A few senior portraits

Fuhrtographer · April 24, 2011

My sister in laws asked me to take some senior pictures for them. I have always enjoyed photography as a hobby, so this is the first time I really felt any presure with a camera in my hands! Let me know what you guys think, I have a more in other places. These were the first shots with my new lens (Canon 60mm f2.8 macro) its seems pretty crisp. BTW they are twins.

VayCayMom · April 24, 2011

Nice job! I like the ones of the twin in the reddish sweater because of the posing. The other gal has issues with what I have heard people call "mushrooming" of the arms. When body parts are pressed on a hard edge they become a bit distorted and bulge out.
All the images on my monitor could use a bit of contrast and perhaps sharpening, they seem a bit hazy even though they appear to be in focus. Good shots, nice background, you have captured their beauty, Mom should be happy !!

zoomer · April 24, 2011

These came out pretty good.
They look very comfortable with you and it shows in the pictures.
I bet they love these.

afev0602 · April 25, 2011

I really like these shots and I think you got good light , but I agree w/ vacaymom---the shots feel like their not done and you may want to revisit processing. I like shots 1, 3 and 4 the best

Fuhrtographer · April 26, 2011

VayCayMom wrote: »

Nice job! I like the ones of the twin in the reddish sweater because of the posing. The other gal has issues with what I have heard people call "mushrooming" of the arms. When body parts are pressed on a hard edge they become a bit distorted and bulge out.
All the images on my monitor could use a bit of contrast and perhaps sharpening, they seem a bit hazy even though they appear to be in focus. Good shots, nice background, you have captured their beauty, Mom should be happy !!

I agree that something is not right, but I seem to be chasing my tail a bit! I have lightroom and PSE so I know my tools are up to the task, calibrated IPS panal so my monitor is not the problem either. I am gonna revist a little contrast and sharpening, I am a little leary of doing much though because I am kind of a skin tone nit and it seems just about everything I do color wise changes the tone enough for me to not like the whole picture.

zoomer wrote: »

These came out pretty good.
They look very comfortable with you and it shows in the pictures.
I bet they love these.

Thanks! Yeah they are comfortable with me. They are 15 years younger than my wife, I have known them since they were 2! They feel like my daughters most of the time!

afev0602 wrote: »

I really like these shots and I think you got good light , but I agree w/ vacaymom---the shots feel like their not done and you may want to revisit processing. I like shots 1, 3 and 4 the best

The light is all natural on my 3 season porch in the middle of WI winter, it was 5 degrees outside! Do you have any recommondations for PP? I think they need a little more pop (as all photos I take) but I am not sure where to go from here?

I really apprieciate all the input from you guys! I agree they are missing something but not quite sure what it is. They are happy with them and I am satisfied but I think they can be better. I am going to revisit the RAW files in the next couple days and see what I can come up with! Will try to post at a later date!

reyvee61 · April 26, 2011

Wow...what can I say...these really work.....great lighting!

divamum · April 26, 2011

Check out this tutorial - quick and easy way to ensure you have a good strong black and white point, which is often all a well-lit shot needs to lift it
http://dgrin.smugmug.com/gallery/2292454/1

Jeremy_22 · April 26, 2011

Pretty girl. First thing I noticed though - is almost every image is cropped too tight. I've fallen victim to that before - but keep in mind that with a subject that has a round face, when you crop tight - you're going to make her appear bigger than what she may be. Also, the rule of thirds was completely ignored in every image except #4.

For me, #4 is the strongest image because of the rule of thirds and looser crop. Not wild about the cupping the chin hand placement.

jpc · April 26, 2011

Not sure if the rule of thirds was completely ignored here. Her eyes are pretty close to 1/3 from the top in 2 and 5. Rule of thirds applies more to actual head placement when there are multiple subjects, or if the shot is wider, like #4. I personally don't mind the tight crops, but I do like the composition of #4, also.

Fuhrtographer · April 30, 2011

Well the girls came over to pick out and order their wallet sized prints. I was surprised as some of the choices, they liked some of the photos that were terrible from a photography stand point. I cleaned them up the best I could and they will be alright as small prints. I guess maybe I should not have showed them every shot I took! They are happy with them and I guess thats all that matters. Here they are please disregard the names being off the corner so far these are the copies I sent Mpix to make wallets so its off set for the corner stamping.

Danielle:
1.

2.

3.

4.

Takoya

1.

2.

3.

4.

zoomer · April 30, 2011

First of all just say the word and I will delete this rework, meant only to help you out:
I love this photo first of all.
The photo as taken was not critically sharp.
I cropped it to give the shot a bit more energy(to get her out of the middle). I sharpened the inner colored part of her eyes. I cloned the skin just a bit to even out the tones. I did a levels adjustment and contrast adjustment.
I clicked on her skin with the skin color eyedropper in Elements. I burned the corners a bit and her arms...which in effect brighteneds her face and directs your eye there.
The actual photos are not bad now just continue to work on getting consistency with your photo processing.
All done in Elements and took a just a couple minutes.

Hackbone · April 30, 2011

A couple of things. A 60mm lens is not your best choice for close up portraits. It will tend to distort body parts that are out front of the face. I think that is part of your problem besides too much weight resting on the arms. I will tell my clients to barely rest your head on your hand.....just barrreeellyyy touch it. When rest a head on a open hand I have them only touch the face with the tips of the fingers and the heel of the palm and again barreeellllyy touch those parts to the face.

One of the young ladies tends to have a fuller face. When it is evenly lit the face tends to thicken up. Try to get more shadow on one side of that type of face to slim it. In this case shadows are your friend.

A few senior portraits

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