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Archive 2014 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

gregfixit
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

Did a family session this weekend. They wanted mostly shots of Margot. Margot was a joy to work with and I got a lot of good shots. Used natural light and a reflector for all of these shots. I've been trying to add variety to the poses and process the sessions more consistently. Here are 5 of the ones I like.
I would appreciate any and all C&C. Thanks for looking.

Canon EOS-1D X 85mm lens 85mm f/1.4 1/200s 100 ISO 0.0 EV

Jun 09, 2014 at 07:18 PM

Steady Hand
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

Howdy,

I saw your post has had 134 views and NO ONE left any comments.

Everything I write here on FM is intended to help. Everything I write is in a truly friendly spirit and tone of voice.

Unfortunately, you can't hear my voice on this forum, and written comments can be easily misunderstood for tone and intent. That is why I prefer to speak with people on a phone call when giving them advice and giving critical opinions (critique) of their images. Otherwise, what is intended to help someone can be taken wrongly, and that defeats the purpose of the communication. And, because I want to avoid flaming and trolls, I tend to refrain from writing some things here that could be instrumental in helping someone improve, but may be taken out of context or misused by others. So, I limit my written comments here...though I am sure some will disagree on that last point.

___________

Children make such good subjects.

I like her expressions shown in images 1, 2, 5. Cute kid with cute smile.

Image TWO: (Warning: rhetorical question coming) Why is she holding two lengths of cord/rope? IMO this is a poor composition for this activity/scenario.

Image with flowers hides too much of face IMO.

Image 4 is the weakest from the set IMO. Expression is weak (odd) and not flattering or interesting. The environment has been reduced to OOF bokeh and the composition is weak. Nothing happening. She is outside. I would USE the outside. I would toss this image, focus attention on stronger images.

The image 5 appears a little "cool" in temp. But if you warm it up the father's and mother's teeth will appear even more yellow. Nice expressions though, and I do like their smiles.

The image 5 "group" shot looks "dull" in color and I think it could have been much more appealing outside. As shown it appears they are in a battleship gray (dull gray) box.

I hope these comments help you.

Jun 09, 2014 at 10:05 PM

friscoron
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

I'm just going to focus on the light in her eyes. Go to No. 4 and check out those bright catchlights in her eyes, then pull back and notice how her eyes are popping in that shot. That works out really well. Now... it looks like you've used a speedlight with possibly a softbox to create this light, or maybe it's a reflector. Notice the catchlight is below her pupil, which means you have some uplighting. That's confirmed by the shadow from the nose. If you're using a flash or reflector, I love how you've blended it with the ambient light, but just get it up a little higher -- not a lot, just a little.

Now go to 1-3 and see if you can find those bright catchlights in those three shots. You can't. And look at the eyes in 1-3 compared to 4. No pop, they're kind of dull. It's just because they lack light. Getting the light to the eyes makes all the difference in the world.

By the way, I really like No. 5. I don't think it's cool in temp as Steady suggested. Looks good to me, love the connection with the camera, the smiles. Just looks great.

Great job, hope I've helped in some small way.

Jun 09, 2014 at 10:59 PM

PatrickE
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

I think you should print #3 large so they can hang it on their wall.

Fantastic photo!

Pat

Jun 09, 2014 at 11:09 PM

Big Appa
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

I with PatrickE. I think 3 is just lovely. Those eyes....

Ed

Jun 10, 2014 at 05:46 AM

bbourizk
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

Lovely set mate and she she gave you some great expressions.

Jun 10, 2014 at 05:51 AM

gregfixit
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

Thank you Steadman and Ron for the very good advice. It's things like composition, and how I light my subjects, that will help me get to the next level.

And thank you Pat, Ed and Bud for taking the time to comment.
Greg

Jun 10, 2014 at 01:43 PM

Steady Hand
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

Greg,

I did a very quick edit on the image to show you a side by side comparison of Cool (original) versus Warm (edit).

The edit was not fine-tuned, something you should do, not me.

It only took a single click to make the change. You should use more care/time to edit it to be "final." This is just done to show you the difference.

One thing, the teeth of the parents look yellow, probably due to drinking coffee or tea (though there could be other reasons of course).

Look at the girl's hair color in all the images. Notice how it looks nice and warm (brown) in one image, but cool (dull) in others. Also look at the white stripes on her shirt.

I hope this helps you.

Jun 10, 2014 at 02:34 PM

gregfixit
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

Thanks Steadman.
I appreciate you taking the time to demonstrate. Hair and skin look better with the warmer WB. The challenge for me is getting consistent skin tones throughout the set. For this set I did not deviate from the WB the camera chose. If I end up delivering less than 15 photos it shouldn't be too difficult to warm them up.

I may have to do some web searching to find out the best way to use Photoshop to keep my tones consistent.

Thanks again.
Greg

Jun 11, 2014 at 07:20 AM

friscoron
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

Forget it, Greg. I don't think you can find anything on the internet to get your tones consistent unless you use a gray card and set your color balance in your camera when you do the shoot. A situation like this, I think you end up wasting a lot of time messing with the WB.

When it comes to the final edit, WB/tone is subjective. You just have to find what you like and then dial it in when you do your processing.

Jun 11, 2014 at 08:29 AM

Wildcats_Fans
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

Very cute. 3 is my favorite

Jun 11, 2014 at 10:48 AM

gregfixit
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Mostly Margot in natural light.

Thank you Wildcaats_Fans for taking the time to look and comment.
Greg

Jun 11, 2014 at 08:01 PM


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