Any better?

fcorin13

Ok, I had another high school senior portrait shoot the other day. Took some advice I got last time! I think these turned out better, but what do you think? Just to give you a little background- it was about 34 degrees outside & windy! Made it hard to get the "right moment," but luckily she really likes the "wind-blown hair" look!

#1- She wanted to sit down, but wanted her shoes in the picture as well...


#2- For some reason this one is much sharper on my original (pre-smugmug upload)


#3
I know her skin has a little "pink" tint to it, but it's because it was so cold and she had on short sleeves!!!!


#4
This one was a snapshot between "poses" while we waited for the wind to die down.


Oh- just FYI- the last 3 pics it was raining a little! Talk about freezing! Luckily I had a ziploc bag in my car & was able to fashion a cover for my camera & finish the shoot! Crazy Missouri weather!

controld

I prefer #4 of the options. Does she ever stop smiling?

I suppose the lack of contrast between the tree and her hair would make for a bad conversion to B&W on #2?

- Mike

Owen

I find #3 too messy with the hair and background.

Beautiful girl.

fcorin13

Actually- she just got her braces off about 2 weeks ago & I don't think she's stopped smiling since! She's a very cheery girl & we did a few without her smiling. I know her really well (she's part of the youth group at my church where my husband is the youth minister!) and the ones of her not smiling just don't look like her. Amazing girl, actually. She lost her best friend in a car accident a little over a year ago. She's still dealing with it, but is also helping others to deal with the loss. Anyhow- here's an example of her not smiling:


And here's one similar to #2, but taken in B&W. It's not a great contrast, but I think it works ok. I'm thinking about darkening the sky in the upper right...


And to Owen- thanks! I didn't even notice that until you pointed it out and now it's driving me crazy! I have another shoot with a different girl in the same spot so I'm gonna try a little different angle...maybe a more shallow DOF or something.

Owen

fcorin13 wrote:

And to Owen- thanks! I didn't even notice that until you pointed it out and now it's driving me crazy! I have another shoot with a different girl in the same spot so I'm gonna try a little different angle...maybe a more shallow DOF or something.

Carry a hair brush & get down low.

controld

fcorin13 wrote:

I like this one as well - but it is may not be appropriate for a senior photo. I think there is something pleasing about the fact she is not looking into the camera in the oringinal #4. It's just personal preference - so her opinion would be the only one that counts - but I would want to steer away from the typical head shot/mug shot that goes into the year book each year.

- Mike

binghott

Owen wrote:

I find #3 too messy with the hair and background.

Beautiful girl.

i agree that she's a beautiful girl, but i think actually looks scary in that picture(#3). when working with a girl with a huge smile like that, i try to get a smaller smile out of them because i don't when the gums show. i don't like that. if you want, i can show you my last model, kallyn with a HUGE smile, and then with the smile that i wanted.


the first one is my favorite, i like her smile there, but i don't really like the tilt. i know you had to get the shoes in, but still.

i don't quite understand why you shot so many shots near the house, looks like theres much nicer nature around you to shoot in.

i hope i could be of help.

photogmomma

Hmm, let's see....

#1 - Not a big fan of "tilt", but I know it's really "in". I like the shot, but don't think it's a very flattering one. She's quite pretty and has a cute figure and this makes her look too slouchy.

#2 - This is a nice shot. It's cropped too close on the bottom so it feels like she's resting on the edge of the picture instead of something else. I wonder if this would work vertically? Cropping her in the middle of her arms? Not sure. I'd have to try. But that would remove some of the distracting background....

#3 - I like it, but don't love it. I do like the color/contrast best in this photo compared to the rest.

#4 - Crop this straight and closer on the right and then bump the contrast and it's really a great shot! I just love "snapshots" that turn out well! This is almost there, just needs a little help!

Great job, though! These are really nice!

fcorin13

- the only pictures that were at her house are #1 & the 1st one in my reply! All the others are at a local park. Actually, a majority of the pictures are in the more "natural" areas, but I was pretty pleased with most of them. I would like to improve my other styles so that's why I posted them for critique! There are quite a few studios around where I live so my big draw is that on Senior Portrait sessions, I take approximately 75-125 pictures. Very few are doubles (i.e. blinking, etc.) so they usually come away with 65-115 original shots. A typical session like this takes around 2-3 hours, maybe more. Then, afterwards, we sit down & look at the JPEG of the poses & discuss what they want done with them digitally, if anything at all. (And by "what they want done digitally" I mean- convert to b&w/sepia, different crop, montages, etc.) I find that a lot of students like these options! It takes a lot of time, but they get exactly what they want! (Plus, the money doesn't hurt me at all!) This type of shoot is only for those who want to be very involved in their portraits!