Sorority Formal-2

jeffreaux2

I posted a series of photos earlier this week in the following thread.

Sorority Formals-1

Today I had time to edit a few more of the photographs of my son and his girlfriend.

I have several Sr sittings to do in the next week or so, and I am hoping to do at least two of them at this same location. I hope the weather is favorable!!!

I used Canon's 17-55 F2.8IS lens and 580EXII flash in ALL of these photographs, and was extremely pleased with the lens, and my apparent grasp of balancing flash with outdoor light for fill.

C&C is always welcomed.


1- I had posted one very similar to this one, but she has a better smile here. I truely love the backlighting.



2- A 3/4 length shot.



3- On a park bench. We were in shade, but the sun cast a nice warm color for the background.




4- My son



5- I had several varitions of poses with this outstanding backlighting. I was really stoked about the light.



6- Another version of #5 but in BW.

Mitchell

Nice job on these. #4 of your son is excellent.
You also did a nice job cropping the 3/4 shot. I always seem to have trouble deciding where to crop the legs.

jeffreaux2

Mitchell wrote:

Nice job on these. #4 of your son is excellent.
You also did a nice job cropping the 3/4 shot. I always seem to have trouble deciding where to crop the legs.

Thanks Mitchell. My interpretation of 3/4 is mid-thigh, but that one is actually cropped a tad lower than that. If I were printing an 8x10, I might take a tad more off at bottom and the remainder from the top, but...I would have to study it first. Mid-thigh isn't always the best look.

Mitchell

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Thanks Mitchell. My interpretation of 3/4 is mid-thigh, but that one is actually cropped a tad lower than that. If I were printing an 8x10, I might take a tad more off at bottom and the remainder from the top, but...I would have to study it first. Mid-thigh isn't always the best look.

That shot is definitely cropped lower than mid thigh. I think that's what I like about it. I find the mid thigh crop just looks too chopped.

evoryware

the link in the first post is wrong, it has two http's.

Mrs F

Beautiful portraits. My favorite is #4, the shot of your son. I also like the lighting in number one, where the soft light just touches the back of her hair.

I'm jealous of your weather.

jeffreaux2

evoryware wrote:

the link in the first post is wrong, it has two http's.

Thanks....I screwed that up, but it is fixed now!!!

jeffreaux2

Mrs F wrote:

Beautiful portraits. My favorite is #4, the shot of your son. I also like the lighting in number one, where the soft light just touches the back of her hair.

I'm jealous of your weather.

Thanks.

WE had extremely great weather last week. It hasn't been so favorable this week. The ancient live oak trees at that site protect most everything underneath from the frost....so ....mostly everything is green still!

Agnieszka

Hi there. Very nice photos & poses!
Only thing I would maybe do is saturate the background. I tried it (couldn't keep my fingers away, but didn't want to post the "result"). Try saturating it a bit, will bring out the yellow & green tones nicely, and you'll see how beautiful it will look! Espacially 1,2 & 4 I wish we woudl have that nice weather, I am freezzzing here in Boston ..........

DavidS

Wow again!! I love these.

jeffreaux2

Agnieszka wrote:

Hi there. Very nice photos & poses!
Only thing I would maybe do is saturate the background. I tried it (couldn't keep my fingers away, but didn't want to post the "result"). Try saturating it a bit, will bring out the yellow & green tones nicely, and you'll see how beautiful it will look! Espacially 1,2 & 4 I wish we woudl have that nice weather, I am freezzzing here in Boston ..........

Because of the blown highlights in some of the BGs the colors are already clipped. So....I left well enough alone.
Thanks for looking!

jeffreaux2

DavidS wrote:

Wow again!! I love these.

I appreciate it David. Thanks for commenting.

spinfire

Really nice! Are you using a diffuser on the 580EX?

Elaine

Hey Jeff!

More beautiful shots! How fortunate to be out and about with beautiful people (girl in a strapless dress in February?)! I also love the backlighting you achieved in some of these, and I'm still impressed that these all included flash! My faves are 1, 4, 5.

For my critique, I would say that to my eyes, they could use a touch of mid-tone contrast or clarity...I think. Like they just need a touch of ooomph. #3 has a bit more of this sort of processing, it seems. Their faces and eyes could just have a bit more pop (for lack of a better word). This is being really picky! Your comps and poses and locations are so nice. And again, your flash work is looking great!

jeffreaux2

spinfire wrote:

Really nice! Are you using a diffuser on the 580EX?

