Dalton, Class of 2010

l.k.madison

Our first guy Senior!!

It's really hard to not hit the soften brush or the "cute" actions when it comes to doing him - grungy, dirty cowboy style this time.

I got a text from his girlfriend (my cousin) Wednesday "Dalton needs senior pictures ASAP" within 20 minutes, we had these scheduled. The barn is in his backyard and we did a few at his hunting camp (and in the process, this city girl discovered what coyote droppings looked like).

C&C Welcome - especially since I'm so used to making everything "pretty".

1. I played with this one for what felt like forever before I got the look I was going after, I'm still not 100% satisfied, but I'm at a loss with what more to do before it goes cheesy.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lkmadison/4491119456/&quot; title="All in a day's work. by L.K.Madison, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4491119456_721aa5ab1f.jpg&quot; width="500" height="333" alt="All in a day's work. " /></a>

2. My husband and wonderful shooting partner found this great sheet metal wall behind the barn and said "Get in and get out, we have a minute, I made some flying thing VERY mad when I went back there"
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lkmadison/4490455943/&quot; title="Cowboy Up! by L.K.Madison, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2678/4490455943_17042e7faf.jpg&quot; width="500" height="333" alt="Cowboy Up!" /></a>

3. He opened the window of the barn (about 12-15 feet up) and said "It's hotter'n three kittens wrestlin' in a wool sock up here" - I was laughing so hard I could barely look through the camera.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lkmadison/4490454473/&quot; title="In the Barn by L.K.Madison, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4490454473_acde65363e.jpg&quot; width="333" height="500" alt="In the Barn" /></a>

4. I didn't realize how readable his name was on his ring until editing time.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lkmadison/4490453165/&quot; title="Yessir, I'm a Senior by L.K.Madison, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/4490453165_09d8a684fa.jpg&quot; width="500" height="333" alt="Yessir, I'm a Senior" /></a>

5. His girlfriend was over my shoulder trying not to make him laugh, we got this look instead.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lkmadison/4490452853/&quot; title="Don't Smile! by L.K.Madison, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4490452853_3bfab13857.jpg&quot; width="500" height="333" alt="Don't Smile!" /></a>

Larger versions are on Flickr, just click the picture.

Thanks for lookin', ya'll!!

jeffreaux2

How about a bit of C&C?

1-
Not really what Id classify as a portrait, but rather an image of him since we really cannot see his face. Im not sold on the idea that this was the best camera angle. Personally I usually shoot more parallel to walls than this example. I believe you could have had a more "dynamic"....err dramatic looking shot had you laid on the ground and shot from an ultra low vantage......and as wide as your 17-55mm will allow.

2-And here is why some folks prefer NOT to shoot subjects in white shirts/ attire. The face should be at least as bright as the brightest part of the image, but here his face appears dark and a bit muddied up. A color version may not have suffered as badly, but it can take a lot of trial/error, and patients to stumble on a really great BW conversion method for BW's and then next week it may not work for a new skin type. This is nothing new.

Experiment more with the conversion. Get the face brighter, squeeze some flash in there on him. If you shot in ant mode other than manual the white shirt will fool the meter. The trick is to expose as bright as possible without blowing out the shirt.....then push the exposure even more in post while reigning in the highlights with the recover tool.

-3 This is color, but again....his face really needs to be brighter.

-4 Not truely a "portrait"....I like where you were going with it though.

-5 This fared better than the shots in the white shirt as the meter wasn't so easily fooled. Still....Id prefer his face to be at least as bright as his hand.

l.k.madison

jeffreaux2 wrote:

How about a bit of C&C?

1-
Not really what Id classify as a portrait, but rather an image of him since we really cannot see his face. Im not sold on the idea that this was the best camera angle. Personally I usually shoot more parallel to walls than this example. I believe you could have had a more "dynamic"....err dramatic looking shot had you laid on the ground and shot from an ultra low vantage......and as wide as your 17-55mm will allow.

2-And here is why some folks prefer NOT to shoot subjects in white shirts/ attire. The face should be at least as bright as the brightest part of the image, but here his face appears dark and a bit muddied up. A color version may not have suffered as badly, but it can take a lot of trial/error, and patients to stumble on a really great BW conversion method for BW's and then next week it may not work for a new skin type. This is nothing new.

Experiment more with the conversion. Get the face brighter, squeeze some flash in there on him. If you shot in ant mode other than manual the white shirt will fool the meter. The trick is to expose as bright as possible without blowing out the shirt.....then push the exposure even more in post while reigning in the highlights with the recover tool.

-3 This is color, but again....his face really needs to be brighter.

-4 Not truely a "portrait"....I like where you were going with it though.

-5 This fared better than the shots in the white shirt as the meter wasn't so easily fooled. Still....Id prefer his face to be at least as bright as his hand.

Yikes, so number 3's coloring is my fault, I ran it through my favorite warming/chocolate action and that's what happened, I'll give his face another go and make him look more human.

Number 4 is our favorite from the set, bit of tweaking and it stands out the most to us.

I ran into his mom today and she was pulling up the Facebook teasers on her phone passing them around the dinner table and bragging on them, saying she loved the ones she'd seen so far. I joked that I don't know how to make a dirty cowboy, I'm so used to females and making everything "pretty" - even so that my favorite actions don't really work on him, they need serious tweaking when they were nearly flawless on his girlfriend.

Thanks, Jeff for the C&C, you're always brutally honest with me, but I'm a big girl, I can handle it