Mini session w/my oldest....i need some help

JulieLawsonPhotography

My oldest wanted a collage like emmy. So Sunday we went out and took some cute stuff. I used my 50mm which I think isn't always ideal for certain things....could this be right?

Here is my issue....on some of the images her nose and the apples of her cheeks looks almost blown...sort of. I'll include my settings. Please don't CC on her forehead area. We have to work out the whole makeup thing

I shot all these in priority mode with external flash on most set to -2
1.
F 6.3
1/160
Iso 200

2

3
5.6
1/125
iso 200

4
all settings were pretty much the same

5

6

7
I know her finger got cut off. lol

8

NeilL

Help with what? I love them all! They capture something of your daughter's personality, and it's nice!

I do think the face needs more definition, and less shadow under the eyes. Face skin tone too might be a little less muddy (looking at her neck and hands, seems she has beautiful white skin). Clothes more saturated. Less underexposure. More contrast (a very little).

What I definitely do not like at all is the wall. It makes me think of a firing squad.

The softness and gentleness of your daughter (#2 is my favorite) calls for, yes, texture, but a 13-15yo 'the world is an amazing place, and wow I'm in it' kind of texture, as subtle as you and she likes, but definitely with more charisma than bricks!

clemensphoto's

Julie these are awesome!!!

JulieLawsonPhotography

NeilL wrote:

Help with what? I love them all! They capture something of your daughter's personality, and it's nice!

I do think the face needs more definition, and less shadow under the eyes. Skin tone too might be a little less muddy. Clothes more saturated. Less underexposure. More contrast (a very little).

What I definitely do not like at all is the wall. It makes me think of a firing squad.

The softness and gentleness of your daughter (#2 is my favorite) calls for, yes, texture, but a 13-15yo 'the world is an amazing place, and wow I'm in it' kind of texture, as subtle as you and she likes, but definitely with more charisma than bricks!

I appreciate your input. I tried to get her to go into our woods outback but she didn't want to go....she wanted the bricks. So, when she's willing to pose, I don't argue. But I do agree with you.

JulieLawsonPhotography

clemensphoto's wrote:

Julie these are awesome!!!

Thanks so much

Scott_Quier

Looks like I'm going to be contrary again ... sorry

There are issues with every photo, but there's one that is present in all of them ... the light is flat, dead flat. You need to get some off-camera light on her. It doesn't have to be man-made - you can use the sun for this and then use your flash for fill ... a couple of small examples:


[1] - Posture! And, what's with the nail-biting and timid expression? Either use the wall (ala Jeffreaux2 style) or get her away from the wall to throw it OOF.

[2] - This one has the best light of the bunch. The right side is bright enough to be a bit distracting. Burn that down a bit, maybe?

[3] - Expression, wall

[4] - Wall is ok here. I might have used a wider aperture to better throw the wall OOF. The eyes are a little extreme for me - tilting her head back just a touch might "correct" it.

[5] - The hands are a cute touch and there's more expression in her face here than in any of the other photos.

[5, 6, 7] - shooting square on

In many of them, she's wearing a smirk (most pronouced in #7) like it's a trademark or something. If you hadn't already indicated that she wanted the photos, I would almost be forced to say that she wasn't interested in this shoot.

As for the nose and cheeks being "almost blown" I notice that these surfaces are a touch hot, but I don't think there's much to be done nor do I think there's much of a problem. You could burn those areas down a bit in post if you wanted to. I really think a small change in lighting would solve that issue (see above).

speedsk8r

Very cool expressions she has a unique look to her.

NeilL

JulieLawsonPhotography wrote:

I appreciate your input. I tried to get her to go into our woods outback but she didn't want to go....she wanted the bricks. So, when she's willing to pose, I don't argue. But I do agree with you.

Well, I agree with her about the woods... too... well... what? I don't know, but just too...

WingsOfLovePhoto

I like #2. The other ones seem kind of muddy as was said before and maybe they are a bit underexposed? I think her expressions are pretty spot on for her age, a little innocent, a little goofy, a little attitude and a little scared! Good luck with that!

JulieLawsonPhotography

those are the expressions/poses that seem to be what she and her friends do.

I want to get more practice outside with the new camera but it's supposed to be 1 degree outside tomorrow and a biting wind chill. I looked and the d-lighting was turned on so I'm not sure if that had something to do with it. Also can a lens go bad? my 18-55 mm lens just doesn't seem right. I don't know I tried bouncing my flash today with that lens on my d40x and the d90 with the same blah looking pics. I don't have a current example as I deleted them. What is your experience with this. But, then again i used it for a mini valentine session with the little one in my studio and the pics are fine.

happysmileylady

My older daugher is 13 and I totally get similar looks in the shots I take of her, whether she wants them or not :giggle

lisap

I actually really like her expressions. And I do like the ones with the angled wall better than the ones straight on.

One thing I find with kids is that they have a multitude of expressions and those change with age. I've discovered that parents more often than not like the more quirky shots (or the ones I think are more quirky) as that is who their kid is at that time, and that's what they want to remember. And the kids....they LOVE the quirkier shots!

-- Lisa P.

NeilL

...too woody ... yes, that's the word I was trying to think of (hehehe!!):Drofl

Go to the latest and greatest upmarket mall and you'll find lots of interesting backgrounds that a youngster will look great in and relate to.

Teal

Collage
I love the collage and wondered if you could point me in the right direction on where I could find pre-made ones--or did you develop this in Photoshop? Any software that makes it less time consuming.
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