Quartet portrait

[Nikolay]

An image from a studio portrait photography session with four sisters. The idea was to capture a "creative" expression of their charters in sort of interactive way - it was a last moment art direction. Not sure of the success of the idea and execution of the concept , but this is the result.
Family portrait - four sisters by Nikolay Mirchev, on Flickr

 

[tirediron]

I like the concept; two things: (1) The direction sister in the upper, left-hand image is looking seems odd to me; it feels like it would flow more naturally were she looking at the sister to the right; and (2) the clothing, IMO, doesn't work here. especially the mustard yellow top, bottom right. I think some sort of continuity of colour and style would have helped greatly.

 

[Studio7Four]

Especially for something of an impromptu direction I think this came off very well. I personally like the varied wardrobe. At a very quick glance the mustard in the bottom-right seems out of place, but almost that exact shade seems to be in the detail work of the grey top in the top-left image, so I think you've actually got balance while allowing the separate personalities to show.

I think you nailed the poses of the top-left and bottom-right sisters, looking down and up at their respective siblings, but I think the eye positions of top-right and bottom-left are a little off. In the top-right shot, her head is angled down and to the side (toward the bottom-left square) but her eyes are angled back up a bit, looking more toward the top-left square (or, really, in front of that top-left sister rather than at her). Similarly, the sister in the bottom-left is looking back toward the camera a bit, so she's looking in front of her mustard-wearing sister rather than at her. Both of these are fine poses on their own (I personally find the bottom-left shot to be a very believable capture of her energy), but just a tad off if you're looking for a Brady Bunch, looking-at-each-other effect. (The Brady Bunch did have the benefit of doing it in motion, so they could convey where they were looking without being stuck in non-photogenic positions. For instance, if bottom-left were really looking at her sister we wouldn't be able to see much of her eye.)

I also like the balance in their postures - arms down, somewhat staid in opposite corners, arms up and more dynamic in the remaining corners. Nice composition of the four separate images!

 

[Dean_Gretsch]

I have to agree with tirediron that it seems a bit haphazard instead of having continuity. Of course the parents of the sisters may say that is exactly what raising the 4 of them presented in parenthood and say this is what they want to remind them of their individual uniqueness and quirks.

 

[Nikolay]

Thanks guys. One thing to mention here, is that not everything is under my control in such situation. The youngest sister was the one selecting the final images and arrangement. Another odd thing about this photoshoot was the fact that she contacted me, the youngest one, like month and a half before the shoot and we agree on terms and date. Then she disappeared for month and a half, I thought she cancelled or found another photographer, when suddenly she contacted me (two days before the initially agreed date) to ask if I'm still available for the photoshoot. So many things weren't planned but rather improvised once we meetup all in the studio. Another thing to mention is that I think I went slightly over the top with my jokes - they end up crying, so need to stop for 30 minutes till they got hold of themselves

 

[DanOstergren]

Thanks guys. One thing to mention here, is that not everything is under my control in such situation. The youngest sister was the one selecting the final images and arrangement. Another odd thing about this photoshoot was the fact that she contacted me, the youngest one, like month and a half before the shoot and we agree on terms and date. Then she disappeared for month and a half, I thought she cancelled or found another photographer, when suddenly she contacted me (two days before the initially agreed date) to ask if I'm still available for the photoshoot. So many things weren't planned but rather improvised once we meetup all in the studio. Another thing to mention is that I think I went slightly over the top with my jokes - they end up crying, so need to stop for 30 minutes till they got hold of themselves

If I could make a suggestion, I recommend taking a retainer fee any time someone books you for a date. My policy is that I will not put a date in my calendar unless at least one third of my fee is paid up front as a non-refundable retainer. I used to have situations like yours happen to me, sometimes with potential clients disappearing without a word, only to have my time completely wasted and disregarded and receive no payment whatsoever even though I set aside time for them. After I took up my non-refundable retainer policy, this never happened again. You deserve clients who respect your time and artistry, and this is one way of filtering the bad ones out.

The photos themselves are technically excellent, but I don't get a creative vibe from any of them in terms of the subjects, and only the top left and bottom right portraits seem to convey any sort of authenticity to me. Perhaps some props or personal items of theirs could have helped bring out a more authentic and creative feeling for each of these girls, or having them embody a favorite movie, book or cartoon character instead of having them "be creative" on the fly.

As for picking out the right shots, try selling yourself to your clients as the artist you are and try getting them to have more faith in your vision to be able to pick out the best shots. I don't personally know the youngest sister who picked these images and can only really make assumptions, but if you say these aren't the best shots then I'm inclined to believe that the person who picked them doesn't quite have the eyes of an artist or photographer, at which point you could present them with what you believe makes a stronger and more authentic set of images, or remove images from the set that don't meet your highest criteria before allowing them to pick the ones they want to use.