Holiday portrait help

Mitchell

Tried some family portraits at the beach this weekend for holiday cards. Any thoughts or suggestions on these? Preferences?

System

pretty good, mitch-

love the last one-

good looking family, btw-

cards to send to your northern friends during the winter months?-

TristanP

I prefer the third. The shadows in the flashlit ones are kinda distracting to me. Just my $0.02.

binghott

mitchell, these are excellent. if this were my family i'd be very satisfied with the photos.
i think you did a great job with the lighting.

Mitchell

gefillmore wrote:

pretty good, mitch-

love the last one-

good looking family, btw-

cards to send to your northern friends during the winter months?-

George,
The last one is my favorite also, but it's just not holiday card material.

Mitchell

TristanP wrote:

I prefer the third. The shadows in the flashlit ones are kinda distracting to me. Just my $0.02.

Tristan,
Thanks for looking and commenting on these.

They are all lit by an off camera flash on a light stand to the camera right. I agree that the shadows are a bit distracting. Any thoughts on how to decrease them in the future? I suspect a second light on the camera left would have helped here. It was already a hassle getting the one light and the rest of my gear out to the beach. I guess I need to hire a sherpa.

Mitchell

binghott wrote:

mitchell, these are excellent. if this were my family i'd be very satisfied with the photos.
i think you did a great job with the lighting.

Bing,
Thanks for looking and for your kind comments!

kmh

I love #3 and #4. #1 looks a little less "flashy" than #2...do you think you could crop out and/or clone the shadow to make it less obvious? I know you'd lose the sunset if you cropped, but maybe that would be ok? -Kate

JimW

Mitch,
I think these shots are wonderful. They should be really happy. #2 is my favorite. On my monitor, the fleshtones look a liitle dark, so I did a quick correction or two to brighten, a quick job. Hope you don't mind.

Right now I can only think of two ways to deal with that harsh flash. One is to increase the ambient light exp. and decrease the amount of flash (requiring a tripod probably). The other is to soften the flash with a small portable softbox or a shoot-through panel or something like that. (Well, you did say you might get a sherpa. )

But these are minor points. Great job.

Jim

TristanP

Mitchell wrote:

Tristan,
Thanks for looking and commenting on these.

They are all lit by an off camera flash on a light stand to the camera right. I agree that the shadows are a bit distracting. Any thoughts on how to decrease them in the future? I suspect a second light on the camera left would have helped here. It was already a hassle getting the one light and the rest of my gear out to the beach. I guess I need to hire a sherpa.

I know what you mean about hauling the lighting gear. I'm certainly no expert, but maybe decrease the ratio between ambient and flash light.

JimW

Well, now I see I should've taken my time and done a better job. Everytime I think I can get away without using a mask, I find I'm wrong. I would still lighten the flesh but without losing the color in the sky like I did.

Jim

Nandita

I love 3 & 4 and think you could use either for your card. #4 evokes such a wonderful, peaceful mood that it doesn't matter that their faces aren't visible.

If you want the whole family though, I'd go with #2 because the poses and expressions are wonderful. I love the way baby is holding onto mama -- it's a warm, loving photograph and you don't have the distracting sun in the background.

If you could minimize the shadow/brightness contrast, it'd be just perfect.

Happy Holidays!

Mitchell

JimW wrote:

Well, now I see I should've taken my time and done a better job. Everytime I think I can get away without using a mask, I find I'm wrong. I would still lighten the flesh but without losing the color in the sky like I did.

Jim

Jim,
Thanks for your efforts. I'll play around with lightening the faces tonight.

Mitchell

Nandita wrote:

I love 3 & 4 and think you could use either for your card. #4 evokes such a wonderful, peaceful mood that it doesn't matter that their faces aren't visible.

If you want the whole family though, I'd go with #2 because the poses and expressions are wonderful. I love the way baby is holding onto mama -- it's a warm, loving photograph and you don't have the distracting sun in the background.

If you could minimize the shadow/brightness contrast, it'd be just perfect.

Happy Holidays!

I like #4 also, but my wife won't go for it as a holiday card.

#3 is looking like the winner. Another year without my ugly mug on the holiday card.

TristanP

Mitchell wrote:

I like #4 also, but my wife won't go for it as a holiday card.

#3 is looking like the winner. Another year without my ugly mug on the holiday card.

Nobody cares about Dad anyway - it's the kids that matter.

Mitchell

TristanP wrote:

Nobody cares about Dad anyway - it's the kids that matter.

How true!!