Karin and Kris - e-session (C&C)

divamum

I can only once again stammer grateful thanks to you all for your INCREDIBLE kindness, support and guidance at getting me through this first engagement shoot - seriously, nobody could ask for a better bunch of mentors and role-models!

Jury's still out on the whole wedding thing as far as I'm concerned - I appreciate y'all's confidence in me, but boy did I find this stressful! I still think I'm more comfortable in "fly on a wall" mode rather than "director" cuz I do NOT enjoy formal posing, even with two cooperative, personality-filled and easy folks like these two. :whew They are just adorable together, which I think (I hope) shows in the pix.

I found lighting them with OCF tricky - I made so many mistakes on that front. The height difference plus the colour differences (in skin tone as well as clothing) meant that if I got her lit well, I blew out the sweater, but if he was about right, she faded. He also tended to "glow" no matter what I did - he's much fairer than she is, I guess! I did what I could in post to balance them up again, but not sure if I got it right or not. I only have the laptop here on the road, so if anything's funky, please let me know- I have the Huey, but not being able to check a larger monitor always makes me doubtful...

BTW, the discussion on clothing last week was really was timely for this one, so THANKS for all the suggestions in that thread. I was much more specific with these two and certainly in her case it paid off.... Him? :rolleyes Despite clear instructions to go with the autumn colours, he turned up in a bright blue shirt and yellow, Fortunately, his future missus agreed heartily that the Ikea colours had to go buh-bye so made him go put on his "alternate" outfit, which is the one we used... :rofl

C&C would be wonderful - I'd like to let them see their whole gallery by tomorrow, so I can still tweak anything that y'all think is dire tonight.

1. I find the processing on this and 2 slightly too warm, but not sure. Thoughts?


2.


3.


4 I can't decide if this works, or looks like a wannabe shot. I wish their hands were more relaxed, I know that, but.. I've done several versions of it in colour, sepia and toned bw and I still can't decide :rofl



5 I love this shot although it also presents one of the consistent problems - between his height and her hair, we often got HIS face, but not hers.... I have a colour version with a less blown sweater, too, but I like this processing (I think :scratch)




6 Another in that series


7 Here's the teaser shot again


8 Non funky, traditional shot (does that count as a tree growing out of his head or not? I can't decide...)



9 Thanks Melissa for the awesome preset! :thumb


10 I have done a "normal" colour version of this one as well but kinda like this



11 This one's a conundrum - I love the expression, but at 100% magnification, it's slightly soft (I let my SS drop slightly too far after I swapped lenses. Whoops...) Still useable or do I have to bin it? :cry



12 Too much???


13 I just thought they were so cute in this one


Bring it on... (and sorry to post so many!)

Darren Troy C

Really like the series! #10 is a real winner...the proccesing is super!

Whatever you do, ALWAYS ask your clients, especially the ones wearing Khakis (and light color thin-material pants that show ANY sort of weird "flaw") to remove everything from their pockets! That last one is a bit distracting.

jeffreaux2

Diva!!!!

I agree, 10 is my pick also.

For future reference, overcast skies can offer some beautiful light, but also seem to increase the racoon effect around the eyes. I have experienced this myself on a few occasions. The only cure is a bit stronger fill, and dont be afraid to slip the flash into the shoe for those shots where the camera is orientated to the horizontal. With FEC dialed back for some non-flashy fill you can get that extra push under the brow.

But hey......these are very well done by anyone's standard. I bet they will be super pleased....as should you.

divamum

Thanks Idlewild!

Idlewild wrote:

Whatever you do, ALWAYS ask your clients, especially the ones wearing Khakis (and light color thin-material pants that show ANY sort of weird "flaw") to remove everything from their pockets! That last one is a bit distracting.

EPIC FAIL. I have been looking at this entire series for 4 days wondering what it was that I didn't like about them and why he "looked fat". I cannot BELIEVE I missed something as basic and obvious as that! (Well, I can believe it, but you know what I mean). I'll chalk that one up to lack of experience and won't forget again!!

