Just started editing some class pictures. Here are the first few I have edited. I shot this school over 2 days the first day was sunny and hot day 2 was a gloomy dark day. I used OCF for both days. Day 1 i used one light off camera and a reflector. Day 2 I used two lights and a reflector. 1 light as a main 1 for hair and the reflector for fill. All shot with the d800 and 70-200.

Day 1

twins
1.
Gimel63 by Bruce Sawle, on Flickr

2.
Gimel65bw by Bruce Sawle, on Flickr

3.
Gimel67 by Bruce Sawle, on Flickr

4.
Gimel69 by Bruce Sawle, on Flickr

5.
Gimel10 by Bruce Sawle, on Flickr


Day 2
6.
Gimel02 by Bruce Sawle, on Flickr

7.
Bet04 by Bruce Sawle, on Flickr

8.
Bet08 by Bruce Sawle, on Flickr

9.
Bet15 by Bruce Sawle, on Flickr

10.
Bet20 by Bruce Sawle, on Flickr

hi,

Cute kids.

At first glance at the first few photos I was struck by this thought: "Did he do something to their eyes in Post Processing?"

Steady a little brightening of the IRIS.

Bruce Sawle wrote:
Steady a little brightening of the IRIS.

I see. I expected that was the case.

Edit: That simple statement above could be taken wrongly....so this edit:



What follows is written in a truly friendly tone of voice...with the sole intent to help you with another pair of eyes...looking at you photos.

I expected that, as it appears frequently in photos I see posted here...in other words that "editing the eyes" seems to be a very common thing nowadays.

I prefer to keep the eyes totally natural.

When looking at the photos, the first impression I had was that the eyes on a few of them appeared "processed" or "edited."

Obviously different angles on light can make eyes appear lighter (smaller pupils, for example) and side lighting can create interesting or unusual (not the usual look) to an iris.

A few of the photos have eyes/irises that appear "flat" to me (when viewing them as a glance at a photo)....giving the impression of "cut out paper" eyes.

I hope these more detailed comments help you.

____________

In general, I have always thought you produce very nice portraits of those kids at that school (as I recall seeing several posts over the last several years that showed school children). They are lucky to have a good photographer or parent like you who takes those pictures.

damn bruce take it easy man! These are stellar, the color ones, not that the BW are bad, but the the colors are just so good man.

Really ? Class pictures !!

Great ! Parents will love them.

Rgds
Velu

Velu01 wrote:
Really ? Class pictures !!

Great ! Parents will love them.

Rgds
Velu


Yes!! I gave the parents 2 different poses to choose from. If they had a sibling I would shoot them together and 2 individuals.

Excellent stuff, Bruce. Cracks me up how your little girl is the only one throwing some sass your way. Almost like she's used to the camera being pointed at her or something ;-)

--David

neighbourboy wrote:
Excellent stuff, Bruce. Cracks me up how your little girl is the only one throwing some sass your way. Almost like she's used to the camera being pointed at her or something ;-)

--David

She walked up to where i was set up and just started throwing pose after pose. She learned this from her older sisters.

IMO the eyes are way over done. If they were my kids I would not be happy that their eyes no longer look like they do. JMO though.

charlandk wrote:
IMO the eyes are way over done. If they were my kids I would not be happy that their eyes no longer look like they do. JMO though.


. The eyes have hardley been touched. Slight brightening most of the light is from the reflector.

Oh, how I LOVE #10. BEAUTIFUL little girl and great shot!!

Did you do a lot of processing on these shots or is the d800 that awesome?! These are fantastic!

cannpope wrote:
Did you do a lot of processing on these shots or is the d800 that awesome?! These are fantastic!


Not Mich processing the day was very overcast and I used off camera flash and a reflector to light the kids. Most of the processing was levels, curves, and lightening the eyes for those that needed it.