Brant - Senior Pictures

Caspian

Well, the first round of posting senior pictures for comments went pretty well and your comments were helpful. This is a series from November. I work in our corporate office in western Michigan a couple weeks a month. A friend and co-worker had lined up a photographer to take his son's senior pictures and the photographer begged off at the last minute. I had my camera with me and agreed to fill in. It was a cold day. Brant showed up in shorts and a tee shirt and did wardrobe changes by pulling on jeans, etc out in the cold. My hands were shaking so much I could hardly hold the camera and he was just fine. So, please tell me what you like, what you don't like, and why.

This is Brant's favorite
1)


2)
Full version of Brant's favorite:


We were losing the light. He really wanted a picture with his football gear.
3)


4)


5)


Thanks for your comments,
David

Caspian

Really, any suggestions for what could be better next time would be great.
Thanks,
David

ian408

If I had to pick, I'd pick the first as well.

All are nicely lit and your subject seems amenable to the camera. My only comment would have been to have him try some different facial expressions.

Jwar

Here's a few comments...
i think #4 had lots of potential, but focus is better on the tree.
Reduce the flash a bit, i think you want to keep some shadows to keep some dimension to the face.
Also, maybe a lint brush might have helped? It seems there a lot of lint on the black sweater in a few of the shots or is the white shirt peeking through?

hope this helps..

slpollett

I also like the first one a lot. I agree with the lint brush comment. I find the little white specks on his sweater to be very distracting. I'd clone them out. Otherwise, still a nice set. He should be happy with them, especially since you jumped in at the last minute.

Sherry

Caspian

Thanks for your comments. I agree that the tree looks sharper than his eyes in #4. That's odd because the eyes should be in the same plane of focus, but obviously not. That is shirt you see under the sweater and not lint. I didn't even think about cloning it out, that would have been easy. In another full length shot, his sweater had pulled up so I cloned it longer. Cloning the spots on the sweater would have been simple.

jeffreaux2

Ill pick on just one.....

#3
Piling props around a subject IMO is in general a bad idea. Now, instead of a single subject you have multiple subjects in the frame....each vying for eye time.

A suggestion would be to get rid of the stuff...except for the football, and let him hold that in his hands as he looks as if he had no direction in that regard as well. Crossing the arms...or stuffing hands in pockets....when we arent sure what else to do with them isnt the correct approach. The simplest thing is to give the subject "something to do" with his hands. In this case....hold the ball.

Allowing for more ambient light in the exposure....and dialing back the flash could have improved the lighting. It looks very flat and "flashy" in regards to the light.

The solid colored sweater (lint free!) was a better choice.

Caspian

Thanks, Jeff. Very helpful comments. I agree that all the football gear looks cluttered. When they did it, I thought maybe it was a local thing that they did with senior pictures. I also agree that it would have looked better with the flash dialed back an with a solid color sweater.