Thanks for the kind words... and for pointing out the obvious which I had missed!

divamum

Thanks, Jeff! I'm glad people like 10 - I do too

jeffreaux2 wrote:

For future reference, overcast skies can offer some beautiful light, but also seem to increase the racoon effect around the eyes. I have experienced this myself on a few occasions. The only cure is a bit stronger fill, and dont be afraid to slip the flash into the shoe for those shots where the camera is orientated to the horizontal. With FEC dialed back for some non-flashy fill you can get that extra push under the brow.

But hey......these are very well done by anyone's standard. I bet they will be super pleased....as should you.

I was afraid of racoon eyes, but couldn't figure out what to do. I was far enough away from them that I figured shoe-mounted wouldn't be enough light, and even though the brolly was close, I was having the aforementioned positioning problems - let's face it, to fill his eyes would actually cast a shadow DOWN over hers (there's what, maybe 14" between them?) I thought about getting out the reflectors (I had them with me) but again, I was far enough away that it would've been tricky to make that work.

In any case, live and learn - I'm glad you like them despite the (warranted) nits!

Mishka

I love number 7 and number 10! But 12 does feel a bit too much...maybe just a simple B&W conversion would do? Overall, I think they'll be really pleased with the series! Great job!

sweet caroline

Great set- very nicely composed. I like the warm processing on those first couple you are concerned about. Yes, that one is a bit much on the processing (was it 12?). The one that's a little soft at 100% looks fine, in my opinion. No, that tree isn't growing out of his head, it's almost framing it. You can lighten the little bit of under eye darkness, but it's not too bad.

You did a wonderful job. These are very professional results.

Caroline

divamum

Thanks Mishka and Caroline, especially for the fact that they look professional enough - I do sometimes feel that I'm one of those "anybody with a dslr thinks they can take pictures" folks sometimes I appreciate the votes of confidence and feedback.

Here's two other versions of the kiss one - a bit less overcooked?



(probably should take brightness on this down slightly - the high contrast is looking a tad hot on the white end now)

lilmomma

ooooooh Diva, great job! I was hoping you would stick that preset on one of them! Looks great, I like 9, 10, and the second of your recent post the best, but agree that the brightness needs to be toned down a tad on that. nice work!:D

Scott_Quier

Well, this shoot is at least a three-bagger, if not a home-run! Well done!

I'm looking these on a non-calibrated work monitor, so can't really talk to color too much.

1. Love the pose. Burn down his left shoulder and you're done.
2. This is just so successful in getting out there the feelings they have for each other. What's that thing on the right side of the frame? Think about cloning it out. I really like the bokeh.
3. Not loving this one so much - the background is brighter than they are
4. I vote "wannabe shot". They will probably love it, but .... everything you already pointed out.
5. I also like the processing on this one but I think I would see if there's anything left of his sweater in the RAW file.
6. That's just so much fun!
7. I love this shot! . I would, however, clone out that branch above her head.
8. This is good. A bit more fill for the eyes would make it soooo much better. You MIGHT be able to relieve some of the brow shadow in post
9. Very nice
10. This is one my favorites - everything seems to be working for you here
11. I don't think this is a cadidate for the dustbin, but I don't think its one of the betters ones either. They're happy and having fun, but her laugh has completely over-whelmed her face - she's one of those that almost completely closes their eyes when they laugh.
12. Too Much? No, I love this shot. I would burn down her arm a bit if there's enough detail in the RAW to do so, but this one ROCKS!!!
13. Yep, they're cute in that one. The dead branches in the background pretty much ruin it for me though.

In short, this is a lovely set of photos that I know your clients will absolutely love. You "done did good, girl!"

Oh, and I love the comment

divamum wrote:

Jury's still out on the whole wedding thing as far as I'm concerned - I appreciate y'all's confidence in me, but boy did I find this stressful! I still think I'm more comfortable in "fly on a wall" mode rather than "director" cuz I do NOT enjoy formal posing, even with two cooperative, personality-filled and easy folks like these two. They are just adorable together, which I think (I hope) shows in the pix.

Well, that's a step away from your position on this question just a short couple of days ago! And, you're right. It can be very stressful if you let it get to you. And, the people do make a difference. But, I almost always (there have been a couple of exceptions) LOVE the job and the people I'm working for/with.

