Alexandria Senior Pics 2017

slpollett

I had the pleasure of taking Alexandria's senior pictures recently. Here are a few of my favorites.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

As always, feedback and constructive criticism welcome. Thanks!

Sherry P.

z_28

Waterwetfall is a winner :^D

9 is not so fortunate, try recrop right below right palm.

Thanks

slpollett

Thank you z. I did take your suggestion to crop #9. I admit that it DOES look much better to me, though the original #9 pose is something the client requested.

9 cropped

Other client favorites that I initially passed over:

10.

11.

12.

Thanks for looking, and as always, constructive criticism welcomed and appreciated.

Sherry P.

kdog

Hi Sherry,

Your posing and compositions are good. I was fine with #9 the way it was, although cropping-in gave you an extra look as well.

White balance and exposures need work as they're mostly off and with too much variation. The key to professional work is a consistent look. Look at the variation in exposure in #2 and #3 on her face as an example. Same gal in the same location, but #3 is overly bright. Her skin tones should be almost exactly the same in both shots. 5 and 7 are both overexposed as well. Expose for the face. If you shot raw, bringing these exposures in line should be a piece of cake.

White balance is too cool in all of these except for the stream shots where you used a flash. Was it gelled? Those have nice warm tones which is what I personally like to see. Compare those skin tones to the shots with the white shirt in 8 and 9, and you should be able to see what I mean. Her shirt is literally blue in these photos and because of that her skin is dead. All it takes is a single click with the WB dropper in Lightroom on her T shirt to snap your white balance into place. Or simply choose the Shade preset, or a setting somewhere in between. You may need to walk away and return to them a few times to let your eyes adjust to the new look. But I think after messing with it for a while you will like the warmer look better. You can even get a white balance off her black T shirt as that's a neutral color as well (and is currently high in blue as well). Ultimately, you need to train your eye to what good skin tones look like as the look you give you photos is part of your style. However, whatever look you choose should be consistent.

Hope that helps.
Joel

jerryr

#1 and #11 are very unique - great job - jerryr

slpollett

Thank you Joel and Jerry for your comments. Joel, yes....your critique is exactly what I need to hear. Thank you for taking the time to offer suggestions and recommendations for improvement. I appreciate it so much. I will try to implement what you have taught me.

Sherry P.