Mother's Day Portraits

DavidS

A client had me do a shoot of his two kids as a Mother's Day present for his wife. He bought a coffee table book and some prints and said she was blown away. I am pleased she was satisfied, but would like a more critical analysis of my work. Here are a few of the shots. Please let me know how I can improve. Thanks.

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saurora

David, I think these are fantastic and your best set yet! I can see why Mom was blown away! What a wonderful Mother's Day gift and something both of them will treasure forever. The only comment I would make is that the sky looks a little funky and grainy in #2-4, however the sunlight on them is spectacular. Not sure if it was an action you were using...I do like the tone on these and #4 is my fav of the set. I like how you took the time to get different angles...just a really nice selection. Super job over-all!!!

jeffreaux2

Super Super set of photographs David. I haven't seen much from you in the forum of late, but this certainly explains what you have been up to. Great job on all.

NateWagner

These are great, I really enjoyed looking through them.

my only specific criticism is that on #8 I think her face too plasticky. It just looks like you over did it a bit.

Other than that, great set.

shatch

Well done David. These are great. Looks like you had a great day of being together and taking photos. All real keepers.

DavidS

Thanks for your encouraging words Saurora. To be honest I felt really bummed after this shoot. I see what others are doing and realize how far I have to go. I am very critical of myself. I was really releived when I heard how much his wife liked it. I just want to be the best I can be. I guess it takes a lot of practice. Thanks for the feedback on the sky. I am at work on my lunch break, so I can't look at the original images. It may be because I posted low res images or the images may have been a bit dark originally. I did not use any actions, but used Lightroom presets on #6 and #9.

Thanks Jeff. You are doing awesome work and challenge me to improve.

Thank you Nate. I was wondering about the face myself. I just started using a plug in called Portraiture. I need to get more experience with it. Feedback like yours is very helpful.

Thank you Shatch. I had a great time with them. They were terrific kids.

photogmomma

These are awesome! It's SO hard with white clothes. UGH! But you did an amazing job!

I'm not sure if it's processing or what, but for some reason 7 & 8 don't look quite "right".

Otherwise, really well done!!!

Mitchell

David, your beach work has really come a long way. These are awesome!! Nice job holding the whites.

I don't care for #8. Her facial skin just looks odd. The rest are excellent.

DavidS

photogmomma wrote:

These are awesome! It's SO hard with white clothes. UGH! But you did an amazing job!

I'm not sure if it's processing or what, but for some reason 7 & 8 don't look quite "right".

Otherwise, really well done!!!

Thank you Andi for the encouraging words. I used a plug in called Portraiture on those. There is going to be a learning curve for me. Your feedback helps.

DavidS

Mitchell wrote:

David, your beach work has really come a long way. These are awesome!! Nice job holding the whites.

I don't care for #8. Her facial skin just looks odd. The rest are excellent.

Thank you Mitchell. It means a lot to mean to get the positive feedback from you and the others. You all have such great work. I thought #8 may have been over the top when I processed it, but I wasn't sure. Thanks for the feedback.

dawssvt

Wow... Very nice shots. I bet the mother is very pleased with the outcome.

DavidS

Thank you Dawson. My client said his wife was blown away. I was pleased that she liked them.

joshhuntnm

I love these shots. If there was a way to get the color of the sky in all of them like it is in the last one, it would be even better. We all like the blue sky, and I'd think it owuld be a pretty clean selection.

DavidS

joshhuntnm wrote:

I love these shots. If there was a way to get the color of the sky in all of them like it is in the last one, it would be even better. We all like the blue sky, and I'd think it owuld be a pretty clean selection.

Thanks Josh. I wish all of the shots had the deep blue sky as well. I'm not sure how to get that and would love to hear how to do it.

joshhuntnm

DavidS wrote:

Thanks Josh. I wish all of the shots had the deep blue sky as well. I'm not sure how to get that and would love to hear how to do it.

I'd like to think the selection process would be pretty simple. I fine it works best to feather just a bit. then copy that to a new layer and change the colors.