2nd Attempt at Senior Photos

Big Red · December 1, 2010

reyvee61 · December 2, 2010

The first thing that grabs my attention is the skin tones, they appear a bit off to me. Orange just comes to mind but I'll peep these on my calibrated monitor at home to compare as the one I’m on now is very dark by default.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
The other thing that tugs at me is the compositions as they all place your subject dead center or close to it. Some such as 3, 4 and 5 would benefit from the rule of thirds in my opinion.<o:p></o:p>
Other little nits:<o:p></o:p>
The crop of her right hand in #1 bothers me as well as on #3<o:p></o:p>
Number two is my fave of the bunch btw....<o:p></o:p>
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Good job on these overall<o:p></o:p>

reyvee61 · December 2, 2010

Oh, I missed the comment on the Expodisc...is this strictly for exposure or also for WB?

clemensphoto's · December 2, 2010

I'd have to agree that the skin tone is off, but other than that they look pretty good.

reyvee61 · December 2, 2010

On my main display these are indeed very much on the orange side of the spectrum.....

Big Red · December 2, 2010

Thank you very much for the comments. I appreciate the suggestions. For some reason, her skin tone was very orange and, as you mentioned, are still too orange, even after being edited. In photo #5, the letters on her jacket are yellow but showed up as very orange. I had to use the paint brush in PS Elements to make them yellow again. I wonder what influence the Expodisc had on the orange tint. I used it for the white balance and believe I used it in the correct way.

reyvee61 · December 2, 2010

Interesting....make you wonder doesn't it....

Hackbone · December 2, 2010

See if you can get your white bal temp to 5200 for starters to see what the skin tones look like. You have some lovely photographs here. Try to get the side of her face facing the camera more shaded to slim the face. Try a scrim over her head and a reflector to get some direction.

Mike J · December 2, 2010

Well the skin tone has been mentioned so I won't beat that dead horse. These are really pretty good. To me, the posing is really strong.
#1 and #2 really like the background with the vertical and diagonal lines. In #2 the teeth look too white.
#3 The curved piece of the house at the top of the frame is distracting.
#4 Pole growing out of her head. The stairs are nice - just change your angle or move her up or down.
#5 Maybe shoot even more down the railroad tracks?

Tim Kamppinen · December 2, 2010

There's nothing wrong with any of these shots, really. My suggestion would be just to try for some more variety in the lighting. These all have nearly identical light, which looks to me like open shade outdoors. Nothing wrong with that type of light but it can get a little boring after a while. Hackbones suggestions are good ones to get started. Other ways to vary the light would be to shoot in window light, backlighting situations, etc. Of course if you bring in your own light sources (flash) then the possibilities are endless. Basically the idea is to use light that's more directional and not as flat looking. I also noticed you have a pretty heavy vignette on the last two images which is distracting IMO. I understand why you did it though; in flat directionless open shade photos, sometimes it's very tempting to rely on vignettes or other post processing techniques to make your subject stand out and "pop". Sometimes it works out OK, but it's tough to make it look natural. If do it in-camera with your lighting, the results are much better.

2nd Attempt at Senior Photos

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