Photo Shoot at Playground

DavidS

I did a photo shoot last Saturday of an 18 month old at the playground. It was a workout keeping up with him. We had to start a couple of hours earlier than I would have liked, to get him to bed on time, so the light was pretty harsh. His grandmother said his mother really likes the photos, but I haven't heard from his mom, so I'm worried she may not like them that much. The grandmother did say the mother did not like the messy hair. Is that really a bad thing? I think he looks like a boy should look on a playground. It was not a studio shoot where one may go for perfection in that way. On the other hand it did stick up pretty bad in a few shots, from taking the hat off. Please give me your feedback on the photos, so I can improve. Thanks.

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7. Grandma and Grandpa


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Thanks for looking.

heatherfeather

I like them, David...

#4 & #6 are my favs... #11 cracks me up- A caption could be, "Ew, there's some bird do-do on that chair..."

Nice!

joshhuntnm

love em all! #8 is the weakest to me. the post is a little. . . I don't know. . it doesn't fit with the photo to me.

Agnieszka

I agree, I like your shots. It's always driving me crazy too when I don't hear back from my customers .... just give her a day or two .... IF she really didn't like them becasue of the hair .... sorry, but that is her responsibility, not really yours, I'm assuming she was there with you and watching over your shoulder.
I think the photos are cute & show his personality. If anything, I think they were a bit over-sharpened (or your F spot was too high??) They look a bit grainy, but that might also just be your upload resolution. I like them a lot!

Photosbychuck

I think you did a good job for the type of shoot that they requested.
I think they look like shots of a kid at a park.
How did you keep the other kids out of the shots?
I had thought about do kid shots at the park but, wondered how to keep the other kids out of the photo.

Take Care,
Chuck,
http://aperturefocus.smugmug.com

DavidS

Thank you Heather. #11 cracked me up as well.

Thank you Josh and thanks for the feedback on #8.

Thank you Angie. Thanks for pointing out the sharpening and grain issues.

Thanks Chuck. In regards to keeping other kids out of the shots, it is a challenge. One little boy kept following him around and I had to ask him to leave. I felt bad. I was lucky on a lot of the shots that kids were not around. When they were around, I changed my angle or position to avoid them.

ChatKat

Park
Personally, I agree about the sharpening and while I love the processing on #4, I have found it important to have a cohesive look to all of the images you show a client from a shoot. You have to be very careful of everything in your frame. Josh pointed out the pipe in one frame.

In #1 there is some kind of writing on the left and I love close crops but this is a bit too close.

In #2 it's over exposed.
#3 has a green label behind him - clone it out
#4 is my favorite - I like the processing
#5 is over exposed again
#6 is also good if you clone out the black pipes - watch for these in your frames.

What these shots are missing is styling. The childs clothing is busy and distracts from him. Brown shoes with blue and the red cap are all mish-mash of clothes. I have been shooting a lot of kids lately and I tell the parents that I prefer the kids in jeans and solid color clothes - no emblems or writing on the shirts are preferred. It really keeps the focus on the kids - especially when they're fair skinned.

DavidS

ChatKat wrote:

Personally, I agree about the sharpening and while I love the processing on #4, I have found it important to have a cohesive look to all of the images you show a client from a shoot. You have to be very careful of everything in your frame. Josh pointed out the pipe in one frame.

In #1 there is some kind of writing on the left and I love close crops but this is a bit too close.

In #2 it's over exposed.
#3 has a green label behind him - clone it out
#4 is my favorite - I like the processing
#5 is over exposed again
#6 is also good if you clone out the black pipes - watch for these in your frames.

What these shots are missing is styling. The childs clothing is busy and distracts from him. Brown shoes with blue and the red cap are all mish-mash of clothes. I have been shooting a lot of kids lately and I tell the parents that I prefer the kids in jeans and solid color clothes - no emblems or writing on the shirts are preferred. It really keeps the focus on the kids - especially when they're fair skinned.

Thanks for pointing this stuff out to me Kathy. I went back and adjusted the exposures on some of my shots. The lighting was pretty tuff that day. It was too early in the evening and the sun was out and not a lot of shade. I would like to shoot manual more, but it is tough with a kid. I did AP with fill flash at -1.3.

I cloned the pipes out. It looks much better.

What do you look for to tell if a photo is oversharpened? I don't have a good handle on that yet.

I asked his grandma to dress him in solid colors, but she did not listen.

ChatKat

I asked his grandma to dress him in solid colors, but she did not listen.[/quote]

I had a whole shoot last year that was useless because the mother did not listen to my wardrobe instructions. Waste of time! You can only do good images with cooperation! Not only of the parents/subjects but of the sun and a whole host of other things!