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Archive 2015 · Mother and daughters

  
 
nolaguy
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Mother and daughters


One of my favorite families. It's a casual shot with minor LR editing. CC welcome, of course. Mostly I just wanted to share. I love these girls a lot.

Regards,

Chuck








Apr 26, 2015 at 04:39 AM
KaBudokan
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Mother and daughters


Beautiful portrait! I might bring the brightness of the white clothing down a touch as it competes with their faces. Great posing and expressions.


Apr 26, 2015 at 08:31 AM
nolaguy
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Mother and daughters


Thanks very much for looking and your suggestion KaBudokan. You make a good point.

Regards,

Chuck



Apr 27, 2015 at 06:54 AM
elliotkramer
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Mother and daughters


The light is too harsh. It seems that you are trying to compensate by blowing out the faces. And the clothes are blown out as well. And personally, I think the mother's face is blocked too much by her daughter. I really don't care for the pose much at all. There are a lot of technical and posing problems that make this unappealing except maybe as a decent snapshot.


Apr 28, 2015 at 09:40 PM
nolaguy
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Mother and daughters


Thanks very much for taking the time, elliot. I always take interest in your opinions. I agree on all points other than the pose - which I really enjoy. I'll post fully edited shots soon and address the matters you noted. I appreciate your critique.

Regards,

Chuck



Apr 28, 2015 at 11:59 PM
friscoron
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Mother and daughters



Chuck, I always appreciate your work. As for the light, I don't mind the brightness so much. But what I'd like to see differently is the falloff of light. The girl on the right, you can see the falloff from her shoulder to her elbow. That doesn't really bother me, just wanted to point it out. Where it bothers me is the falloff from the girls' faces to the mother's face, at least on the right side (for us) of her face. If the girls' faces are going to be high key, then so should the mom's (IMO).

I hope this just gives you a different perspective.



Apr 29, 2015 at 08:49 AM
BeeBalm
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Mother and daughters


Very nice!
BB



Apr 29, 2015 at 12:54 PM
DougVaughn
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Mother and daughters


I will come down on the side of really liking the pose. It suggest a warmth and affection that feels very natural. Not a lighting expert, so I'll leave that to others.


Apr 29, 2015 at 01:03 PM
nolaguy
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Mother and daughters


BeeBalm, thank you.

Doug, thanks very much. The "warmth and affection" you mentioned is such the photographer's dream. I dearly love sessions with this family... great people and so very camera friendly.

friscoron wrote:
Chuck, I always appreciate your work. As for the light, I don't mind the brightness so much. But what I'd like to see differently is the falloff of light. The girl on the right, you can see the falloff from her shoulder to her elbow. That doesn't really bother me, just wanted to point it out. Where it bothers me is the falloff from the girls' faces to the mother's face, at least on the right side (for us) of her face. If the girls' faces are going to be high key, then so should the mom's (IMO).

I hope
...Show more

Ron, thanks very much for your input and kind words - I really appreciate you taking the time and I certainly learned from your critique. I completely agree and as mentioned above, at some point soon I'll follow up on this post with the back story and other shots.

Thank you all,

Chuck



Apr 29, 2015 at 10:46 PM
Evan Baines
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Mother and daughters


Chuck,

I've looked at this one a bunch. In my view there are a lot of good things going on here, but there are some things that hold it back. I think its well composed, but the posing is a bit forced... if that makes any sense. The triangle shape of the heads and the leading line of the daughter's arm leading to mom are great... but somehow this doesn't look relaxed or natural. Especially the girl camera left, it doesn't feel like she would be that way except for the photo. I think I feel that way because of the aggressive lean and what almost looks like shortening of her neck... combined with the lack of facial compression (which is flattering, but also makes her look like she's holding her face there not snuggling in). Mom's face is a bit hidden, as noted above.

The whites are also very hot. This may be one of those contrasting-center-of-interest situations where with a black background, darker clothing would be more helpful for ensuring the subjects' faces are the most different in frame. Its not a hard and fast rule, but the high contrast between black and whites here creates a starkness that runs counter to the gentle familial embrace that I think was intended. In fact, I would argue that 50% or more of the "harshness" of the lighting described above is actually a result of the starkness of the contrast in the image. High contrast = drama and graphic power, soft contrast = richness, gentleness, softness.

I hope this helps. Some of the other points above are also good, but what I really see are some small issues that counter what I feel was the intent of the photo, keeping it from being the best version of itself.



May 02, 2015 at 02:54 PM
nolaguy
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Mother and daughters


Hey Evan,

Thanks so much for joining the conversation and your generous critique. Since it's taking me a while to get back to the fuller editing I'll go ahead and describe the circumstances. Hopefully they don't come across as excuses - this is more a precursor to seeing how everyone feels about the stronger shots when I can put them up.

Anyway, this shoot was actually a head shot session for the youngest daughter's upcoming dance competition so I'd structured the lighting for a single subject and in a different fashion than I normally prefer - it's very flat and I typically gravitate toward more modeling and shadows.

At the end of the session I asked mom to have a seat, put the oldest on her lap and the youngest behind her on a table just to grab a few shots while they were all there. Mom protested because of her lack of makeup but I persisted and immediately loved the tighter-than-normal-for-me capture and their crunched pose to get everyone in.

I had to turn the head shots within a few hours and by 4 am was still smiling at the group shots so in my sleepy state, impulsively decided to post this one - because it was the only one where mom's most prominent blemish was obscured by the youngest's head and I knew she'd strangle me if I put any of the others up before editing.

As described, it was a casual shot and a quick share born more out of occasionally loving this photo thing we do and a sweet moment between three girls I'm very fond of.

Particularly on the heels of our recent PM conversation, I sort of regretted the post because it does have several prominent flaws - but frankly after reading over your critique in particular, I may post more of my lesser shots simply to indulge myself in hearing your deconstruction of my work and always well thought out point of view.

Many thanks and best regards,

Chuck


Edit several hours later: when you guys offer your thoughts I try hard to reply quickly to let you know how much I appreciate you taking the time. I'm always better for it.

Upon rereading my last reply (composed quickly before company arrived), I realized my phrase "deconstruction of my work" might be misconstrued as negative on my part. Nothing could be further from the truth. I meant it in the spirit of having great interest in such a detailed analysis - and as ever, your individual and collective input help me immensely.



May 02, 2015 at 03:28 PM





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