A home made for portraits.

jmphotocraft

Had a two-fer yesterday here in Maine. Family of 8 portrait session followed by a senior portrait. The settings around this farm were numerous. Unfortunately the guys had some issues with smiling and keeping their eyes open, but I'll be able to put a group shot together with some head or eye transplants.

1 - white farmhouse, check.


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3 - red barn, check, natural cedar barn, check.


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5 - then this happened. When you have 6 kids and you find these shirts while on vacation, you buy them.


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7 - on to the Senior. the gray barn:


8 - the red barn


9 - the garden


10 - the swingset with meadow bg


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12 - the barn doorway with wood stacked inside. having some trouble with the great green reflector on the ground.


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C&C and favorites welcome. Thanks for looking. I think this family could rent out their property for photo shoots!

jmphotocraft

anyone? Bueller?

moose135

These look really good, Jack! I think you did a great job with them.

jmphotocraft

Thanks Moose!

Qarik

yup..good stuff in general! love the rim lighting from the sun

Cavalier

Lovely portraits of a very large and nice-looking family. Sibling #2 seems to be able to strike a pose more naturally than the others - she seems to be at home in front of the camera. I like all the shots, but #9 strikes my fancy a lot (and this girl looks more natural with the garden than posing in a group). And all the shots with the t-shirts are outstanding.

jmphotocraft

Thanks Qarik and Jo! I was pleased with the session. Especially since I didn't know about the senior until I got there, and mom said "just charge us double!" I had the honor of taking Thing 2's senior portrait 4 years ago (can't believe it's been that long). Indeed she is a natural in front of the camera, which her mom warned me she was not, ha!

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kdog

Group poses are very nice. Casual but organized. The senior pics are nicely posed and composed. But why not touch up the skin? We buy these expensive lenses that can make eyelashes tack-sharp, but that doesn't mean we need to make her acne razor sharp as well. I'd be happy to show an example. The last set is excellent.

jmphotocraft

Thanks kdog. These are not fully retouched yet. I posted before the senior and mom selected their favorites for retouching. I would love to hear any tips you have for dealing with skin like this.

kdog

I really like Portrait Professional for this sort of thing because you get a lot of bang for the buck in a short amount ot time. I think a lot of the negativity you hear about PP stems from overuse, the same issues you hear about HDR, Photoshop, etc. It's a tool and the key is in how you use it. I use a very light hand with it. For your photo, I turned OFF almost every option, and used some very light overall skin smoothing. Then I used the retouch brush to go a little heavier on the problem areas, not trying to eliminate all the spots. That because I didn't want to turn the skin to plastic, which is easy to do. Then I went over those spots using the spot healing tool in PS, and voila. Total elapsed time maybe five minutes tops. http://www.desertilluminations.com/photos/i-X3R2w9g/1/X2/i-X3R2w9g-X2.jpg

jmphotocraft

kdog, thanks for taking the time. Your results are pleasing at first, however it's almost too perfect. (except for the brown area by her cheek of course - what is that?) IMO this style works on magazine covers but it's not my cup of tea for senior portraits. I'm sure others like this style for seniors, and perhaps my clients would prefer it. I suppose I could offer both. Thanks again.

jmphotocraft

Here's my take at one. It's not the same one as above because this is one of the girl's selections for retouching.