Family session suggestions or critiques.-7 pictures

Dangerchris

Hello:

I would appreciate some feedback on this set of my family sessions. Suggestions, critique etc. These are from my first year of work.


1


2


3


4


5


6


7


Thank you

Dooginfif20

I think youve got a couple winners in the bunch, but here is my thoughts about your photos!

1. Its a cute shot. My only nit is there isnt much light in their eyes and the picture is a tad on the cold side.

2. I think this one needs a little work. Its too yellow so an adjustment to the white balance would be great here and maybe a little dodging to bring out the left side of her face a little more.

3. This one is in need of an exposure bump and all the stray hairs across her face make it really hard to see her. I think it would pumped up the exposure and added a little warmth this picture would sing pretty good.

4. I actully really like this one. It needs a touch of warmth and exposure, but the composition is awesome.

5. The expression is cute, but I would toss this one. It needs a TON of exposure bump and I would smooth the background because my eye keeps going to the light streak in the back.

6. Haha this one is cute. Good shot here.

7. Its a good shot, but the tilt and crop made me turn my head to look at it.

I hope these helps. Im not the worlds best photographer so take my words as you see fit! Its a good start though!

Dangerchris

Points well taken. Thank you for your specific feedback. I think I sold you some PCBuff corded triggers a few months ago. How did they work out?

Dooginfif20

oh ya thats right! I havent actually used them yet. I had planned on having an in-home studio, but the house we are currently renting is too small for it. I tested them and they all worked though!

watchmen

I am really drawn to #3 and I agree about needing to warm it up a touch and bring up the shadows. But still probably my favorite of the bunch. And #4 is a close second.

KellyC

You might actually be able to save #5 with a little tweaking and a crop... maybe something similar to this. My editing skills are not very good yet.

Dangerchris

Thanks for the input. It is great to have some fresh eyes on your work.
KellyC did you do some skin smoothing on your post or is that just the brighter exposure?
I made it brighter and now prefer that to the original. I did a square crop and took out the pinprick double catchlight from my TTL commander.
Here is a revised 5:

Gotham

Do you have a calibrated monitor? The color on the revised #5 is way off. You've got a good eye though -- these are nice shots.

Dangerchris

Gotham wrote: »

Do you have a calibrated monitor? The color on the revised #5 is way off. You've got a good eye though -- these are nice shots.

Thank you. I don't usually do much of anything with my colors. Just import and use the adobe standard profile in LR for my camera (d700 although these are from my D90 and D7000 shots from last year). White balance adjustments, exposure, make sure no highlight are clipping they shouldn't be and make sure I have some black point in my shots. Blemish removal, crops and some vignette to taste.
Calibrating sounds like a good idea though. I keep the monitor on my computer down to one bar (Imac 27) so my view should't be much brighter than others. But a calibration would be a good next step. Anybody have a good calibration recommendation? Xrite ColorMunki or Datacolor Spyder?