From Sunday...

jeffreaux2 · October 13, 2008

Just sharing a few from Sunday. Shooting in the black-eyed-susans again.

1-

2-

3-

4-

Swartzy · October 13, 2008

Very nice Jeff....but it looks like Susan's eyes are brown

OH, I get it.....we don't have them up here..

. I really like #1

ShepsMom · October 13, 2008

Very nice Jeff, my fav. 1 and 3. Love the treatment

jeffreaux2 · October 13, 2008

ShepsMom wrote:

Very nice Jeff, my fav. 1 and 3. Love the treatment

Thanks...I am seeing some PP issues with #3 on my laptop....but it has a crappy monitor. It looked fine on my desktop...but Ill have to recheck it....may have to rework it.

jeffreaux2 · October 13, 2008

Swartzy wrote:

Very nice Jeff....but it looks like Susan's eyes are brown OH, I get it.....we don't have them up here... I really like #1

Well....the flowers actually have brown centers for now as well! Makes you wonder about the name.

urbanaries · October 13, 2008

My heavens these are gorgeous!!!

#1 took my breath away when I opened the thread....just wow. I just wish that little piece of white shirt wasn't peeking thru her hair...but that's super minor. I love the depth of field you accomplished here, and your lighting technique is just getting better and better.

Not so crazy about the BW, but only because it pales in comparison to the color versions! Nice 3/4 profile in #3, again gorgeous sharpness and skintones. I wonder if you could select and adjust the hue of her green shirt to match the background green? Would make her face pop even more, methinks.

The lighting and carefree smile in the last is just phenomenal. Is that a big white foamcore reflector I see in her eyes? I love the way you leveraged the typically unflattering square-on posture into something really nice, with her head tilt and crop.

Her skin and makeup are flawless. Amazing light in her eyes in all...Lovely, lovely, lovely!!!

gavin · October 13, 2008

Excellent as usual Jeff!!

Agnieszka · October 13, 2008

Wonderful

Elaine · October 14, 2008

This is a gorgeous set, but that first one is knocking my socks off!

lust

Scott_Quier · October 14, 2008

I would say that this is excellent work as usual, but I'm sure you're getting tired of reading that so much

To be serious - this is a beautiful set. I see only two things I would change.

In #3 I would turn her head a little more to the camera. As shot, there's no white of the eye showing on the camera side of her eyes and I, personally, find that a little disconcerting.
While I love everything else about the last shot, I'm not too crazy about the crop. It feels to me like she's looking around a corner that's not in the shot - do you know what I mean?

But, the colors, the post processing (even the B&W) are just so spot on. Love the light in that last one - wow!

adpace · October 14, 2008

Wonderful shots!!

Travis · October 14, 2008

Isn't the point of posting something for critique is to actually have something to critique?

Seriously, this is a great set. #1 is an absolute knockout! Now how about throwing up a bad photo so we can tear into you for a change?

Nikolai · October 14, 2008

Excellent set, Jeff!

Just to give you *some* cr%p;-): facial expressions on first three (esp first two) is almost identical, and the last one is a tad soft and flat to my taste.
I'm sure she loves those, though...

jeffreaux2 · October 14, 2008

urbanaries wrote:

My heavens these are gorgeous!!!

#1 took my breath away when I opened the thread....just wow. I just wish that little piece of white shirt wasn't peeking thru her hair...but that's super minor. I love the depth of field you accomplished here, and your lighting technique is just getting better and better.

Not so crazy about the BW, but only because it pales in comparison to the color versions! Nice 3/4 profile in #3, again gorgeous sharpness and skintones. I wonder if you could select and adjust the hue of her green shirt to match the background green? Would make her face pop even more, methinks.

The lighting and carefree smile in the last is just phenomenal. Is that a big white foamcore reflector I see in her eyes? I love the way you leveraged the typically unflattering square-on posture into something really nice, with her head tilt and crop.

Her skin and makeup are flawless. Amazing light in her eyes in all...Lovely, lovely, lovely!!!

Thanks Lynne.

The hue change on the shirt is a good idea. I may give that a shot. The last one...in fact all of them except #3 used the el-cheapo foam core as a reflector. In the last one I was trying to make lemonade from lemons. The sun had temporarily jumped from behind the soft fluffy white clouds killing my diffused light.....so....I put the sun behind her and set up for a back lit shot. Of course I had been switching from the 17-55 to my 85mm lens and got caught...really...with the wrong lens on.

jeffreaux2 · October 14, 2008

Scott_Quier wrote:

I would say that this is excellent work as usual, but I'm sure you're getting tired of reading that so much

To be serious - this is a beautiful set. I see only two things I would change.
In #3 I would turn her head a little more to the camera. As shot, there's no white of the eye showing on the camera side of her eyes and I, personally, find that a little disconcerting.

While I love everything else about the last shot, I'm not too crazy about the crop. It feels to me like she's looking around a corner that's not in the shot - do you know what I mean?

But, the colors, the post processing (even the B&W) are just so spot on. Love the light in that last one - wow!

Thanks Scott.

On #1....I agree. Just a bit more.....and I maybe should have been shooting for some white under her iris as well. I really like seeing that in portraits.

#2 to me is a bit square on, but other than that I can live with it. I think I like it...only because it is much less "formal" than the others. This is still a 2:3 ratio. For a 5x7 or wallet I am thinking of taking a bit more from the right and then whatever I need from the bottom and maybe put her name and "Senior 2009" on it. I don't typically do text on photos, but I think it would work with that shot.

Her real senior portrait session is scheduled next spring, but I wanted to take advantage of the flowers while they are available.

jeffreaux2 · October 14, 2008

Travis wrote:

Isn't the point of posting something for critique is to actually have something to critique? Seriously, this is a great set. #1 is an absolute knockout! Now how about throwing up a bad photo so we can tear into you for a change?

Well Travis as you know.....the point can also be to share something we have learned with others. I shot at this same location last year and had a helluva time with white balance. Not sure where I went wrong, but really had no issues with this set. It wasn't that there weren't issues...the natural light bouncing off all that green and yellow....well.....It seems to me at least I have learned something about fixing skin tones in the past year!

...maybe?

No time for bad ones here...we only spent about 15 minutes at the site. This is a vacant lot just out of town and some jerk had dumped a mess of fish carcasses. It stank when the wind shifted.

jeffreaux2 · October 14, 2008

Nikolai wrote:

Excellent set, Jeff!
Just to give you *some* cr%p;-): facial expressions on first three (esp first two) is almost identical, and the last one is a tad soft and flat to my taste.
I'm sure she loves those, though...

Hey Nik...and thanks,

I agree a bit more variety in the facial expressions would be of benifit. She is sorta shy, but we will be watching for that when we do her senior portraits. The last shot.....well....the sun had popped out of the clouds ruining my soft light. In the wait for the next cloud I decided for a backlit shot and had to change all my exposures around for it...and..in haste.....wasn't paying enough attention to the shaping of the reflectors. It's flat. Softened in PP. I promise not to let you down next time!!!:D

lisap · October 14, 2008

I really love the lighting and colours, Jeff. #1 is my favourite!!

-- Lisa P.

jeffreaux2 · October 15, 2008

lisap wrote:

I really love the lighting and colours, Jeff. #1 is my favourite!!

-- Lisa P.

Thanks!!!

jeffreaux2 · October 15, 2008

Elaine wrote:

This is a gorgeous set, but that first one is knocking my socks off! lust

Thanks Elaine.....

and FYI....(I just saw your 7yo set)...these...except for the last one were shot in overcast daylight. #3 used no reflector, but the rest did. No flash on any of these.