Wow... that was work

kres

So I took my first full set of Engagement / Couples photography on New Years Eve. I was in Washington DC, and I'm not sure I could of gotten a wider range of whacky / tricky lighting conditions. Here is the list:

A) Overcast + smog

Indoor high celing tungston lighting + marble and gold leaf.

C) Indoor southern exposure in a brownstone

D) ... and the ever popular instant from the middle of no-where high-noon sunshine.

Certainly not the location and weather Mecca of SoCal for sure.
{Incredible shots in the link above, I have a role model now! }

Besides hurting my brain as a calculated exposure compensations on the fly, I had a pretty good time. I had been pretty worried about getting this shoot right - but other then the whacky weather, seemed very natural and worked itself out well. I'm still struggling to shake my B&W photojournalist style off - I gave in a few times... :jfriend The 10 shots below run the gambit of what I shot... comments appreciated.

DavidTO

Kres,

I feel for you. There I was cursing the problems I faced with the sun on the beach, but I should have been thankful I wasn't shooting in the gloom of the northeast (where I grew up).

You've got some nice shots in there, and most could be better with processing. I should post (when I'm home on the computer that has them) my original RAW conversions. On some of them you'd write them off as a total loss, yet after putting some work into them, they turned out nicely.

If you need some help improving your processing skills/eye, I would suggest picking one shot and posting it in Finishing School with an open invitation to rework as long as they post the how-to get there with it.

Scott_Quier

I like 2, 4, and 9 - mostly because your couple's personality is coming through a bit better.

I'm pretty sure I'm not too keen on the cropping of #2. It seems to me you have cut too much off both of their heads, especially her's.

On #9, Don't know if it's possible as I don't know what the environment was/is, but I'm thinking a wider crop would do well - kind of minimize the space between the two of them by having more space around them.

I'm thinking your B&W conversions are just a bit too contrasty or maybe not enough tonality. For example, in the last one, there is a lose of seperation between their hair and the background and the highlights on the skin tones are, maybe, just a little too hot.

And, finally, like DavidTO has already said, these could all benefit from a bit better post processing. Most of them lack pop, they are just a bit flat. Number 4 is just starting to get there and could be so much better with a little PP.

pathfinder

Interesting series of shots, kres.

You are right that grey, overcast days make life tough for landscape and architecture shooters, but they can be used to advantage for portraits also. Take advantage of that huge softbox in the sky for soft, diffuse portrait lighting. Use a reflector - Al foil, white sheet, posterboard to raise just a little contrast - or even bounce flash as fill.

I like your first shot - nice relaxed faces with sweet warm light. Where did that light come from with that gray sky??

#2 - cropped way too tight on the left and upper border for my taste. I'm not saying it is wrong, just not MY taste. I understand the PJ style, just don't always think it is romantic.

I'm neutral about the B&W here ( and I love good B&W )

#3 - don't you love shooting in a room with off green walls??:D

# 4,5,6 - I can't see her eyes - that darned harsh sunlight has glared and made her close her eyes. Don't you wish you had shot these before the sun returned with a nice warm golden reflector for some warm tones again - and then you could see her lovely eyes.

Don't you hate that guy too. He has a girl that beautiful AND a BMW motorcycle!! What a show off!!

# 7&8 - The best of the lot to me - nice soft light and I can see here eyes finally. Maybe a little more pop in her face in #7 She is gorgeous too.

#9&10 - Harsh light again - I can't see here eyes again either, but #10 is full of genuine emotion nonetheless, and I like this B&W better.

Great series of shots that can still be made better with a little more editing.

And you have learned how to do this better for next time as well

kres

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Addressing some of the comments:

A) Nothing here is intentionally cropped. They were shot in this manner/style - on request. Taking some of the advice I got here, I sat down with the couple for an hour and got to know them a little more on the day of the shoot. During this time, we discussed what sytle they wanted in the shoot. Off center / slightly photojournalistic but not fashion crooked was what they were looking for. So, that is the style I went for. Many people (certainly me) do not appreciate the formulamatic portrait crops / poses - these folks were the same, they wanted some romantic shots, but wanted to have some fun ones as well. It was a good match for my attitudes, but still challenged me - as I usually shoot critters, landscapes and bikes.

The format of the shoot did not lend it to the traditional format either we wandered to a number of locations on foot in a very spontanious manner - and they wanted spontanious shots. I missed a number of great shots 'cause of the D70/D50's 3/2.5 FPS rate and small buffers. Cause I couldn't bulldoze through the shoot, I had to be careful about my shooting and mindful of my buffer. 2 more FPS could of made the difference tween setting up a more traditional framing and falling back on eariler instincts. With some more practice I can get more tradtional portrait shots into my mix.

C) To aid with the light on such a nasty grey day, I used a gold Stoffer diffuser. It aided in the color balance - especially skin tone - considerably. The sky is kinda misleading, I tried despratly to use the diffused nature of the light, but since I don't own a reflector (yet ... and I didn't think about the posterboard, great hint...) I had to find some other way to get some light on their face and get rid of the raccon eyes. When the sun pop'd outta the middle of nowhere I didn't react fast enough in posing them or adjusting my settings/mindset. I think I can PP it down a notch... but I need some time and practice. I'm going to carve out an hour or two this weekend and school myself a bit.

D) B&W conversions are still a new thing to me. I HATE the way that PSE5 converts to B&W. I'm still trying to work on my technique for doing it manually - Though not perfect, I still think they are much better then the PSE5 default. Practice Practice Practice! *sigh* At least it's fun.

E) The bike in the picture... I sold it to him It was a great bike, but my yellow GS is more my style. :ivar



... but it sure ain't as pretty. (However I had nothing to do with his beautiful wife-to-be )