Hi,

I'm posting up some photos from my first ever "official" family potrait session.

I'd like some C&C if you're willing to give it.

No need to sugarcoat it... I know this is far from perfect and I'll point out some shortcomings myself after I post the images.

1.

Ok, as promised my own initial observations after doing a post-mortem of the shoot:

First an foremost I should have been more firm about the clothing or at least suggested that they bring multiple outfits so that I could offer advice... the mom's blouse is just not working for me on so many levels...

1. Golden light might be a bit too golden... might work better toning down the oranges a tad

4. mom's foot is chopped off

5. in retrospect should have closed down the aperture a tad to get both sisters in focus

7. cut off her fingers FTL

11. should have gotten the attention of the little girl to get her face in this too

Oh and a NSFW image (don't look if you can't handle ridiculously hot photographers )

Hello...
First...my standard intro to anyone "new" to me on this forum...
My comments or suggestions below are not a criticism of you, your model, your talent or skill. I offer them in a friendly tone of voice and with the sole intent to help you with a second POV and set of eyes. If you read sincere questions and simple suggestions as "criticism" of you, then you will miss how I am trying to help you.

Of course this may be your own "style" or your own "vision" and I suppose we can assume that the images look just like they do because that is exactly how you like them. That is OK too. It just shows that there are differences of "opinion" on what looks good. IF these are exactly what you want and like, then by all means continue making your images look like that and have fun doing it. As I always say: "Follow your own muse."
_______________________


I think 9 and 10 are the best by far.

Those show emotion and connection. Those will stand out in their family album and it is rare for anyone to have such nice photos of them and their child. Very good on those.

Several others are cute, but the match of emotions is missing in a few.

I prefer the BW and "straight" photography over the glow soft processed look.

See #3, it appears as if you lightened the girls face while lightening the father's face. Her face sticks out in the set, in this image, as if she is wearing powder or makeup on her face. My Suggestion: keep it natural.

Your "self-critique" is good.

You obviously tried hard (see photo of photog on ground) and put yourself into it.

Keep up the work, keep shooting, keep posting, keep learning. Repeat.

I hope these comments help and encourage you.

9 + 10 = WIN

9 and 10 for me, too. Especially 9. I think you could have stopped down in 3, 4 and 5, and that is coming from somebody who sets it at f/1.4 if it goes there. Beautiful family and darling little girls.

I always judge these by 'would I like photos like these of my family?' (I'm, of course, normally on the wrong side of the lens), and I would be happy with this set, particularly 9 and 10, they are particularly nice.

9 an 10 would sell...

I am not sure about the others.

As others have mentioned, 9 and 10 are nice. The others have various issues, some of which you've already mentioned. I do want to comment on the processing. I would pull back on the skin smoothening. In addition, if you're running an action over the entire image, I would go back and bring back the texture in the clothing because it looks way too smooth, especially on the dad's shirt in #1.

Tim

Thanks everybody for your observations... I take it my favorites are everyone's favorites (9 and 10) ... I wish I had photos of me and my little ones just like those ... then again there's still time... I need to hook up a family shoot for family shoot with a local photog

Steady Hand, thanks for the in depth observations ... I'll address two of them:

I wasn't quite going for the "glow" processing... I may have overdone the portraiture plugin on a couple... and i definitely meant to mask out the girls from that and dad partially... but it was late last night and I totally forgot <grin> then again often times I find that the results look better in print than they do on the screen ... yeah but are they going to print these?!?! Who knows

Interestingly enough I can't figure out what went on in 3 though I kinda like it in a "porcelain doll" sort of way. I did not lighten her, I didn't have a flash on her, nothing... it's straight out of camera with mild WB adjustment and very very minor exposure adjustments (we're talking minute stuff here.. most wouldn't see the difference compared to the SOOC shot)... didn't run any plugins on it or anything like that. Go figure

bryanlindsey - yup those are my favorites by far

HLPoulos - I hear you... I'm all about the 1.4 myself. actually 3 and 4 were totally intentional (EF-S screen and all so I can sorta see what's really going on ) I really wanted dad and mom blurred out, though I can see how especially in 3 the connection would be better if they were both in focus. 5 as I mentioned... I totally dropped the ball. It was a "moment" when they finally forgot they were being photographed and it only lasted 3-4 seconds. By the time I thought to close down the aperture the moment was gone

