This was my first portrait session, other than my own kids outdoors. My lighting system was very limited, and I know I need some flashes, and etc..
The mom posed the kids on the indoor shots, and the younger son was a handful, but a real trooper and made me laugh
Any and ALL C&C is welcomed and also needed for me to improve in this type of photography (I shoot motocross mainly!) 1 2 MOM's Favorite! 3 4 5 6 7 This Is My Favorite!
Don't feel you have to have lots of flashes or expensive equipment to make nice portraits inside or out.
Most of my work is done using ambient light or the sun (my favorite). So a flash is not necessary.
And since you have lots of snow outside, use it to bounce the light for you. Even on overcast days, you can get wonderful soft light.
My Simple Suggestion: When shooting outside with the snowy ground and overcast sky, make sure you do a "custom white balance" before taking pictures. Use the natural "ambient" light but do the custom white balance.
Reason: the ambient light will likely be "cool" in temperature (light temp) and you will want to set the camera to adjust for that. At the same time, expect the faces to look "cooler" or a little different than what you might see in a warmer environment.
I see some good poses, some nice backgrounds and some good props. #1 and #5 are my fav's.
#2 This one has the shadow on the side. If you had shot "landscape" and cropped tp portrait in PP, the shadow would 'hide' behind the kids. Or buy a flip frame flash bracket, 2 ft cord to allow you to shoot portrait with the flash over the lens.
#3 & #4. On lad is looking away. Yes, it's hard to control this. If you have an audience when you shoot, they will sometimes look at someone behind you and off to the side. Do what you can to move those who might distract them to directly behind you or out of the room. Some will like the backgrounds in these two, but not me.
#5 (not too late to number these!) is nice. I'd crop all of the dark background off the top. Try it with a piece of paper.
#6 Nice one.
#7 Another nice one. A bit wider to avoid cropping fingers and his sleeve. Note that you don't crop the top of this one, because the top of the post looks good included.
Don't feel you have to have lots of flashes or expensive equipment to make nice portraits inside or out.
Most of my work is done using ambient light or the sun (my favorite). So a flash is not necessary.
And since you have lots of snow outside, use it to bounce the light for you. Even on overcast days, you can get wonderful soft light.
My Simple Suggestion: When shooting outside with the snowy ground and overcast sky, make sure you do a "custom white balance" before taking pictures. Use the natural "ambient" light but do the custom white balance.
Reason: the ambient light will likely be "cool" in temperature (light temp) and you will want to set the camera to adjust for that. At the same time, expect the faces to look "cooler" or a little different than what you might see in a warmer environment. ...Show more →
Thank You for your response. I also favour outside/natural light. I showed the mom a couple shots from outside with the warmer skin look vs the cooler skin, and she(as well as me) like the cooler look, and since she was paying, that is what i went with. But YES I do know and understand what you had explained. Thanks!
Jim Rickards wrote:
Good work in these, Scott. You did a good job.
I see some good poses, some nice backgrounds and some good props. #1 and #5 are my fav's.
#2 This one has the shadow on the side. If you had shot "landscape" and cropped tp portrait in PP, the shadow would 'hide' behind the kids. Or buy a flip frame flash bracket, 2 ft cord to allow you to shoot portrait with the flash over the lens.
#3 & #4. On lad is looking away. Yes, it's hard to control this. If you have an audience when you shoot, they will sometimes look at someone behind you and off to the side. Do what you can to move those who might distract them to directly behind you or out of the room. Some will like the backgrounds in these two, but not me.
#5 (not too late to number these!) is nice. I'd crop all of the dark background off the top. Try it with a piece of paper.
#6 Nice one.
#7 Another nice one. A bit wider to avoid cropping fingers and his sleeve. Note that you don't crop the top of this one, because the top of the post looks good included.
The fence and posts were nice to use, and I liked the look of the top of the posts also. I have several versions of crops#5 and #7 for the mother for her to choose from. i shot 160 and narrowed it down to 68 for her.
The indoor with backdrops, I too am not a fan of these, but the mom liked them, so----