These were taken with direct....bare......shoe mounted....580EXII in AV mode. I used a 1/2 CTO (blue) gel. No diffuser or bounce cards.

jeffreaux2

Hey Jeff!

More beautiful shots! How fortunate to be out and about with beautiful people (girl in a strapless dress in February?)! I also love the backlighting you achieved in some of these, and I'm still impressed that these all included flash! My faves are 1, 4, 5.

For my critique, I would say that to my eyes, they could use a touch of mid-tone contrast or clarity...I think. Like they just need a touch of ooomph. #3 has a bit more of this sort of processing, it seems. Their faces and eyes could just have a bit more pop (for lack of a better word). This is being really picky! Your comps and poses and locations are so nice. And again, your flash work is looking great!

Thanks for having a look Elaine. I appreciate your comment about more ooomph or pop. I have been trying to get a really natural and more or less nuetral (that is my word for the look) look lately and have for the most part achieved that here. I have played around with different metering modes, and had to add about 3/4 of a stop of exposure to most all of these from this day. I haven't figured the reason for that out just yet. The one you mentioned...#3...actually was taken in very dark shade. I remember the focus assist light on the flash bathing them red before the shots on the bench. The "pop" you see there is simply the flash seperating them from the BG better, but I know exactly what you mean by it.

I am finally comfortable with the flash unit.....and that only took what ...about 6 months?

If you haven't seen them yet I put some quick and dirty samples with the lightsphere in technique.

dadwtwins

Nice series of shots for your son and his girlfriend.

Criique:

I would definitely ad contrast to there faces so they stand out a littlemore. Both of them have great eyes and should be highlighted.

The first two, i would crop down so that there is not so much space above them. This way the attention stys with the subject instead of the viewer hunting around the picture looking for something else

For the couples sake, i would "spot" clean any facial blemishes. Since we all look for our imperfections before appreciating great photo. This will also help keep attention to their beautiful eyes instead of getting distracted by any blemishes.

Once again, great series. You have two good models here to practice on

jeffreaux2

Nice series of shots for your son and his girlfriend.

Criique:

I would definitely ad contrast to there faces so they stand out a littlemore. Both of them have great eyes and should be highlighted.

Thanks for looking. I appreciate your input, however I am satisfied with the contrast on this series. I wasn't going for a high contrast look.

The first two, i would crop down so that there is not so much space above them. This way the attention stys with the subject instead of the viewer hunting around the picture looking for something else

I do not crop until I order prints. What you are seeing in those images is extra room to allow for a 5x7 or 8x10 crop.

For the couples sake, i would "spot" clean any facial blemishes. Since we all look for our imperfections before appreciating great photo. This will also help keep attention to their beautiful eyes instead of getting distracted by any blemishes.

All "blemishes" have been removed. This includes acne as well as an open wound she had for a mole that was surgically removed, and some peeling from a sunburn. What is left are freckles and moles. I do not remove those as a general rule unless requested by a client to do so. It is part of who we are!!(in my opinion)

Once again, great series. You have two good models here to practice on

Thanks for looking and making suggestions:D

dadwtwins

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Thanks for looking. I appreciate your input, however I am satisfied with the contrast on this series. I wasn't going for a high contrast look.



I do not crop until I order prints. What you are seeing in those images is extra room to allow for a 5x7 or 8x10 crop.


All "blemishes" have been removed. This includes acne as well as an open wound she had for a mole that was surgically removed, and some peeling from a sunburn. What is left are freckles and moles. I do not remove those as a general rule unless requested by a client to do so. It is part of who we are!!(in my opinion)


Thanks for looking and making suggestions:D

Instead of trying to write out what I meant, i just used your photo to show as an example. IF this offends you, I will remove it immediately. This is not meant to be a final edited pic but just to show you the difference between your original and what I had envisioned

As per your request, have fun with your shooting:ivar

jeffreaux2

dadwtwins wrote:

Instead of trying to write out what I meant, i just used your photo to show as an example. IF this offends you, I will remove it immediately. This is not meant to be a final edited pic but just to show you the differece between your original and what I had invisioned

I knew what you meant......but...

Sorry that does not fit my style or tastes. Way too overboard for me.