A few shots of my friend's daughters

Foques

Good day.
About a week or so ago, my coworker asked that I stop by their appartment for a shoot.
Here is the result:


1)


2)


3)


4)


5)


6)


7)


8)


9)


10)


everything was shot with d300s with either 50mm or 24-70 tammron.
Flash was either bounced or had a diffuser on.

Shot in their apartment.. which was rather small. the room where the girls' beds were was maybe 10 feet wide.

thoughts?

thank you in advance.

adbsgicom

I think you did a really wonderful job here. Some other notes and nits...

1. Who is reflected in the mirror's upper right? That's a shame on such a wonderful shot. If you try this shot over, try flagging your flash and bounce it forward and to the left so it hits her face but not the back of her head. Also not sure what the flesh-colored blur is in the lower left of the mirror. Love the idea of the shot, and her expression is really great.

2. Saw this one before. It's wonderful.
3. Love it. Great light.
4. Sweet, but the focus seems a bit off.
5. Love the fun of this one, but the angle on dad doesn't look too flattering. Still a keeper for them since it is a great daddy-daughter shot, and her reaction is so great.
6. My least favorite of the group. She just looks a bit stunned.
7. Like this one a lot. Perhaps bump the white point a bit? Dunno.
8. Love it.
9. Sweet shot, but the DOF seems a little too thin, so the focus is off.
10. Cute. Nice light and like the uni-pigtail.

Really like the shots though, and esp. with the cramped space you got some really great images.

Foques

wow! Andrew, thank you so much for taking your time and such a wonderful feedback!

bendruckerphoto

Since Andrew did an in-depth critique, I'll just address #2. Ease up on the vignette. Because it's a white wall in the background, any vignetting is very obvious. #2 is otherwise a great image.

Blurmore

These are awesome snapshots.

Foques

well, do tell, what would I need to do to make them not a "snapshot"?

The_Fat_Zebra

Foques wrote:

well, do tell, what would I need to do to make them not a "snapshot"?

Well - I'm no pro by any standard and new to this forum, but my thought would be first and foremost to think about what it is you seek to achieve, the 'idea' behind your shoot.
For example, no. 2 comes across as least of a snapshot because it (for me) expresses an endearing/cuteness of the little girl. So: is the shoot meant to capture emotions of the children (excited while playing, restless, cuteness etc) or rather are you going for clean portraits...?
What I'm saying is this: using my wife as a model (no pro, as I said), I'd say in advance: I want to go for a fashion look on a sunday afternoon when all Florentines (I live in italy for now) are out for their passegiata (moment where people dress up and go walking in the city to show off); or, I'm going for contrast: beautiful model against grittiness of urban life, stuff like this.

Technically, I was mostly thinking that you should try ensure a catchlight to liven up those big brown eyes of the babies.

That said, very cute pictures! Just my two cents because you asked

Foques

I Hear what you are saying.

Given that I barely had room to turn around, and I do not have wide enough lens, I don't know how I could do any sort of classic portrait.

I am still learning to shoot people.. I am used to shooting inanimate objects or "snap" people while they are in action, doing something.. I happen to be not a huge fan of preset "classic" preset portraits.

jeffreaux2

Foques wrote:

well, do tell, what would I need to do to make them not a "snapshot"?

Put more effort into composition.....and especially avoid putting your subject in the center. If space is at a premium then move in CLOSER.......shoot frame filling face shots. Remember that full length is NOT a requirement.

Learn to flag and bounce the flash to loose the "flashy" appearance found in many of these. The catchlight in the center of the pupil is a tattletale in that you have used shoe mounted flash. Even so....with the proper techniques mild flash work can be made to appear as natural light. There have been many discussions on DGRIN on this very subject. The shadows "created" by the flash in 1 and 8, to ma, are unacceptable.

Foques

NOW we're talking! thanks jeff!

Appreciate the pointers!

Foques

bah.. network glitch.

Blurmore

Foques wrote:

well, do tell, what would I need to do to make them not a "snapshot"?

1. Snapshot. Why? Because you can see someone else in the mirror. Could a similar setup be a portrait? Sure with a tighter shot and thinner DOF. She and her reflection are both almost equally in focus. Open the aperture, and shoot at the long end of your lens.

2. Portrait. But it could be a better portrait with a tighter crop, the bedspread is a bit distracting. The light is nice, almost looks like windowlight but it is tough to tell because the gradiation is almost blown on the bright side of the face. As someone that managed a portrait studio for a few years, I can tell you pigtails are a bitch and can really screw up your composition, cute sure...but require a lot of attention to how you are framing.

3. This is your best shot. Very nice natural light portrait. A little PS on the thing at the bottom right of the frame and the writing on the book, and this is a perfectly sellable shot. Classically, when shooting a portrait in profile you should see just the lashes of the away eye, you achieved this perfectly. Kids are perfect subjects for profile, and it is shot which is often overlooked but a great way to trace resemblance between parent and child.

4. Snapshot, no catchlights, distracting background, cut off pigtail.

5. Snapshot.

6. Portrait, but very stiff. This is the age of child you must interact with to get a good expression rather than just tell them to smile. Light is OK, but it lacks punch. The whole thing could benefit from a tighter crop.

7. Snapshot. The composition on this is just not good, and the vignette just doesn't help it. Your vignettes run a little heavy and some of your exposures would tend to indicate that you could benefit from working on a calibrated monitor.

8. Snapshot. But this COULD work as a portrait. Turn the flash around, bounce it over your head at the wall shoot at the 70mm end wide open but frame the same way and you'll drop the person in the background into blur enough that this pose and idea would really work as a portrait.

9. Portrait. This is cute and natural but it is a bit soft, watch the low angle and up the drawers angle. It too could benefit from a tighter crop, the light is OK.

10. Portrait. This is a strong shot with very nice light. The expression really says something about the subject.

Welcome to D-Grin glad you are happy to learn for all of us "garbage" people at "D-Grinn".



7.

Foques

If you recall, my exact words were different. thank you for a useful feedback this time, though.

Like I told Angie, it is comments that totally destroy my pictures that are making me better. I always welcome those.

I absolutely didn't think of bouncing a flash from the wall behind. thats a cool idea, I have to try that.