Family Photoshoot CC appreciated :)

kidzmom

Hi All,
Just did a very quick shoot the other day for some friends who stopped by. Just wondering how these look. I'm always eager for CC.

I am also just testing out a pro account at Smug Mug. I'm not sure I'm ready to invest but I'm very impressed with the ease and privacy. (I had some issues at Flickr where several of my Explore photos were stolen).

Please let me know what you think. I'll post a link to the full gallery also for anyone interested. THANKS! BTW, as far a shooting location goes---all we did for this was step in my backyard. I would have loved to go somewhere more interesting but we literally spent 10 minutes max on this shoot (they were just passing through on a road trip).

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2


3


4


5


6

Link to all photos:
http://kfsphotography.smugmug.com/Family/The-Z-Family-2010/11537827_XDZ68#812473310_Fuhnj

Thanks everyone!

Scott_Quier

These are nice! I really like the B&W treatment of the first one. The younger fella sure has a thing about looking through his eyebrows!

As for protecting your photos - do you realize that you have the originals exposed and sharing. If you go into gallery settings, you can restrict the maximum size photo that SmugMug will download. As you have it now, it's a simple process for someone to get to the original, full-sized, un-watermarked image. If this is a concern for you, go into the gallery settings and restrict the maximum size that SmugMug will download to a visitor and also turn off the "Sharing" option.

kidzmom

Thank you Scott!!! I HOPE I was able to fix the sharing situation. I definately don't want these available to just anyone...to look at yes, but not for downloading. I still left the view size as XL..but I unclicked Original and also turned off the share (I think). I also clicked that I did not want them right click downloadable. I hope I'm good now. Thanks so much for commenting. It was my first time shooing in Aperture Priority. I didn't have much time to get things right, so I thought I'd just give it a go. I have been a full time manual shooter for a few months (for MY own photos) but I wanted to just concentrate on them and not camera settings since it was my first time working with other people. Glad you liked the series

jeffreaux2

The first two will pose problems for you if they want a 5x7 or 8x10 print. What you posted appears to be the original 2x3 aspect ratio and is framed too tightly for an 8x10 without cutting off hands etc.

Compose looser.

Not sure what camera you shoot, but I have installed a focus screen with a grid printed on it that was available for the 50D from Canon. It helps a bit in this regard.

I used to shoot AV exclusively for outdoor work, but now rarely shoot anything other than manual. For me, there are too many variables involved with using this method. A simple speck of sunlight peeking through an insignificant part of the background can cause the meter to set a severe under exposure for the subject. In manual I disregard the metering and expose for the subject and use the histogram to determine if the overexposed bits are acceptable. For me this is a much more consistant method...as opposed to trying to guess what the camera's meter will be doing to each shot. Consistancy when shooting for pay is a must.

kidzmom

OH WOW Jeff! Thank you so much for that golden bit of info! I don't shoot with a full frame, could this be the reason? Or simply framing too tightly? I shoot with a Canon T1i and 50mm 1.8. I was completely clueless about this. This information is very valuable to me!! You can just look at that shot and KNOW that it won't fit? Amazing. I went to ezprints and checked out the crops. It wasn't bad at all on a 5x7 but definately the 8x10 was off. They have such a large selection of paper sizes that I'm sure I could manage to find a way to get it as an 8x10, but indeed that grid would be very useful so there would be no stress. I wonder if it exists for the T1i? I guess I just assumed the framing in camera would print equivalently. The diifference bw 4x6 and 8x10 were enormous!

As for the Aperture Priority...I'm not sold on it. I was a full manual shooter until that session and I just got nervous that I might mess things up in manual. I am pretty quick now to adjust and meter, but I thought it would be more than enough just focusing on shooting people other than my kids, lol. Luckily everything was spot on but I can see what you mean about metering being off in AV. That is the whole issue with Auto and why I switched over to Manual in the first place. Manual finally gets me the shots I like consistenly...I wasn't disappointed in the AV setting though--it was a pleasant surprise but I did have my eye on the histogram to be sure.

Thanks so much for the framing tip! That grid sounds so very very useful. I will check it out. Wonderful knowledge gained today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :ivar

Otherwise how were they? Do you think they will be pleased??? They aren't paying, but you know what I mean

jeffreaux2 wrote:

The first two will pose problems for you if they want a 5x7 or 8x10 print. What you posted appears to be the original 2x3 aspect ratio and is framed too tightly for an 8x10 without cutting off hands etc.

