appear to be slightly out of focus. Unless that's the processing that you did on the skin to give it that look. Also, the background blur looks fake. The picnic tables coming out of the subjects also hurt the photo. Be cognizant of your background when composing a shot.

This is a cute capture, and feels much more natural. Good job. I can tell by this point the clients were warming up to you. The WB could be warmed up a bit, and the blacks dropped a hair, but overall it's a pretty good shot.

This is a much better composition for the two girls. Again, the skin smoothing is not well done, but the other aspects of the photo aren't bad.

.

vipgraphx · Dec 15, 2011

See this is much better CC I like your points and will try to remember them in the next shoot after christmas. It was cold and windy and the whole shoot was just rushed. next time I am going to follow the kids around to get better pictures and make the little ones pose. I think parents would rather have a picture of their child in a moment of time that just a generic pose especially the young ones.The little boy really was scared he was going to fall off that tree. The older ones I think the parents thought by this age is to have a very nice natural pose. . The mother and one of the daughters has really bad skin and so I was asked to please do something about it. Problem when you have more than one person in frame is that if you do it one and not the other it draws to much attention to the one. I need to research more about skin toning and softning. I use to use the airbrush tool and paint the spots away but that gets hard at time. I am looking into some software that is designed especially for these needs.

Once again I do appreciate your time and effort into your post and critique. I will benefit from it thanks again.