Family pictures..

zoomer · December 18, 2008

This is a family picture from the fall. I know it is pretty busy but I like the colors. There was a very strong back light coming through the top of the photo. These look a bit washed out on my monitor..still messing with my monitor calibration a bit.

This is a picture of my wife on the bridge.

WingsOfLovePhoto · December 18, 2008

Very nice Zoomer. Love the fall colors and you have a beautiful wife and family, you are one lucky guy! Can you tell me again what software you are using for the color effects?

Ann McRae · December 18, 2008

These are both beautiful shots! Congrats!
I love the colors of the first - gorgeous background! One thing that puzzles me is family shots like this where there is so much background - I mean from a set up perspective - I (have a bad habit of) shoot too tight!

Well done.

ann

zoomer · December 18, 2008

Thanks Wings,
I didn't use effects on either of these.
On the first one I darkened the border, warmed it up, very slight blur. The strong backlight is what made the crazy vibrant color on that one.

The effects program I do use is the NIK program. Love it...worth every penny.
Thanks

WingsOfLovePhoto wrote:

Very nice Zoomer. Love the fall colors and you have a beautiful wife and family, you are one lucky guy! Can you tell me again what software you are using for the color effects?

zoomer · December 18, 2008

Hi Ann,
Normally I would not leave that much scenery in a family shot for a client.
But for me anything goes..I love the colors.
My wife chose another picture which was a much more traditional close up shot for the Christmas cards, I didn't really like it much....not my call though..as long as she liked that is what mattered.

Ann McRae wrote:

These are both beautiful shots! Congrats!
I love the colors of the first - gorgeous background! One thing that puzzles me is family shots like this where there is so much background - I mean from a set up perspective - I (have a bad habit of) shoot too tight!

Well done.

ann

Shima · December 18, 2008

I can't get over your rich colors, they're too die for. Great shots, especially love the posing of your wife, she pops in the photo. I loveeeeeeeeee the colors of the leaves and everything in the first one.

Mike J · December 18, 2008

Both are great. I love the rich colors in the first one and the natural look in the 2nd. The only thing that distracts me in the 2nd is that it looks like she has two feet sticking out of one leg.

Eia · December 18, 2008

Wow that first one is really good. As beautiful as the background is it does not distract from the family! And a beautiful family.

zoomer · December 19, 2008

Thanks to all who replied, I appreciate your comments.
I am glad to hear these look good as I am working through some calibration issues on my monitor.
The family shoot was fun SOOOO much better than when we tried it last year.

JohnEBongo · December 19, 2008

These are nice shots. I love the fall colors. In the family shot, I would suggest one thing. Mom, Dad and daughter are all cozy and touching each other while son is kinda on his own. If you tied him into the other 3 somehow, it would be a much stronger shot.

Cuong · December 19, 2008

JohnEBongo wrote:

These are nice shots. I love the fall colors. In the family shot, I would suggest one thing. Mom, Dad and daughter are all cozy and touching each other while son is kinda on his own. If you tied him into the other 3 somehow, it would be a much stronger shot.

Fantastic colors. The pose in #2 seems strange to me. The shoes are distracting in an otherwise beautiful subject in the foreground.

Cuong

Travis · December 19, 2008

I think both are beautiful images and you have a great looking family.

On the topic of the Nik filters (I saw you didn't use them on these but you have on others).... it would be awesome if you did a post on how you use them most for your portraits - which ones, combinations, etc. The reason I say that is that I've had Nik's Color Efex pro for a year and very seldom use them for anything portrait related. I'm sure there are some pleasing effects that you can get but every attempt leaves me going back to the original.

Just an idea. Thanks!

zoomer · December 19, 2008

Thanks Travis,
My best suggestion would be to get in there and play around with the NIK effects.
The more you use them the better feel you will get for when and where they would be an addition to a photo.
I learned to use them by just playing around with them. You will find quickly you like some more that the others.
You will undoubtedly like different effects than I like. Remember you can stack the effects. I normally stack 2 or 3 together to get the effects I like.
It is worth the time to learn as you can do all kinds of cool stuff with them.
Once you get in there if you have any specific questions feel free to send me a mail.

zoomer · December 19, 2008

Thanks Cuong,
It is a composition and balance thing. Appreciate your comment.

zoomer · December 19, 2008

Thanks John,
Very good point.
I seldom pay the attention to detail I should in my group shots.
Not really my forte..

JohnEBongo wrote:

These are nice shots. I love the fall colors. In the family shot, I would suggest one thing. Mom, Dad and daughter are all cozy and touching each other while son is kinda on his own. If you tied him into the other 3 somehow, it would be a much stronger shot.

Travis · December 19, 2008

zoomer wrote:

Thanks Travis,
My best suggestion would be to get in there and play around with the NIK effects.
The more you use them the better feel you will get for when and where they would be an addition to a photo.
I learned to use them by just playing around with them. You will find quickly you like some more that the others.
You will undoubtedly like different effects than I like. Remember you can stack the effects. I normally stack 2 or 3 together to get the effects I like.
It is worth the time to learn as you can do all kinds of cool stuff with them.
Once you get in there if you have any specific questions feel free to send me a mail.

Thanks Zoom. I'll play around with the stacking. My previous experiments have been... I don't want to say failures... just less than desirable. next week I should have some time to play some more so be surprised if you see a pm from me.

Agnieszka · December 19, 2008

You have such an awesome, unique style! Something to admire!!! Just out of curiosity, would you mind sharing some "before" pics? I just want to know if it's a PP skill or if I need to go over my camera manual again

zoomer · December 19, 2008

Thanks Agnieszka,
I purposely take the photos very dull in raw with everything set on the minimum then I do gross adjustments in Lightroom and then fine tweaking, cropping if necessary and adding of any effects I may want to try in Photoshop.
So if a photo does come out good I guess it would be 50-50

Your photos always look great I think you can skip going over the manual again

Agnieszka wrote:

You have such an awesome, unique style! Something to admire!!! Just out of curiosity, would you mind sharing some "before" pics? I just want to know if it's a PP skill or if I need to go over my camera manual again

Family pictures..

Comments