Recent Senior Portrait Set

[vintagesnaps]

I agree about the light and shadows etc. particularly with the B&W. There are some that look nice enough (school jacket, plaid shirt) that would be ones I'd think would be appropriate to give the family - complimentary, no charge. I don't think I would have given more photos; probably better to just provide 5-10 finished final products.

Best thing probably would have been to suggest where the friend could get photos done professionally. It doesn't often seem to end up really working out that well to take photos for free. Now the friend's not happy with these and wants more (and the teenager probably isn't having it).

The problem with the photos with the gun etc. is that if the family now has them, there's no telling where they may end up. You don't need to have this kid get into trouble and then the family isn't happy that you took those type photos and they're now 'out there' etc. and it ends up coming back on you that the photos somehow added to a problem situation.

 

[JacobPhoto]

I think the main problem is that images look flat. And the reason is the light. My advice is not to be afraid of direct daylight but try to use it. Your image #18 (on the stairs) is quite good, pay your attention to the light there. It's hard to use natural light at midday, but you absolutely need to take its advantages in the late afternoon. Using reflector is also a good practice to reach volume.

And what lens do you use?

 

[Alexander Dingley]

Well, I'm really questioning whether I've done a good job on this set.

2016-037-01

So, there's a bit of a story behind these. This young man's mom is a former coworker of mine, and she wanted some senior portraits. I need practice doing this, so sure, let's go. We went to downtown FTW and my home studio ... and I got off about 120 frames. I wound up with about 10 finalists (a 12-1 turkey/keeper ratio ... meh) ... came back to the house for some crazy character shots, that just ... didn't work the way I wanted. We were tired, and ... oh well.

I sent the lady the proofs and she expressed a little disappointment that there wasn't more selection. OK, well I explained that I got some actor headshots done here in town, and was charged $150 for *one* low-key look, and received exactly one image. A good image ... but just one. She wanted all the shots, and I flatly said no. That would be putting out work I don't believe in, and I'm just not gonna do that. So I met her in the middle and said I'd give her the best ones from each place we stopped whilst traipsing around downtown. This is that set.

She had offered some money, and I said, no, let's just do it TFP.

I guess what I want to ask is: Am I doing competitive-grade work here? My intuition tells me I'm not, and if I'm not where do I need to up my game. Sharpening? A little HDR? Am I screwing these up in camera, or is it a matter of post. I have my art shots and all, that are satisfying to me ... but that ain't gonna pay the mortgage if I put my shingle out.

On the competitive side I would lean towards no, the light needs to be controlled or modifiers used. Also you need to make sure you have an expectation of shots to be delivered at the end. Make sure you and the client are in agreement on what is expected then you put a shot list together based on those and once you get those out of the way you can do creative shots. Good luck in the future though!

-Alex