STILL out of school + Dad STILL home = Even MORE Time to Practice!

Mike J

I wanted to go out and redo the series I previously posted here: http://digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=114405 using some of the feedback I received. Things we worked on this time as to just to keep her shoulders on the fence (and not her butt too) and to relax the face so there was no forced smile. Also, it was an overcast day so there was no harsh sunlight. I used the flash for fill but I'm not sure if I had it dialed up enough. I used the same recipe for conversion so this series has the same look as the previously posted one. Thanks for taking the time to look!

#1 Frankly this look has got her Dad scared!


#2


#3


#4


#5 Hands crossed or on straight on the thighs?

dogwood

Snow? Where did you find snow? There sure isn't any in downtown Portland. And yet school was cancelled again today. Poor kids aren't gonna like it much come June when they have extra days. (PPS has two snow days built in and a minimum number of educational hours to fill -- some kids have been out all week-- you do the math).

Just my two-cents on your images, but the first one that scares you as a father is the nicest. Her pose and look are natural though I can see why it would scare you.

jeffreaux2

Mike J wrote:

I wanted to go out and redo the series I previously posted here: http://digitalgrin.com/showthread.php?t=114405 using some of the feedback I received. Things we worked on this time as to just to keep her shoulders on the fence (and not her butt too) and to relax the face so there was no forced smile. Also, it was an overcast day so there was no harsh sunlight. I used the flash for fill but I'm not sure if I had it dialed up enough. I used the same recipe for conversion so this series has the same look as the previously posted one. Thanks for taking the time to look!

#1 Frankly this look has got her Dad scared!

This is gorgeous, and the set...as a whole is much improved over the first attempt. I think the flash/ ambient balance is fine...and if anything, less would be better than more in these examples.

As a photographer

I will tell you that there are a few more adjustments in the first pose that could feminize even more, but in my opinion she looks completely at ease with this age appropriate pose. Normally, we don't want hands in pockets, but it works fine here....as I said she appears at ease with herself here.

As for your question about what to do with hands? The best option is to do "something" with her hands. hold something? Let one lie across the fence? anything but nothing. Short of that, one hand on her hip with the wrist of the other lying atop her hip area is fine......either way the hands should be relaxed.

As a father

A father of three kids that include 17 and 19 year old daughters all I can say is that you do your best to teach right and wrong, but at some point we just have to roll with the punches.


She's lucky! Out of all her friends, she will have THE BEST facebook/myspace pics!:D

Mike J

dogwood wrote:

Snow? Where did you find snow? There sure isn't any in downtown Portland. And yet school was cancelled again today. Poor kids aren't gonna like it much come June when they have extra days. (PPS has two snow days built in and a minimum number of educational hours to fill -- some kids have been out all week-- you do the math).

Just my two-cents on your images, but the first one that scares you as a father is the nicest. Her pose and look are natural though I can see why it would scare you.

Hey Pete,
We still have lots of snow on the ground here down in the Tigard/Tualatin area. I know what you mean about June though- my kids were out all week so they will get the missed days tacked on to the end of the year.

We had fun with this and the goal was to get a more natural look. I'm glad to hear you think I'm moving in the right direction!

Mike J

jeffreaux2 wrote:

This is gorgeous, and the set...as a whole is much improved over the first attempt. I think the flash/ ambient balance is fine...and if anything, less would be better than more in these examples.

As a photographer

I will tell you that there are a few more adjustments in the first pose that could feminize even more, but in my opinion she looks completely at ease with this age appropriate pose. Normally, we don't want hands in pockets, but it works fine here....as I said she appears at ease with herself here.

As for your question about what to do with hands? The best option is to do "something" with her hands. hold something? Let one lie across the fence? anything but nothing. Short of that, one hand on her hip with the wrist of the other lying atop her hip area is fine......either way the hands should be relaxed.

As a father

A father of three kids that include 17 and 19 year old daughters all I can say is that you do your best to teach right and wrong, but at some point we just have to roll with the punches.


She's lucky! Out of all her friends, she will have THE BEST facebook/myspace pics!:D

As a photographer
I appreciate your comments. Reading your comments for others and looking at your posts have really helped me along this learning path. I'll just keep going one step at a time.

As a father
I know what you mean about teaching right and wrong. Something we work on everyday and hopefully it sticks.

Elaine

Mike, this set is a huge improvement! That first one is gorgeous! To really spruce it up, I might clone out the writing on her jacket. I also really like #3 and 4. Her smile is very genuine in #5, but her pose isn't as natural for me. Very nice!

dogwood

Ahhh ... now there's some snow in SE Portland. I'm dreading the transition to freezing rain though. Why can't it just snow here and stick around for a while? It's always gotta turn into the mother of all ice storms (well, if you believe the forecasts, which have been wrong about 90-percent of the time this week)

Scott_Quier

#1 is cream of the crop here, followed closely by #2. There's not much I can add to what has already been said, aside from I really like the changes you've made. These are much improved over the previous set.

Mike J

Hi Elaine:
Thanks for the tip on cloning out the logo on her jacket. I think I'll do that and put this one in a frame! On that last one with her sitting, we just took 2 or 3 shots because I was making her sit in the snow. She was game but not too happy. I was also undecided what to have her do with her hands. I'm going to try this one again when we can spend some more time with it.

Hi Pete:
I actually drove my boys to Mt. Hood today to do some skiing (getting ready for race season). It was snowing when we left at 5:45 this morning and was snowing when we got home at 5:30. There was snow all the way home. Amazing. We had 7" here today!

Hi Scott:
Thanks for the encouragement. I really do appreciate it. This forum has been extremely helpful for me.

zoomer

I like all of these 1 and 4 are my favorites.
These are improved over the first set.
Looks like you took a bit more time to set up the photographs instead of just taking some snaps in the back yard.
Nice job!

Mike J

Hey Zommer,

Yup - this time I paid a lot more atttention to the light. The nice thing (?) about the NW weather is that we got a lot of overcast skies!:D

divamum

Mike J wrote:

Hey Zommer,

Yup - this time I paid a lot more atttention to the light. The nice thing (?) about the NW weather is that we got a lot of overcast skies!:D

I'm really enjoying these! My only quibble in this batch would be the "missing corner" in #2 - dunno why, but my eye instantly went to that before the subject.

At least yours is posing for you - mine is SO SICK of me at the moment that she has embargoed me until further notice (I'll probably wring a few more out of her at some point - what 10 year old can resist 110% of mom's attention for an hour or so?!).

Mike J

divamum wrote:

I'm really enjoying these! My only quibble in this batch would be the "missing corner" in #2 - dunno why, but my eye instantly went to that before the subject.

At least yours is posing for you - mine is SO SICK of me at the moment that she has embargoed me until further notice (I'll probably wring a few more out of her at some point - what 10 year old can resist 110% of mom's attention for an hour or so?!).

Hi Divamum:
Thanks for taking a look. I know what you mean about the missing corner in the 2nd one. I was playing with a lower angle and was not fussing about the background like I should have been. The angle of the fence and where she is positioned in the frame limited how I could crop. I just couldn't eliminate that corner. Here's the original uncropped shot.



Here's a different crop with a dark vignette in the corners.



Any better? Other suggestions?