Shima

Nice set! 2 and 7 are my favorites. 4 I agree with your thoughts that the hands should be a little more relaxed in the future to make it work better. Just seems a little tense looking at their tightly gripped hands.

divamum

lilmomma wrote:

ooooooh Diva, great job! I was hoping you would stick that preset on one of them! Looks great, I like 9, 10, and the second of your recent post the best, but agree that the brightness needs to be toned down a tad on that. nice work!:D

Thanks for sending it - it's really good on the right shot, and I used it for quite a few of them (although I tweaked it a bit to accommodate the tone/range etc of the individual photo of course).

divamum

Thanks Scott and Shima!!

The stress for me was mainly that I still have to think SO HARD about the details (and also that we were up against the clock - they only had an hour, and although we did run slightly over, I was very aware of our time constraints). I'm sure once the technical aspect of it all becomes more second nature then concerntrating on interaction/posing doesn't mean that tech mistakes will inevitably happen and vice-versa. Experience engenders a bit more security, which means I can slow my mind down; I find I'm STARTING to do that when I shoot my daughter, for instance (since we're both used to it, the interaction is automatic, and it's usually to my timetable rather than somebody else's - iow, no perceived pressure). Of course, this was also the first shoot where I've been almost entirely shooting in full manual - I did switch back to aperture priority for a few, but now that I've been in manual it felt surprisingly limiting and because I knew the settings i wanted.... back on to M it went.

In any case, thanks for the feedback! I haven't heard much back from them which is hard because it would be soooo nice to get a positive response since I killed myself getting a set processed and online even when I was travelling and starting rehearsals this weekend, but then again their communication regarding setting up the shoot and even finalizing plans for the actual session was really poor, so I think it's just their way so I'm trying not to read too much into it.

Thanks again everybody - you're all tremendous mentors and guids

bf2015

I've never had experience with wedding shoots, so no C&C from me. I just wanted to say that I really like #7 simply because it has that "When Harry Met Sally" feel to it which would be perfect for this type of shoot IMO!

nightpixels

I like the variety of post-processings you have done on these images to keep the viewers' interests up throughout the series. Great work!

divamum

Thanks Brian and Allen - really appreciate you having a look and the kind words.

Scott, in the light of your (very helpful) comments I had another look at #8 and tinkered with the brow shadows (and also did alternative processing on it). Any better?

Original


Re-do

marikris

I like your edits in #2, specially the warmth of the bg (and their eyes/face are better illuminated) But the vignette is not working for me on the lower part of the frame. It darkens most of her body (and the darker bg on the lower right pulls my attention lower) so that their height difference is more pronounced.

Swartzy

Something not mentioned here Diva is one of the reasons so many processing techniques work (as they all do) is because they are good shots to begin with. You've captured the "essence" of what it means to the couple as they are together. The photos capture the 1000 words so you could process them a hundred different ways and still convey the concept. Good job. The one where they are almost kissing....STELLAR. That is a 'great" shot.

divamum

Thanks Kris - I see what you mean about the vignette. If they decide they want this shot, I'll play with it further - for now, I"m sick of looking at the darned thing and am going to put it to bed unless it's demanded

Swartzy wrote:

Something not mentioned here Diva is one of the reasons so many processing techniques work (as they all do) is because they are good shots to begin with. You've captured the "essence" of what it means to the couple as they are together. The photos capture the 1000 words so you could process them a hundred different ways and still convey the concept. Good job. The one where they are almost kissing....STELLAR. That is a 'great" shot.

Thank you, Swartzy - I appreciate the vote of confidence and such very kind words!

Scott_Quier

marikris wrote:

I like your edits in #2, specially the warmth of the bg (and their eyes/face are better illuminated) But the vignette is not working for me on the lower part of the frame. It darkens most of her body (and the darker bg on the lower right pulls my attention lower) so that their height difference is more pronounced.

Yup - the vignette is just a bit too heavy. For this shot it should I think be a bit more subtle.

sherijohnson

I think you did well for your 1st

divamum

Thanks, Sheri, and thanks Scott for looking again! I did several versions of that shot both with and without vignette - will revert to one of the others!

Flyinggina

In awe. bow

But not surprised.

Virginia

Weisel

I def like the 2nd redo of the kissing shot you last posted. Of the 3 versions, it's by far my fave.

divamum

Thanks Virginia and Weisel! Appreciate the kind words and feedback