Compose looser.

Not sure what camera you shoot, but I have installed a focus screen with a grid printed on it that was available for the 50D from Canon. It helps a bit in this regard.

I used to shoot AV exclusively for outdoor work, but now rarely shoot anything other than manual. For me, there are too many variables involved with using this method. A simple speck of sunlight peeking through an insignificant part of the background can cause the meter to set a severe under exposure for the subject. In manual I disregard the metering and expose for the subject and use the histogram to determine if the overexposed bits are acceptable. For me this is a much more consistant method...as opposed to trying to guess what the camera's meter will be doing to each shot. Consistancy when shooting for pay is a must.

jeffreaux2

kidzmom wrote:

OH WOW Jeff! Thank you so much for that golden bit of info! I don't shoot with a full frame, could this be the reason? Or simply framing too tightly? I shoot with a Canon T1i and 50mm 1.8. I was completely clueless about this. This information is very valuable to me!! You can just look at that shot and KNOW that it won't fit? Amazing. I went to ezprints and checked out the crops. It wasn't bad at all on a 5x7 but definately the 8x10 was off. They have such a large selection of paper sizes to I'm sure I could manage to find a way, but indeed that grid would be very useful! I wonder if it exists for the T1i? I guess I just assumed the framing in camera would print also. The diifference bw 4x6 and 8x10 were enormous!

As for the Aperture Priority...I'm not sold on it. I was a full manual shooter until that session and I just got nervous that I might mess things up in manual. I am pretty quick now to adjust and meter, but I thought it would be more than enough just focusing on shooting people other than my kids, lol. Luckily everything was spot on but I can see what you mean about metering being off. That is the whole issue with Auto and why I switched over to Manual in the first place. Manual finally gets me the shots I like consistenly...I wasn't disappointed in the AP setting though--it was a pleasant surprise and I did have my eye on the histogram to be sure.

Thanks so much for the framing tip! That grid sounds so very very useful. I will check it out. Wonderful knowledge gained today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :ivar

I doubt they make a focus screen replacement for that body....and I say this only because there isnt one available for my old XTi.

Full frame or not shoot the same ratio....a 2x3......or 4x6......those are the same ratio.

An 8x10 suddenly becomes nearly square.....and 11x14 is even worse......but luckily 5x7 is pretty easy.

Yes I can glance.....usually...and be able to tell if it will work for an 8x10...or not. This is important to learn....even more so if shooting for pay. Remember that the most common print size will be 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, and wallet. Wallets are same ratio as a 5x7. Shooting without forethought for crops can put you in a sticky situation. YES....custom print sizes are available, BUT also require custom sized frames, which can be costly to your clients. Shoot for the same sizes as the commonly available frames at your local stores. For super large prints....16x20 and up....a custom frame will likely be required anyway....so you have some leeway there, but even then they might want a large print and smaller ones for realatives. Oh...and 16x20 is an 8x10 ratio!

Keep those common sizes in mind when shooting!

I used to do square 10x10 books for folks but have switched to 11x8.5 inch landscape format books for this very reason. Much easier to hang onto the original intentions of the framing AND put it in print.

The grid can be helpful for visualizing crops in camera and setting up a thirds type composition, but I use it most often as a guide when leveling the camera. It's not a must have, but I was happy to find it available when I scratched my original focus screen.

jeffreaux2

Oh....and yes they will be pleased.

-I may have tried a seated pose......or at least seated the adults to get Dad's head a bit closer to the others....and then put the little guy on the right on the opposite side to form a diamond with their heads.....rather than a trapazoid? Old school thinking is to keep the heads about 1 and a half heads apart maximum, and while contemporary photographers break all the old rules, THAT one, and using diamond or triangle compositions for groups is still a great baseline rule to use when setting up group shots.

The clothing could have used some attention.....the color pallette here is all over the map. Not a goodness, but that can be remedied with a good monotone conversion.

#4 is a great shot.

#5 the boys could have benifitted from a touch of fill flash to undo those racoon eyes.


