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Archive 2015 · Family shoot in harsh light

  
 
cadman342001
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Family shoot in harsh light


The time was set by the client and based around the nap time of the little 'uns, and it was a once in 10 year opportunity for them all to be together and even then 1 son was missing due to work commitments. (I had asked for a late afternoon shoot when offered either morning or late afternoon but tbh sunsets aren't up to much here as we are on the east coast and there are mountains immediately inland)

Having said that, we did get some periods of cloud cover and some of sunshine.

Anyway, nothing spectacular, just learning to get groups to pose, I can see that I need to pay more attention and get the group exactly how I want them rather than panicking and just making sure I get the shot/shots before everyone gets bored. The kids in the middle for example I wanted to have them on their parents outside knees/laps turning inwards but they didn't seem to get what I wanted, my bad for not explaining it properly even though I did sit on the ground and show them.

Feel free to comment and critique, I'm here to learn.

1.
_DSC0660 by AndyMacDougallPhotography, on Flickr


2.
_DSC0805 by AndyMacDougallPhotography, on Flickr

3. Siblings
_DSC0781 by AndyMacDougallPhotography, on Flickr

4. Topical couple
_DSC0765 by AndyMacDougallPhotography, on Flickr

5.
_DSC0743 by AndyMacDougallPhotography, on Flickr

6.
_DSC0863 by AndyMacDougallPhotography, on Flickr

7.
_DSC0835 by AndyMacDougallPhotography, on Flickr

8.
_DSC0834 by AndyMacDougallPhotography, on Flickr

Andy



Jul 04, 2015 at 08:30 AM
friscoron
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Family shoot in harsh light



Posing. I'll just focus on the first group shot. The most important person -- in this case, the father -- shouldn't be in the back. He should be front and center. From there, the groupings should be based on the family pairings. I honestly can't tell who's with whom. Lastly, don't have them so tight together. Give it some space. Let them breathe. It's like you were trying to see how tight of a space you can fit 13 people into.



Jul 04, 2015 at 10:40 AM
DaveOls
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Family shoot in harsh light


The group shots look pretty good. It must be hard to get good pictures with all those people in white shirts and a fairly dark background.
When ever I look at a group picture of my wife's family, my wife's mother's face is overexposed as she is very light skinned and she avoids getting any sun. She carries a magazine or newspaper to shield her face from the direct sun!



Jul 04, 2015 at 10:43 AM
cadman342001
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Family shoot in harsh light


friscoron wrote:
Posing. I'll just focus on the first group shot. The most important person -- in this case, the father -- shouldn't be in the back. He should be front and center. From there, the groupings should be based on the family pairings. I honestly can't tell who's with whom. Lastly, don't have them so tight together. Give it some space. Let them breathe. It's like you were trying to see how tight of a space you can fit 13 people into.


Thanks for the comments.

I know the guy and it's the last thing he would want but I'll bear it in mind for the next one. The intention was to have the "Olds" as they call them here together at the back. Incidentally, he's the step dad, the biological father died some years ago.

Yeah, regarding space, all the BTS / instructional videos seem to be about getting everyone close as possible, no gaps. I suppose it's either well spaced or touching with no in between ?




Jul 04, 2015 at 05:16 PM
cadman342001
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Family shoot in harsh light


DaveOls wrote:
The group shots look pretty good. It must be hard to get good pictures with all those people in white shirts and a fairly dark background.
When ever I look at a group picture of my wife's family, my wife's mother's face is overexposed as she is very light skinned and she avoids getting any sun. She carries a magazine or newspaper to shield her face from the direct sun!


Cheers Dave. Lesson learned right there - when you ask that they dress smart casual, which I did and mentioned change of tops etc. I should have said don't all wear white !

Yeah, most of these people are english, some living in tropical northern Queensland, some living in other parts of Australia and some are on holiday there so I was just lucky for mostly similar skin colouring and that none of them were lobster coloured tourists



Jul 04, 2015 at 05:23 PM
Jim Rickards
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Family shoot in harsh light


Good aperture choices to make them stand out from the backgrounds.

Two things stood out for me.

First, they are trying hard to smile while squinting into the bright light. Things got better after #7. Example - 'Dad" in the first two shots.

Second, there seems to be some odd skin colours in the mix. Maybe that's how they are, but it looked odd. Like a white balance that was off a bit. Example - Girl in #3.



Jul 05, 2015 at 12:44 AM
cadman342001
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Family shoot in harsh light


Thanks for taking the time Jim.

Yeah, the problem I had was that it was cloudy, sunny, very cloudy, sunny, very cloudy.

Regarding skin colours, not sure, I used "cloudy" WB for all of them and din't alter it in post ? dad definitely tanned, others varying degrees of Englishness



Jul 05, 2015 at 05:02 AM
RustyBug
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Family shoot in harsh light


Looking at the shadows, it looks very close to overhead (yet slightly on the side of their faces). The salient point here is that if you were that close to overhead, a few minutes earlier (or later, or diff orientation depending), could have put it slightly behind them.

Even, if you positioned them to a "backlit" scenario, the (near) overhead lighting isn't a strong backlighting scenario (unlike a late afternoon sun backlighting). It can be merely a slightly brighter open sky vs. a slightly less bright open sky.

The grimaces on the little boys faces tell the story @ lighting for me.



Jul 06, 2015 at 01:26 PM





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