Special Family Shot Help Please!

[PixelRabbit]

Hi all, this year was a special year for our family, we had all three kids in one place for the first time in a while It was a wonderful Christmas for all of us and somehow getting a picture of them that wasn't candid slipped my mind until the last minute therefore there wasn't a lot of thought put into this shot, they were literally walking out the door to take Miss Danielle (my oldest on the left) back down home, I found my best light and simple background and grabbed a couple shots. Now I'm kicking myself in the butt for not taking a little extra time to find a better background... like the Christmas tree maybe lol

Is there anything I can do to make it look less like a beige wall that won't look horribly photoshopped? I tried changing the colour of the background but I really didn't like the results. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Thanks in advance

 

[ShootRaw]

A couple options....

 

[PixelRabbit]

Hey Shoot, thanks so much for taking the time to do the edit! The colour one still isn't there for me but the black and white...

I can't believe I didn't even consider it ! They sure are wearing a lot of black lol but I think it may work, none is blocked up, it is going somewhere nice even with your edit from the export, I'm going to play with the big file

I would still like to get a colour version to a place that I can print it.

 

[tirediron]

LOL - just like a mechanic always drives the worst car, photographers have the worst family photos! I like the monochrome conversion, but other than compositing them onto a completely different background, I can't think of many other options.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Ha John, thanks, I do like the B&W so at least there is a viable option, phew!

I was thinking that when I was editing these, "what is wrong with me?? I could have gotten some great shots but noooo... :roll:"

 

[vintagesnaps]

Maybe crop the bottom and the sides a little, to bring the viewer's attention more to their faces. The B&W seems a little too contrasty or something (some nice white teeth there!). I'm usually looking at the light and dark in a color image (or in the scene or subject) when I'm thinking about how it might look in B&W.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Thanks Sharon I had the same thought of getting in a little tighter on them so in the first try that I did yesterday I put on a vignette but I think you may be right, a bit of a trim is in order. I'm usually pretty good at picking out candidates for black and white but when I have a shot of people in front of me my brain just leaves me for some reason lol

I also brought the contrast down a little, yes very nice white teeth! But they don't need to be the subject of the shot lol!

 

[DiskoJoe]

I would crop it just a bit tp get rid of whatever is going on in that bottom right corner.