Canon Ball - that's how I end up judging my sets when I'm done with them (when I start I always HATE THEM 'cause all I can see is how I failed to nail things exactly as I wanted them - yeah oftentimes later on I end up liking what transpired better than what I had envisioned)

Mr. Malik - Thank you for your candor. I completely agree. I could totally see myself being happy with digital versions of the others ... and maybe (maybe) using one of the family ones as a faimly update to family/friends card (it's a lot less bad than many of those I get every year) but if I were the client I wouldn't really want a print of any of the others to hang on a wall. I have to confess I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't get at least one shot with mom in it that is a winner... though I think Mom really LOVES a shot of her and hubby which I only posted on the blog as it's more "couples" than family and I'm a bit more comfortable with that so didn't want to dilute the critique power on them

I think you caught some nice genuine moments there, nice job!

My Simple Suggestion: NEVER blur out the parents or a sibling!

SHORT DOF is a creative crutch.

Learn to use other compositional methods.

Get beyond the SHORT DOF gimmick.

Your photos 9 and 10 are FAR better than ANY SHORT DOF gimmick image.

Ooops... I let my opinion show.

Another Suggestion: DUMP the canned SW (portraiture) and focus on getting real skin, not "Manufactured" skin.

i think these are amazing. I love the processing too for the B&W's and the Soft look.

Jfinite - thanks for the kind words, overall as a first effort I was very satisfied with the outcome... and the family is happy too, so good stuff all around

Steady - Thanks for letting your opinion show... you can dish it to me straight (always, even if I don't specifically ask for C&C) I am built to listen and learn from others (even sometimes harsh) opinions.

I'm going to have to disagree with your "never blur the parents or a sibling" on account of it using the word "Never" which I'm sure was a slip and would agree that "never" never makes for a creative photographer .

That said... I agree with the rest of what you said in terms of short DOF often being a crutch... I'm open to suggestions for how the shots could have been done better using another compositional method if you're in ta mood for sharing ... frankly the shot of the smaller girl and the mom OOF in the bg was basically me trying to get the "feeling" of mom watching on as she played... without drawing so much attention to the mom's outfit which I was NOT very happy with (my bad... should have exercised more control over that... learned the lesson, moving on <grin>.

I'm also going to have to disagree with the portraiture thing. The more I look at the photos the more I think I overdid it this time. But I'm convinced that portraiture has single-handedly gotten me a destination wedding booking and a fantastic E-Session. No I'm not saying the photos that put the clients over the edge were shabby before portraiture... but portraiture really made the clients look like superstars.

I've also tested it on clients by showing them different crops of the same photo where I told them the only difference was the crop... but in reality there was also from zero to mid-level portraiture applied... and the results were 100% consistent... even when the crop was CLEARLY significantly superior, the clients picked the poorly cropped portraiture photos.

And yeah I have to confess... sometime even *I* think I've overdone it... but the clients keep picking the photos for their facebook profiles... their friends consistently comment more on them... who am I to stomp the tide? Provided that I don't get forced to do selective color how can I complain?

But again, thanks for sharing your opinion, I appreciate you asking as it allowed me to think it through again.

PowerShiftz0g - Thank you for the very kind words... they're undeserved but appreciated nonetheless

Nope. I meant "never as in never."

But as I always say..."Follow your own muse."

So if the images you see please you, then continue doing what you are doing.

Steady Hand wrote:
Nope. I meant "never as in never."

But as I always say..."Follow your own muse."

So if the images you see please you, then continue doing what you are doing.






I do try to follow my own muse.

I think she's drunk sometimes

Again, thanks for sharing, very appreciated!

