Family Photo Shoot

kdotaylor

I would love to get some comments/critiques on these from last Saturday's family session.

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


#6


#7


#8


#9


#10


#11

Werewolf

High key lighting in all of the shots. One wonders what time of day these were taken? IMO they would all have benefited from having been shot closer to sunrise or sunset.

The busy backgrounds (woods) distract from the main subject which is the family. Maybe go for less depth of field.

#5 and #6 got my attention. #10 belongs on a fireplace mantle or hanging on a staircase wall.

Mitchell

Good looking family. I like 2, 10 and 11. I don't really care for the others. #1 is always a tough shot. Folks standing around with no prop doesn't work.

In #10, mom looks a little hunched over. Good job not having that tree grow out of someone's head.

#11 is my favorite. They all look relaxed and natural. An 8x10 ratio crop would work well and look nice much bigger.

StueveShots

As a mom, I would be grabbing 2, 3, 6, and 7. I like the "story" these tell about the family. Well done!

D3Sshooter

Great series, I am sure that the family will enjoy your work. My favorite is 2

kdotaylor

Werewolf wrote: »

High key lighting in all of the shots. One wonders what time of day these were taken? IMO they would all have benefited from having been shot closer to sunrise or sunset.

The busy backgrounds (woods) distract from the main subject which is the family. Maybe go for less depth of field.

#5 and #6 got my attention. #10 belongs on a fireplace mantle or hanging on a staircase wall.

Thanks for your comments. I'm struggling with the DOF. I wanted the background blurred, but when I shoot under f/5, one of the subjects is always blurry! What setting do you recommend shooting at for more than one subject but still nice background?

kdotaylor

D3Sshooter wrote: »

Great series, I am sure that the family will enjoy your work. My favorite is 2

Thank you!

r3t1awr3yd

I'll critique 'em like i would my own (i don't even shoot natural light so ignore me if you don't like my thoughts lol)

1 - It could have been OK but the son's pose destroys the picture for me.
2 - I like it.
3 - I get the idea but something about it just doesn't jive with me. It's not the sign in the background or the dog with his head down. I can't place it.
4 - I'm a stickler for hating jump shots. I feel like we'll all look back in ten years and wonder what we were thinking :P
5 - I dig it. I wish mom would have relaxed her right hand on the railing but I'd keep this.
6 - I have a sibling and would hate this lol
7 - See above*
8 - I laughed out loud. I dig it
9 - Needs more leaves and more upward motion? There's no fixing leaves in the face (like mom's). I would have just kept shooting a bunch of these.
10 - Love love love.
11 - Love it (even though the daughter's right foot is half missing :P )

Good job

kdotaylor

StueveShots wrote: »

As a mom, I would be grabbing 2, 3, 6, and 7. I like the "story" these tell about the family. Well done!

Thank you!

kdotaylor

r3t1awr3yd wrote: »

I'll critique 'em like i would my own (i don't even shoot natural light so ignore me if you don't like my thoughts lol)

1 - It could have been OK but the son's pose destroys the picture for me.
2 - I like it.
3 - I get the idea but something about it just doesn't jive with me. It's not the sign in the background or the dog with his head down. I can't place it.
4 - I'm a stickler for hating jump shots. I feel like we'll all look back in ten years and wonder what we were thinking :P
5 - I dig it. I wish mom would have relaxed her right hand on the railing but I'd keep this.
6 - I have a sibling and would hate this lol
7 - See above*
8 - I laughed out loud. I dig it
9 - Needs more leaves and more upward motion? There's no fixing leaves in the face (like mom's). I would have just kept shooting a bunch of these.
10 - Love love love.
11 - Love it (even though the daughter's right foot is half missing :P )

Good job

Thank you! I agree with most of your comments....sometimes it takes someone else pointing these things out! I never would have noticed mom's hand on the railing, for example. #11 I think works because the post is cutting off daughter's foot and not the photo. I appreciate you taking time to comment on these!

kdotaylor

Mitchell wrote: »

Good looking family. I like 2, 10 and 11. I don't really care for the others. #1 is always a tough shot. Folks standing around with no prop doesn't work.

In #10, mom looks a little hunched over. Good job not having that tree grow out of someone's head.

