Erin's family portraits

zoomer

Voluteered to do some photos for a friend of our family.
Always nice to take some photos with no pressure.
We had a good time.

bsvirginian

Very good work. bsvirginian

Seneca

I think you did a great shop with the composition. Everything looks very well placed. Good job!

krisbphoto

Great looking family, and as Seneca said, really nice compositions.

The lighting however seems a bit flat. You might try adjusting the color levels or contrast and make them "pop" a bit more. Nice catchlights in the eyes though!

I'm sure the family is very pleased with your results.

Scott_Quier

krisbphoto wrote:

The lighting however seems a bit flat. You might try adjusting the color levels or contrast and make them "pop" a bit more. Nice catchlights in the eyes though!

I knew there was something about these that was bothering me but I just couldn't put my finger on it. The flat light!

Zoomer,

When shooting outdoors, remember that you have at least on light source - the sun. You can use that as your primary or as your fill, depending on how much cloud cover you have, relative to the power of your flash.

Your use of flash has over-powered the sun, making your flash the primary light source and virtually eliminating all facial shadows. Shadows, when controlled, are a good thing. They give texture and depth to the portrait.

I'm thinking that a little less flash was all that was needed to "correct" the balance between the flash and the sun. Of course, moving your subjects so that they had just a touch more sun on them would also improve the balance (but, remember - there is such a thing as too much of a good thing!).

P.S. - I love the highlights in her hair in the last shot. You very effectively used the sun as a hair-light there. Well done!