First "formal" portrait attempt with 20D

rwdfresno

Well it is Christmas card season so I figured I would make an attempt with my new to me 20D. The first shot is a self (and family) portrait. I had my brother in law stand in for me while I set up the shot and then we sitched places (he's not a photographer but just had him squeeze away at the trigger) . I had him shot away like crazy and luckily we were all smiling and looking at the camera in a couple of shots lol. The others I took of them for their Christmas cards. I was realatively happy with the results although there is definitly room for improvement. I definitly need to get myself a reflector to brighten up the faces and loose some of the hard shadows. What sizes and colors do oy uall recomend. Any thoughts, and constructive critique is welcome.







thank you,
Ryan

leaforte

You may enjoy what this 'making your image pop' tutorial can do for your photos.

I know I did.

Handsome families, and that second couple most definitely have a camera friendly daughter.

Scott_Quier

Very nice looking family(s) - you can be proud!

You really don't have much in the way of hard shadows. The photos are just a little muddy - lacking pop (as hinted at by leaforte). Check out the tutorial he's pointing you toward. It'll really help bring these to life.

Seneca

I agree with Scott the images are just a little muddy. I've added a little pp to one of the images to take some mud or haze out. Tell me what you think...

Here is yours...




Here is the edited one.




I may have added a little too much to the background...but the main objective here was to take some muddiness out. I like the poses...good work.

rwdfresno

Thank you all for the replies. I know exactly what you mean by the "muddyness." The tips are very helpful. Do oyu think there is much I could have done in camera to make them pop a little more?

Seneca

Next time shoot RAW and you'll be able to adjust your WB when you PP. By dropping down 1/3 EV you'll be able to see some changes in your image.

Scott_Quier

rwdfresno wrote:

Thank you all for the replies. I know exactly what you mean by the "muddyness." The tips are very helpful. Do oyu think there is much I could have done in camera to make them pop a little more?

If you are shooting JPG, your camera probably has a number of "presets" that can be adjusted to enhance color saturation, contrast ... that sort of thing. The real answer is RTFM (read the full manual). That will give you at least a starting point in the further exploration of your camera.

rwdfresno

"Next time shoot RAW and you'll be able to adjust your WB when you PP. By dropping down 1/3 EV you'll be able to see some changes in your image."

I actuall ddi shot in RAW and did play around about with the conversion however I guess I have a bit of a learning curve as far as proper convnersion. Actually the program wanted to automaticall reduce the exposure quite a bit but I thought it caused it to look pretty dim. I guess I have some work to do as far as identifying what the pefect exposure should look like.

"If you are shooting JPG, your camera probably has a number of "presets" that can be adjusted to enhance color saturation, contrast ... that sort of thing. The real answer is RTFM (read the full manual). That will give you at least a starting point in the further exploration of your camera."

I am actually aware of those types of setting but probably didnt phrase my question as well as I could have. What I really meant to ask was: are there any suggested setting changes that you think might be helpful or do you think that a better approach is to leave the sat, cont, sharp settings neutral and do the adjustments in post processing.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Ryan

Scott_Quier

rwdfresno wrote:

I am actually aware of those types of setting but probably didnt phrase my question as well as I could have. What I really meant to ask was: are there any suggested setting changes that you think might be helpful or do you think that a better approach is to leave the sat, cont, sharp settings neutral and do the adjustments in post processing.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.

Ryan

Can't answer that question - I've only shot RAW for the last couple of years and don't even look at the various presets available through the menus. Sorry.

Joe Lynch

Ryan--If you shoot raw, the presets for contrast, color, etc. don't apply. The presets are used by the camera when the raw file is converted to JPG.

If you shoot in JPG, the presets can help make post processing a little easier, and I use them when I know all the shots I will be taking will be done in constant conditions. But I have to remember to change them again when conditions change.

rwdfresno

Ryan--If you shoot raw, the presets for contrast, color, etc. don't apply. The presets are used by the camera when the raw file is converted to JPG.

Yeah, actually *hits self in forehead* you are of course totally right about that. All these years of shooting jpg it is hard to get that work flow out of my brain. I really do enjoy the flexibility of RAW although I need to work on my conversions a bit.