So I finally got an umbrella...

divamum

My present to me, a 45" shoot-through.

Today was the first day to try it out. There is a gazebo in the street where my parents live, and I've been dying to do a shoot there for some time, so they agreed a few weeks ago that I could do a family picture when we were there today for the holiday - I knew it would be a lighting challenge and need more manipulable light than the sky would be able to provide, so I figured I'd give the new addition a whirl.

Just about everything I had planned went out the window since 1. they weren't feeling entirely cooperative in the first place (my mom in particular hates photos and despite having agreed was not exactly chirpy about it) 2. it was cooler than expected and quite windy and they were all getting cold and antsy 3. the wind was such that I was afraid everything would blow away, so my poor DH had to act as the carbon-based, voice-activated lightstand and hold the 'pod w/flash+umbrella up over his head towards them (muttering imprecations about Mary Poppins all the while) 4. the light in and around the gazebo was even glarier and more complicated than I expected, so it took me a while to figure out how to get them situated. In general I just felt rushed and flustered and they weren't necessarily at their most cooperative... :rofl

However, there are a few that aren't so bad. I think I'm pleased with the fill flash (ste2+420ex) - how does it look? (As always, I'm not convinced about my processing - I think I need to give up using LR for first edits, because I'm NEVER happy with them when I look at them in another program. Harumph :patch I have no doubt I'll wind up redoing these, but for the moment... )

1. You can see how harsh the light was on her sleeve. And yes, my dad is shorter than my mom, but he always insists on leaning in like that - I was picking my battles, and that was one I knew I wouldn't win so I didn't even try!!




2. He was being a complete goofball and it's a daft picture, but I like it as part of a series because of the natural smiles - really hard to get out of those two (my mom freezes and my dad mugs, so anything natural in front of the camera is great!)



3.

sweet caroline

I LOVE their expressions! I'm wondering if you can fix the hot area on your mom's arm in #1 in photoshop. #1 is my favorite. Overall, I think the lighting looks pretty good. I haven't been getting out my umbrella lately because I don't have weights, or someone to keep it from blowing!

Caroline

Agnieszka

Oh my goodness!! Your parents just seem like the cutest couple!!! Aaaand you have a very cute daughter! lust

I'm not a light expert (only thing I could say is that your dad's face looks a bit dark in the first shot) but I think you did very well!

divamum

Thanks both! And yes, my parents are Characters with a Capital C - I'm really happy to have caught some of that since, as I say, usually they overplay for the camera and you don't get anything particularly representative; this is them at their silliest, which is a good thing, I think. Really, I'm just happy to have any pictures of them, especially with Littl'un - we have very few. They promised me another round on a warmer day, so we'll see if we ever get to it

I'll see what I can do with those hotspots when I re-process/edit these - I kept trying to find a way to crop them out, but it just didn't quite work so I guess I'll have to do it the hard way....

Scott_Quier

They all three are quite good ... for different reasons.

#1 is a nicely posed shot. I think, rather than attempting to fix the blown areas as suggested by Caroline, I would just crop from the right (to just to the left of the blown out sleeve) and from the bottom (to just above mom's wrist). I did this in the browser (by simply making the window smaller) and it seemed to work quite nicely.

#2 - That's a keeper, gotta love shots with natural behavior. This is one that will be cherised in the years to come.

#3 - Just 'cause she's so cute and such a ham in front of the camera. You know, don't you, that you are blessed. Lovely daughter and one that actually enjoys being photographed! Doesn't get much better than that!

Ed911

I like all of them...the colors are so nice. Good work.

rutt

2 is wonderful and I agree that it will be with you a long time. It has a definite blue cast, though. Measure his hair. It should be neutral or slightly warm. Blue is definitely an impossible color for undyed human hair. Look at the light colored stones in the background for further evidence. Probably the combination of daylight and flash results in a mixed cast which causes some confusion somewhere in the workflow.

You can also recover some detail in her face. I worked it through, compared with the original, and then blended with the original to scale back a little. It's still a little blue in places where it really shouldn't be (their hair, the stones) and too magenta (same as being too blue, really) on his nose and places on her face. If you shot raw, perhaps you can get a better start in ACR by neutralizing his gray hair?

JulieLawsonPhotography

I love this set! Completely honest, natural and fresh. I think you did good. I'm still learning how to get the colors just so, so I can't comment on that....but wow...this series has a lot of life. Love it!

sweet caroline

Scott's right, you could crop the elbow without the composition suffering greatly. It's a much simpler solution!

Caroline

Scott_Quier

I'm thinking something like this...

divamum

Thanks for the continued responses, everybody! I'm swamped this week, but when I get back to these I'll be using all the great advice.

I too thought about cropping it, but decided I liked the hands and didn't want to lose them, thus decided to live with the blown spots. I'll have to rethink that and see what I can come up with.

Thanks again!