#11 is my favorite. They all look relaxed and natural. An 8x10 ratio crop would work well and look nice much bigger.

Thanks for commenting! I appreciate it.

troopers

Overall, I think the set is good. My fav is #3. I like to see more creativity in poses and composition. I think you could have use the woods to your advantage to create depth.

kdotaylor

troopers wrote: »

Overall, I think the set is good. My fav is #3. I like to see more creativity in poses and composition. I think you could have use the woods to your advantage to create depth.

Yes, I agree...thanks. I'm still just so worried about getting something

lifeinfocus

#2, 6 and 10 are my favorites.

#2 I think with a little post processing - perhaps blurred out the tree behind the mother's head, and adjust mid tones.

#6 - frame within a frame - love it.

#10 great family photo!

Regarding DOF and ideal aperture setting, that would depend on few things. I wish I could say I was an expert and do a lot of of outdoor portrait, but I am slowing down so I can't say that. But technically here are the guidelines as far as I know. I sure would like hear others thoughts regarding your question. Sorry if I am stating the obvious.

1. Are all subjects on the same plane or in layers.
2. Camera distance from subject.
3. Subject(s) distance from background
4. Focal length - relates to #2 above.
5. Aperture

Phil

Foques

I think for that kind of area, a steady wide open aperture would have worked best.
This might be my thing, but most of the images have too much DOF and not enough saturation for my liking. In my On-location shooting I find that the long shots (70+mm) are much more pleasing to the eye. When shooting wide (which I hate hate hate), I tend to get more stuff I'd want to crop, wider DOF and camera positioned too tall (i'm a bit of a giant, apparently)..


The following are my nits/opinions swayed by my own style of processing and shooting, and may not agree with some/all others.

1. poses do not work for me. Dad needs to bring his left shoulder a little bit forward, hug his son, young lad needs to straighten legs, lean into dad. Girl looks like she was trained by high school photographers (which isn't a bad thing). this is an opportunity for a "big family hug" type of a shot.

2. I like it. a lot. Only thing i'd change is pump the vibrance slider, add a bit of a round vignette at around 10-15%, fix the son's pant leg. and - lastly - get VERY impressed with how well behaved their pets are.

3. burned edges and daughter's expression and road sign no worky for me. I love the smiles, though. Kind of wish that there wasn't a turn in the road, but not much could be done about that.

4. no. just no.

5. I really like that one. Perhaps, crop it a wee tighter to be rid of the one line does not fit on the left. I think it could be improved if it was shot perpendicularly to the porch rather than a slight angle. That way all the straight lines would be straight. oh yes, mum's hand jumped out of nowhere..

6. good expressions, frame in the frame is nice! Again, I think straight on shot would have worked better. this is one is asking for a ton of vibrance and oversharpening to ring the woodgrain up

7. is that a fake blur on the front? I like the idea. given the wide dof, trees are a bit odd looking behind the guy's head. I would move parents a bit to the left, kids a bit to the right.

8. fun shot!

9. I like the idea,but something seems off. not sure what. might be a third leg the daughter has, or the leaf by mum's face, or the kid looking like he's about to readjust.. Dad and daughter are sure loving it, though!

10. Great shot!

11. same as 10 only thing that bugs is mum's left leg on a different level from right one.

jmphotocraft

A few great shots here. For the rest either the background and/or aperture or the son were not your friends.

1 - busy background and son's pose wrecks the shot.
2 - Nice. Bg could be blurred more, and tree growing out of mom's head, but it's still a winner. Nice use of the sun as a hair and rim light.
3 - Ok for a supporting shot. Again, no bg blur. I'd lose the sign.
4 - overexposed bg. knock it down in Lightroom/ACR.
5 - the bg isn't working for me. son is annoyed.
6, 7 - son did not cooperate. 7, I'd have put a little space between the couples.
8 - no.
9 - Busy, sharp bg, leaves not cooperating, son not cooperating.
10, 11 - wonderful. WB could be a bit warmer.

Reflections By Brian

I really like 8, 10 and 11. I think 9 has a lot of potential and I really want to like it, but the leaf in the middle of mom's face kind of breaks it for me. Good set though.