Tom and I got rained out on our first shoot a couple months ago so they wanted to wait until fall to go back out. So we went out this weekend to finish up. Some of you may remember my first post where he was sitting with his dog, a few some shots with his truck, and some shots with his fishing gear. He wasn't real thrilled about getting senior pics taken TWICE, but he was 'doing it for mom...'
This time out we were going for just a few more head shots and mid-length shots at the request of mom. Tom is an outdoorsman and wanted everything in an outdoor natural style setting. Lots of direct sun wherever we went, so I tried to use some of it as backlighting and didn't mind a little spill onto his cheek now and then. I didn't do such a great job getting Tom to give me a variety of expressions. This is still one of my greatest areas of focus for improvement.
All shot with my usual - 5D and 70-200 2.8L IS, all handheld at ISO 100, all with natural light. A few with a white foamcore reflector until my VARS (voice-activated reflector stand) went home sick about 20 minutes after we got started.
Here is a sampling of what we got. Thanks for looking - and as always, C&C is welcome and appreciated.
Ed, I really like this set! And I think his clothing choices this time was much better from what I remember with his first session. The setting and lighting are beautiful, and you controlled them very well. I wish I had that kind of fall scenery here! Great control of your dof!
For the adverse lighting conditions you had to deal with these are quite good, Ed. I shot some yesterday in similar conditions. I hope mine are even close to this well done. I hate when the leave really begin to fall and the sun is so bright. Looks like you met the challenge in good form.
Powershiftz02G - thanks for commenting. Yes, these were the last few colored leaves in the park! When they start dropping it doesn't take long. And yes, the reflector helps lift the shadows in the eyes and underneath chins, etc., provides a nice catchlight as well. A direct hit with sunlight from it can be too much. A couple of these I think are a little harsh from the reflector, but overall I think it worked out.
Hey Tim - I appreciate your comments. I totally agree on the clothing - much better this time out! Glad to hear you find the lighting pleasing. It was quite challenging for me and when my reflector holder had to leave, I was worried!
Gunslinger - thanks! As I said, I was a little worried when I walked around before they arrived looking for some open shade. Not much to be found. I thought, ok, THIS time I will break out the off-cam flash and shoot-through umbrella, but once again, I never used it. One of these days...
This is a very good shoot with lots of fall colours. Well done! I have a few comments that are small in nature, but may be helpful to you.
#1, #2, #6 & #7. The bright sky background spots in these don't look quite as good as some of the others. They are still good shots, but could be better. The eye tends to go to the bright spots, so that becomes a small distraction.
On the posative side, the compositions are well done, and nicely balanced with the background colours. He stands out very well against each background.
I also like the mix of facial expressions. That's always good to see.
Thanks seren - I did get an email from the mum yesterday and she said I gave her exactly what she was hoping for and she loved them. That is always nice to hear!
Jim - I thought about cloning out the bright sky areas but ended up keeping them as is. I know what you mean about the eye tending to go to bright spots, but I decided to keep it natural and overlook that imperfection. I'm glad you said you liked the mixed expressions - I felt like I didn't get a lot of variety out of him so that eases my mind a bit. I appreciate you taking time to offer detailed suggestions.
I love fall settings. I like this series. I did a search on seniors, because I'm photographing a male senior tomorrow. I've only photographed women and thought...what am I going to do?
Both to my eye and as measured in Photoshop, his face is underexposed in every one of these, and his skin tone looks a bit gray. He is the subject, so he should be properly exposed. Just because there is a bright background fooling your meter or a highlight hitting the top end of the histogram does not mean that you should tolerate underexposure of your subject. There are exceptions, of course, but I don't think that you were trying for a low-key look in this case.
I like everything else about the shots, including the setting, composition, poses, and expressions. Nice work all around, although I would play with them in ACR or Lightroom to brighten them up a bit (anywhere from a half to a full stop) and use Recovery to knock down the some of the highlights that will result.
bigbee - I appreciate your taking the time to comment and to measure the skin exposures in PS. I shot all of these in RAW, and when processing, brought them up a fair amount. I like to use the adjustment brush in ACR when images have this much variation in lighting. I think for most of them, I brought them up at least 1/2 stop or so on his skin, but stopped there as the highlights were clipping so badly where I had sun on his cheeks. I have a hard time with that kind of adjustment because I think it becomes obvious if taken too far. Maybe I just need to hone in on a better technique. Regarding the skin tones, I use an exposdisc religously, but on these it didn't seem to nail it as well as most times out. Not sure why, but I do see the gray you mentioned in some of them.
BKPhotography - thanks! I really like that one as well. I saw the set-up as we were walking off the bridge to head home and said, 'hold on, we HAVE to get this one...' Glad I did!
