I've always found self family shoots to be tricky. There is always room for improvement, but this is one of the better outcomes for me. Both kids were back from college yesterday and we had the afternoon off with a beautiful day in MN so we headed out to give it a go. Comments and critiques . . . and ideas for how to improve upon self shots are always appreciated.
The second shot was the most challenging using my 10 second timer, Had to run back, join the group and have us all timed to be within the focus range when the shutter clicked. Made for a fun adventure though!
You did a better job on these "self family" pictures than I have seen many photographers (who get paid to do family photos like these) have posted on this forum.
Not sure you can do much better for a selfie, the second one worked out great with the timing.
The only thing I might say, and this is personal so don't hit me, is that your choice of blue on blue might not have been the best. Your wife is in the same boat, but at least she has a white shirt to break it up a bit, whereas your son's sweater pops enough to stand out from his pants.
Nice job. One has to attempt the self group shots to understand the problems. The problem that plagued me the most was focus. At least with a group pic you can prefocus on one of the others. Try it alone and you resort to guessing, stopped down lens settings and other things.
#1 is my pick, although #2 is good too. One of the things that can go wrong is the tree growing out of a head and you dodged that one for the most part.
The darker clothing contrasts well with the lighter background. I like the slight blurring of the background. It helps the family stand out and still lets us enjoy the trees.
I really like them both. For future shoots I suggest you buy a remote trigger. It makes these much easier because you don't have to run back and forth. I bought a cheap wireless one on eBay and it works great. You just have to strategically hide the remote in the photo.
You did a better job on these "self family" pictures than I have seen many photographers (who get paid to do family photos like these) have posted on this forum.
Well done!
Happy Thanksgiving too!
+10 These are awesome! You did a great job. And you got everyone looking at the camera and smiling!!!!!
You have beautiful children BTW. A truely handsome son and beautiful daughter.
These are great. One small suggestion is that on the left side of the first image where the light is showing through the poles grabs my attention a bit. I'd squeeze the two poles together so that there is no light showing through.
Thanks for all the comments and ideas. I did think about my shirt being somewhat close to my jeans color, but it was what I had that seemed to jive best with everyone else. The original thought was to just get something decent enough for a Christmas card, but I think one or both of these will make their way to a wall! What amazed me the most was that even our Golden was doing the right thing when the shutter clicked! I do need to check out a remote. I had an IR one and outside it didn't work well at all. I need to fine a decent radio wave one for Canon 5D II. I don't do a self shot too often but there are occasions that would be really nice. I like the idea of getting rid of the small sliver of light between the two pillars in the first one. I will also remove the iron extension that patrudes out. I am torn with which of these two I like best but guess that's a good problem to have.
I am truly blessed with a great family and the shoot was a fun way to kick off the Thanksgiving weekend! Doug
First, you have a great looking family, lovely wife, beautiful daughter, and a handsome son. The 4 legged addition if quite handsome also. I can only echo the crews comments, these are really good. Only personal comment is I would punch them up just a bit in PP, the grayish/brownish fall background and gray day with all the blue clothes make them a bit flat, but they are absolutely wonderful photos.
Nice job! I was just thinking how that second one might have been a challenge as I read your lead-in story.
If you like shooting "selfies", just a tip: Canon makes a remote controller for the 5dmkii, about 1" x 2" x 0.25". It's called the RC-6. It's not very flexible, not many features. But it's about $25. Great for stuff like this. It does have a mode that makes it delay the shutter release for 2 seconds after you press the button, so you can hide the rc-6 from view before the shot is made... Note this feature also allows time for half the people in a group shot to close their eyes before the shot, too.
Cal
P.S. Oops! I just read some more thread entries and see you already have a remote. The RC-6 is infrared. It doesn't like backlighting much. Check out ADIDT brand controllers.
Thanks for the additional comments. I replaced both images, adding some additional punch. For the second image in particular, I would have preferred a more open aperture as well. I was playing it conservative given the timing aspect of a self walking shot. Doug
