On the Outerbanks of NC

macmac

Shot some portraits on the beach. CC welcome!

Elaine

Nice! I like the colors and the lighting. I wonder if the gal on the right could have turned the other direction and had her feet pointing inward? Some of the foreground grass is a teensy bit distracting. But, you got nice expressions out of the whole group and I'd be very pleased if this shot were mine!

~Jan~

Nice job! I bet it was hard working w/ all that white. Why do clients always wear white?

Mildred

I like it but, looking at this image I wonder what would you do different if you could shoot it again? Would you use a fill light?

macmac wrote:

Shot some portraits on the beach. CC welcome!

macmac

Thanks for the comments! I actually did a few shots with some fill flash. I wasn't very pleased. The family looks pretty good in some of them but the background doesn't. I over filled. I needed to tone down the flash a bit more. I did some other shots towards the water with fill and they turned out better. I think a couple of reflectors would have done the trick on this photo. This was one of my first times working with a group this large. I do need to work on posing and such.

ShepsMom

I like this shot, except as was already mentioned, cutting feet on that lady. This shot looks very smoth, in terms of lighting. Good job!

Mildred

I wondered and ask about the fill flash because their eyes have no light. As far as posing I am always a fan of putting men in a strong position I call them the anchors (just my preference)and every on in the back row are on the same level with a few minor adjustment you could of made a stronger composition.
I hope that you take this as a helpful comment, I am no expert and have a ways to go and I know that it is easy being a Monday Morning quarter back, but this is how I improve on my lmages looking and wondering what I could have done differently next time. Matching your flash to the background exposure would of worked. I use my sb800 on ttlbl and ot works well on these situations

macmac wrote:

Thanks for the comments! I actually did a few shots with some fill flash. I wasn't very pleased. The family looks pretty good in some of them but the background doesn't. I over filled. I needed to tone down the flash a bit more. I did some other shots towards the water with fill and they turned out better. I think a couple of reflectors would have done the trick on this photo. This was one of my first times working with a group this large. I do need to work on posing and such.

macmac

I appreciate all the comments! Here is a crop of the original post and a similar shot and crop - this pic was taked with fill flash.



My thoughs on the shot below are that the fill flash is to strong.



I need to obtain some difusing ability....will add to the wish list.

Elaine

I agree with you that the fill is a tad strong, but even so, their eyes and faces have some sparkle and light that was missing before. Just some tweaking of that technique and you've got a winner!

EDIT: I also agree with a previous poster regarding posing and positioning the men in anchor positions. There's always something to try next time! I'm much better at critiquing posing after the fact than during the actual shoot!

DavidS

I like the expressions on the people in your photograph.

My family and I were just at Ocracoke on the Outer Banks a couple of weeks ago and had a wonderful time. Here is a shot of my daughter there.

Scott_Quier

The more I look at this photo (and I've looked this thread about 1/2 dozen times so far) I see so much:

• Nice posing, though turning the lady on the right into the photo would improve it some.
• The light is so sweet!
• The grass in front - I can ignore that

The only thought that always comes to my mind is, "What would this have looked like if it had been captured about 15 or 30 minutes earlier and with just a touch of fill to control the stronger shadows that would have resulted.

Seneca

You said CC's welcome. I played with it. I got rid of the building in the far left hand side of the picture and planted some more grass aound that area; polarized the sky a bit; made the follage of the beach weeds a little greener, and just darkened up the picture just a tad. Oh yeah and added a frame. I wanted the colors of the grass and the sky to pop more. I like the way you posed everyone.

MichaelKirk

Nice shot
I think this is on the right track but over saturated - I think "my taste" would use about 1/2 the added saturtion.

Regarding the shooters 2nd shot using fill. All that was needed is to open up a bit to allow more ambient and tone down the flash to balance with the available ambient light - might have been the winner.

What I like to do is when shooting these kind of shots to shoot them a few diferent ways - and it can be done quickly.
One no flash
One fill flash balanced with the ambient light
One flash is slightly overpowering the ambient - this works best with the flash(s) off camera - usually cross lighting works well.

Michael

Seneca wrote:

You said CC's welcome. I played with it. I got rid of the building in the far left hand side of the picture and planted some more grass aound that area; polarized the sky a bit; made the follage of the beach weeds a little greener, and just darkened up the picture just a tad. Oh yeah and added a frame. I wanted the colors of the grass and the sky to pop more. I like the way you posed everyone.

macmac

Michael,
Thanks for those comments. I shot this flash on this around 1/2 power. I need to work on "balance" in the fill flash. I also need to relax! With this group, I felt like I needed to hurry so I shot a lot of picture with some various setting. I realize from the experience that I can slow down and take fewer shots and put more thought into the shots I take. I had some reflectors that would have given me some good highlight...I needed to use them. Going back to the beach next week! I hope to shot more similar to this -- different group. Hopefully I can share on my return.