Christmas Portrait C&C Needed

goldenstarphoto

]Hi there, I normally only shoot sports, events and pets outside utilizing natural light. This is my first attempt at inside portrait work. I did this for free for a client who has purchased a lot of event photos from me in the past. C&C desperately needed and appreciated!!! Don't worry about being to harsh, it's the only way to improve.

Scott_Quier

Here's what I see (in no particular order):

• - nice colors. The reds and greens compliment each other very nicely and you didn't (it appears) blow out the red channel, or at least not by much and that's sometimes very hard to control.
• :cry - Background has wrinkles
• :cry - on-camera flash is causing some strange shadows under their arms
• :cry - the pose is a bit statict and the two goldens are hardly a part of the image. To improve consider bringing the goldens in more towards the center and getting a bit of a difference in the height of the two people's heads. Maybe put him on one knee on the floor with an arm around each of the goldens?
• :cry - the couple's tops are lost in the background. Need to either get some light on them from behind to rim-light (and thus seperate them from the background) or put them in different colored tops.
• :cry - the dog in her lap is lost in her dress.
• :cry - Framing .... you cut off their feet. Their heads are just a bit too close to being centered. You didn't leave any room for cropping/framing.
• :cry - the dog on the left, bacause of the lighting, appears to be photoshopped into the photo.
• :cry - lighting ... on-camera lighting (because it's not allowing any shadows on their faces0 is lending a very, very flat image - there's no depth. Get the light off camera. If that's not possible, consider bouncing it off the wall/ceiling to get some directionality to the light. Speaking of hands, I had to look for his right hand before I figured out that it was his hand that is holding the tri-color dog ... again, his hand is disconnected.
• :cry - her left hand appears very disconnected ... there's nothing in the shot to connect her hand to her body.
• - Through careful placing of the gift boxes, you avoided any harsh light reflections back at the camera though the top "Frosty" is getting close.
• - I don't know how you did it, but you got all five of your models to be looking at the camera at the instant of the exposure. Not an easy thing to do with people. Even harder to do with animals!

Specific recommendations for the re-shoot:

• Change out the background to something a bit lighter (or put some light on it).
• Get a tree with lights in the shot - maybe?
• Pay a bit more attention to the framing of the shot
• Get the goldens a bit closer to the group.
• Get some directionality to the lighting - this is probably the most important and most difficult thing to address but will make a huge impact on the quality of the portrait.
• Pay a bit more attention to the wardrobe.

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goldenstarphoto

Wow, thanks Scott, that's exactly the kind of advice and critique I was looking for. I'm not sure I will get a chance at a re-shoot with this couple because she is very busy.........

The only reason I chopped the feet off is because he was wearing white socks which stood out like a sore thumb.

Right now, I only have a FL-36R on camera flash (which is why I would never attempt a shoot with a paying client at this time). But I will try to bounce it off the ceiling. Who knows, maybe Santa will bring me new lighting?

Again, thank you for taking the time to comment Scott, I admire all of your work!!!!!!!!!

sweet caroline

Wow, Scott gave you some excellent feedback. I have one more critique- they are sinking into their seats. A hard surface to sit on would allow them to sit better. Soften surfaces are usually fine with babies and small children because they aren't heavy enough to sink. Great, happy expressions! I can't wait to see what you can accomplish once you get some off camera lighting.

Caroline

goldenstarphoto

sweet caroline wrote:

Wow, Scott gave you some excellent feedback. I have one more critique- they are sinking into their seats. A hard surface to sit on would allow them to sit better. Soften surfaces are usually fine with babies and small children because they aren't heavy enough to sink. Great, happy expressions! I can't wait to see what you can accomplish once you get some off camera lighting.

Caroline

Thanks Caroline !!!

I hadn't noticed they were sinking. haha I will make sure to keep note of that in the future. I appreciate you taking the time to comment.