Even still though...they will be happy with them.....I bet!

kidzmom

Once again... incredibly valuable information! Thank you kindly. I will definately play around with the diamond/triangle head positioning. I think this makes a lot of sense---modern or old school. It seems very logical for focusing as well. This shoot ended up happening on a spur of the moment thing---I was telling them my newfound passion for photography and they were like---okay lets go outside! The ground was soggy and it was cold-it was winter coat weather but obviously we took off coats for the photos. I was pretty happy with what we pulled off..despite the unplanned nature. Sitting was out of the question with the muddy ground but I could have taken them behind the house and sat on these big granite rocks we have. I should have done that! Anyway, the Mom was so excited about me taking their photos and was demanding that this be a paid shoot. There is no way I will take money for this. I have learned so much from just this one little session...1) posing groups 2) camera settings 3) framing. If I had it to do all over again I would have set up a reflector to help with those racoon eyes (I'm very afraid of using flash--don't want to kill the natural light and I'm too new to use it properly). Anyway, lots of info gained...Thanks so much for your expertise Jeff! I hope one day I will be as versed and can share what I know too

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Oh....and yes they will be pleased.

-I may have tried a seated pose......or at least seated the adults to get Dad's head a bit closer to the others....and then put the little guy on the right on the opposite side to form a diamond with their heads.....rather than a trapazoid? Old school thinking is to keep the heads about 1 and a half heads apart maximum, and while contemporary photographers break all the old rules, THAT one, and using diamond or triangle compositions for groups is still a great baseline rule to use when setting up group shots.

The clothing could have used some attention.....the color pallette here is all over the map. Not a goodness, but that can be remedied with a good monotone conversion.

#4 is a great shot.

#5 the boys could have benifitted from a touch of fill flash to undo those racoon eyes.


Even still though...they will be happy with them.....I bet!

jeffreaux2

Fill flash is ....or can be....very very simple.


Do you own a Canon speedlight? Using the pop up flash is no good at this.

The beauty of the speedlight is something called High Speed Synch or HSS. HSS allows the flash to pair up with the shutter at speeds above the native Synch speed.

Lets say you were in manual mode without HSS and you choose settings (such as an F2.8 aperture) that gets you to a shutter speed of 1/500. Adding flash in this case would either grossly over expose the image...or the image would actually capture the shutter in its action. Awfull either way.

But with HSS, the speedlight pulses out light regardless of shutter speed. Couple that with FEC (flash exposure compensation) and ETTL (canons lingo for auto flash exposure) and you can do some amazing things with little effort. It allows the use of large apertures and thin depth of field for daylight portraits.

Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC) works like this.

You set an exposure....manual....AV....whatever. The flash will add enough light to the image to bring the exposure up to the verge of blowing a highlight when used in ETTL mode. Its automatic....and will probably look obviously flashed....but....using FEC you can dial back the power in one third stop increments up to 3 stops. YOU can controll whether you want more or less (typical) flash power. I have taken thousands of frames with a bare...unmodified....flash head pointed directly at a subject at ten feet or less distance with excellent results by using negative FEC to kill off some of the flashes input on the exposure.....and still gaining the benifits of using fill. My current work usually uses off camera flash and umbrellas....but my earlier work used good old fashioned shoe mounted fill.....via ETTL, -FEC, and HSS.


Its super simple.....and definately can add something special to your skillset and photos.

divamum

Nice series, KM! And yeah, 8x10 is a pain - you just have to remember to shoot a little looser. I tend to crop "in camera" and it's something I really have to remind myself ALL THE TIME when I'm shooting headshots because industry standard for those is 8x10. I've considered getting the grid screen for the 50d, but for the time being, I just keep it as a mantra and try to remember to shoot a little looser than instinct.....................

kidzmom

Once again Jeff...Thanks for the dose of inspiration. You pushed me to figure out textures and now flash. Yes, I do own 2 speedlights---one very old Nikon SB 22 (obviously not for ETTL), but I have a 430 EXII. I have been hesitant to use it only because I'm trying to master natural light. You have proved how well flash can be used in your set of gorgeous shots. I'm impressed and now eager to try it out also. The explaination you gave makes so much sense and is so simply presented. I actually got it, lol! I don't know where a lot of these settings are on the camera or flash but I am sure to be back bugging you all for more help I bought a softbox, a reflective and a white umbrella recently. Along with a wireless flash trigger and 2 remotes. I'm very much still learning..there seems SO much to learn. Out of curiousity does there ever come a point where one knows it all? Or is there always so much to learn?! Seems like a long path ahead but I'm eager. Thank you for sharing your explaination AND inspiration

Diva..the 8x10 MUST become my mantra too. I've learned the hard way and now I'll most likely just hip crop that shot for my friends if they want an 8x10. It will work, but it wasn't as I intended it. Live and learn. Live and learn.

KM