Ashley~ Senior Rep 2009

JulieLawsonPhotography

I met with Ashley today to do her Senior pictures. She is my Senior Rep for South Vermillion High School. We spent close to four hours together getting all sorts of shots and in all sorts of locations through Vermillion and Parke County. She is such a nice girl with a good head on her shoulders.
We started our session at a building on Crompton hill in Clinton, went to the railroad tracks on Water Street, went to her families farm, then her neighbors property. After there, her mom, Bri, Ashley and I headed out to Parke County to Bridgeton Covered Bridge where we wrapped up with ice cream. This first shot shows Ashley’s funny side. LOL I
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no flash

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JulieLawsonPhotography

any advice? Yay.....nay?

Swartzy

Hey there Julie...let me take a stab at it

#1: fun shot...doubt highly this will go on the rep card...

#2: Doesn't capture the essence of her. A bit more body with tilted head/shoulders...different perspective would be much better. The processing in conjunction with her makeup looks splattered and very unappealing. The angle and focal length make her nose much bigger as well.

#3: Much better. Relaxed pose and smile. Maybe straighten it up a bit or give it more tilt for effect. Could possibly try a different processing technique like cross process or vintage edge...something a bit different..also color is too warm.

#4: Pretty good but again, the facial processing needs attention. Repair the blemishes first before any skin softening. The pose is ok but the look isn't captivating.

#5: Nice smile. Arms crossed usually doesn't work but sometimes it does. In this case she looks defensive instead of relaxed.

#6: My favorite of the series. I'd crop some of the head room a bit though (personal preferrence). I like the overall feel and angle of the shot.

#7: Although the splash is a neat effect, she's totally out of focus.

#8: Getting a "good" laying upside down shot (as I call them) is difficult. This one doesn't grab me but makes me tilt my head to view her. Laying completely flat at this angle takes away from the shot. It could look cool if you were up a couple steps above her at a 45 degree angle with the camera.

Okie dokey, there's my 2 cents!

Vinnie

Number 3 is my fav.

JulieLawsonPhotography

Thanks for the CC I really needed to know. I know I have some work to do on her skin. I am not that great on cloning...so any suggestios on how to accomplish this would be great.

du8die

...
#1 may not be a rep card shot, but I like the idea. It's fun, and seems to show her personality. My only "issue" with this particular shot is the nasty shadow cast by the ice cream cone. I'm not sure how to fix it, because I know very little about flash (ie. nothing), but I've had several shots with the same result, and I'd love to learn how to fix it.



Thanks for sharing these shots.

heatherfeather

Use the patch tool- works waaaay better than cloning.

Swartzy

heatherfeather wrote:

Use the patch tool- works waaaay better than cloning.

Agreed....patch tool...not cloning in most cases is better....also use healing brush. Go out to Google and search for tutorials on these tools (as in PS they reside on the tool pallate in the same place). Also, LR has a great healing brush and use it all the time before it goes to PS.

JulieLawsonPhotography

du8die wrote:

#1 may not be a rep card shot, but I like the idea. It's fun, and seems to show her personality. My only "issue" with this particular shot is the nasty shadow cast by the ice cream cone. I'm not sure how to fix it, because I know very little about flash (ie. nothing), but I've had several shots with the same result, and I'd love to learn how to fix it.



Thanks for sharing these shots.

Oh, this won't be used for anything at all. She just wanted it for herself. I'm not too worried about that one...........just wanted to share it. ;o)

Scott_Quier

du8die wrote:

#1 may not be a rep card shot, but I like the idea. It's fun, and seems to show her personality. My only "issue" with this particular shot is the nasty shadow cast by the ice cream cone. I'm not sure how to fix it, because I know very little about flash (ie. nothing), but I've had several shots with the same result, and I'd love to learn how to fix it.



Thanks for sharing these shots.

The shadows are a result of rotating the camera to "portrait" orientation and the flash along with it. Shooting with off-camera flash or with flash on a camera bracket will solve the problem. With off-camera flash you can control exactly where the shadows will fall. With the flash on a bracket, the flash is above the lens, which helps to hide the shadows behind the subject.

As for comments on the photos - I have to agree with everything Swartzy has had to say.

In addition, they are all strongly centered. Other compositions are usually much more flattering/interesting.

Cropping #6 - In addition to removing some of the headroom, I would also cut some off the right side. This would have the effect of moving her to the upper right corner of the photo - making a somewhat more interesting composition.

Overall - I think you did a pretty good job