I think that the shallow DOF is a very useful technique that many many people enjoy. However 3 and 5 seem to be half way between "I tried to have them OOF" and "OOPS... too shallow DOF". Number four is well executed in my opinion. I'm sure that the parents will enjoy it.

gpsphoto wrote:
I think that the shallow DOF is a very useful technique that many many people enjoy. However 3 and 5 seem to be half way between "I tried to have them OOF" and "OOPS... too shallow DOF". Number four is well executed in my opinion. I'm sure that the parents will enjoy it.

gpsphoto - thank you for your thoughts. I agree with your assessment of the results. FWIW 4 did indeed come out as planned (mom's foot cutoff nonwithstanding) ... in 3 I was hoping to get dad a bit more OOF and the girl's far hair a bit more IF ... but alas that didn't happen. (I guess it couln't happen given the way the lens works... dad more OOF would have required me to get closer to the girl... but that would also have resulted in less IF on her face... hum... actually this might be something I want to experiment a bit... I wonder if shooting closer, but stopped down a little would have yielded the results I was after. In retrospect more DOF and both in focus would have been the way to go.

5 was a lucky grab... I was set up to shoot the older daughter with narrow DOF when the younger one jumped in the frame. I shot this one, then changed my aperture to get them both IF but by then the moment was gone. So yeah definitely didn't intend it to go that way. Might have to consider establishing a preset to handle this kind of situation when it arises.

HA! We live down the road from one another! I am in Miami Shores!

Here are my direct thoughts:

#1 - Expression is killing it here.. also something in your processing is "off" it almost looks like smooth skin or something in NIK was applied.. not too sure this is a good idea..

#2 is nice, and I really like the comp here!

#3 was a nice use of DOF.. but I wish the little girl was giving a more pleasing expression... Hey look dad smiles!

4,5 & 6 - Nothing special here.. just nice snaps.. not a "professional" feel for me..

#7 is nice! I like this one! Very nice comp DOF..

#8 - again killing me here with dad and kids expression..

9 & 10 as said are BY FAR the best.

and the last one.. nothing special.

So all in all.. it was an "okay" shoot IMHO. This is partly your client.. and mostly the photographers ability to "get" the "expressions" / "energy" out from them... it's tuff..

Oh, and I am pretty good looking too ROF! There is a horrible portrait of me on my site... "my vision". : ) It's being replaced this weekend!! YAY!

- T

Travis - Hi Southern Neighbour!

Oh man you shoudln't have told me about your photo on your site... I though you were the lady in the avatar and was getting ready to ask my wife if I could ask you out on a date

Thanks for the critique...

1. I agree the more I look at this the more I can't believe how strongly I processed the skin. Thing is I had to do A LOT of hair removal from mom's face (windy conditions, hair outa control) and I'm just NOT going to redo the work. As you can immagine she's thrilled with the image as is.

3. I agree. Unfortunately she was NOT happy at that particular moment and I really liked how her dad was looking at her with a smiling face trying to get her spirits to come up... I guess I liked the moment from a Documentary perspective... don't expect this'll make it even on Facebook

4,5,6 - agreed. Nothing special for me either

7. - I kick myself for those cut fingers but otherwise it's exactly how I wanted it

8. - On a purely aesthetic level I agree with you. However I suspect they will love this photo for years to come as I believe it truly captures each of their personality better than any of the other shots. The tiny one is a goofball, Mom's got a gorgeous smile that isn't a photo smile... that's how she smiles all the time.. and she smiles a lot... the shoot was a pleasure... dad has that silent guy/but I got funny going on if I want to look that he had on the whole session... very very nice guy... and the bigger girl is showing her beauty and her being a little reserved (she's not SHY, but she's not a clown like my own 4 year old either)

I also agree with your overall assessment that the shoot was "okay" ... considering that it was the first, and that i was freaked outa my mind (I was terrified of the little ones ) I'm happy with the outcome... I really really really LOVE 9 & 10 ... I could totally see these two making the girls' slideshow on their wedding day.

My rule of thumb is usually that if I can get ONE image that I absolutely love, and the clients are happy with the outcome, the shoot was a success... so by that standard I did better than expected

Btw... I looked. Nice work on your site!