Family photos yesterday

jeffreaux2 · May 30, 2008

Last weekend, I was tasked to photograph a huge birthday party for a young lady who turned 90 years old. This was my first event other than a wedding. During that party, I made an appointment to photograph this family. Here are a couple from yesterday...on the family's farmland.

Thoughts? Comments?

-1

-2

-3

super star · May 30, 2008

Beautiful shots.....

I like the first one..very mucg, wonderful light...

Second one... light bhind small boy is bit distracting...our eyes....

Third...nice composition....

Over all.....

Qarik · May 30, 2008

you always have such wonderful lighting

Swartzy · May 30, 2008

Yep, wonderful lighting, great comps and nice processing....what's not to like?

Nice work there Jeff.

Agnieszka · May 30, 2008

Oh how beautiful!! Love the 2nd one!!

joshhuntnm · May 30, 2008

nice shots. beautiful.

the expression (especially eyes) seems a bit. . . I dont know. .. on the first one--the lady on our right.

jeffreaux2 · May 30, 2008

Qarik wrote:

you always have such wonderful lighting

Thanks. Here I actually had wonderful shade. It was around 6:10 PM when we began shooting. I had arrived a bit early and the light was rather harsh, so we waited awhile. She told me that she wanted to do everything in the vicinity of the barn, so I walked out there to look around a bit. There is a large oak tree to camera right in #2 that is providing much of the shade. I realized that if I waited much longer the angle of the sun would be below it's lowest limbs and I would lose my shade. I have one of those fiberglass covers on the bed of my pick-up that hinges up toward the cab. I positioned the truck...with the lid raised...to block the dappling that was coming through the tree. A move that saved me from waiting at least another hour to beging shooting.

joshhuntnm · May 30, 2008

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Thanks. Here I actually had wonderful shade. It was around 6:10 PM when we began shooting. I had arrived a bit early and the light was rather harsh, so we waited awhile. She told me that she wanted to do everything in the vicinity of the barn, so I walked out there to look around a bit. There is a large oak tree to camera right in #2 that is providing much of the shade. I realized that if I waited much longer the angle of the sun would be below it's lowest limbs and I would lose my shade. I have one of those fiberglass covers on the bed of my pick-up that hinges up toward the cab. I positioned the truck...with the lid raised...to block the dappling that was coming through the tree. A move that saved me from waiting at least another hour to beging shooting.

Add to my list of photographic gear: truck with fiberglass cover!!!

jeffreaux2 · May 30, 2008

joshhuntnm wrote:

Add to my list of photographic gear: truck with fiberglass cover!!!

It is 4 door truck and the windows are super dark. It has also served as a dressing room on most all of my on location senior shoots. The lockable lid on the bed is also nice so I can carry large foam core sheets, a couple of ladders/stools and a few old cheap tripods that I can use for holding the foam core...or a light...or.... I also usually carry a few pieces of cardboard back there to tear into butt sized pieces for people to sit on when I pose them on the ground.

Hey...if you already have the truck, you can get the lid for about the same price as a 40D and lens!:D

jeffreaux2 · May 30, 2008

Swartzy wrote:

Yep, wonderful lighting, great comps and nice processing....what's not to like? Nice work there Jeff.

Thanks Swarzty, I appreciate that!

jeffreaux2 · May 30, 2008

Agnieszka wrote:

Oh how beautiful!! Love the 2nd one!!

I have a few other group poses. I decided to grab the rocking chair from the front porch to build the pose around. I am not at all comfortable posing more than a couple people so....

The chair helped matters.

jeffreaux2 · May 30, 2008

joshhuntnm wrote:

nice shots. beautiful.

the expression (especially eyes) seems a bit. . . I dont know. .. on the first one--the lady on our right.

Yup...that is her expression...I caught that same look in many of the photos that included her. She seemed tense compared to the rest of the family about being photographed.

jeffreaux2 · May 30, 2008

super star wrote:

Beautiful shots.....

I like the first one..very mucg, wonderful light...

Second one... light bhind small boy is bit distracting...our eyes....

Third...nice composition....

Over all.....

Welcome to Dgrin!

Scott_Quier · May 30, 2008

Love the light in the first one, though I'm not bowled over by the blonde's expression - there's something a little too "deer in the headlights" look to it.

#2 - Very sweet light and well done.

#3 is my favorite - really like the natural feel of this one. Would have liked to see other expressions on the older boy's face and that of the girl. Really like how you got them in the shadow of the trees rather than in the hard light of the field behind them - very good thinking and awareness of the environment!

sanaka · May 30, 2008

Yes, Mom in #1's expression stands out, but like you said, that's just some folks' look...
Overall, I'd be so stoked if I could capture shots near this good of my own family! These are really nice.

Peace,
Sanaka

DavidS · May 30, 2008

Very nice Jeff. I especially like #2. The grass is so vibrant. Great setting.

jeffreaux2 · May 31, 2008

Scott_Quier wrote:

Love the light in the first one, though I'm not bowled over by the blonde's expression - there's something a little too "deer in the headlights" look to it.

#2 - Very sweet light and well done.

#3 is my favorite - really like the natural feel of this one. Would have liked to see other expressions on the older boy's face and that of the girl. Really like how you got them in the shadow of the trees rather than in the hard light of the field behind them - very good thinking and awareness of the environment!

Hi Scott!
Thanks for commenting and sharing your thoughts on each of the photos. I agree with your thoughts on them all. I tried doing the group shots before the mother/daughter photo to give mom a chance to relax. I even told her she was giving me the wooden look, but she was pretty much resigned to that expression.

I took a series of the kids walking in the hayfield. Both walking away and towards me, Those that were in this shade worked much better than the others. I may have better expressions of all of them...including mom. I ran everything through lightroom, but haven't really studied the photos other than these three. Maybe I will have a chance to finish things up on Monday.

jeffreaux2 · May 31, 2008

sanaka wrote:

Yes, Mom in #1's expression stands out, but like you said, that's just some folks' look...
Overall, I'd be so stoked if I could capture shots near this good of my own family! These are really nice.

Peace,
Sanaka

Thanks Sanaka...
Tell you what...Fly me to your hometown, and I will help you get those family shots for free!!!:D

Thanks for looking!!

jeffreaux2 · May 31, 2008

DavidS wrote:

Very nice Jeff. I especially like #2. The grass is so vibrant. Great setting.

Thanks David. I think it is the contrast in #2. I had to pour a lot of black into the photo to get a good blackpoint on my subjects. Then, add in a vignette and it gets really contrasty where the vignette is. I agree about the setting. I asked him how often and when he plans to cut the hay. If I get any Fall seniors I might take one of them out there for photos.

Photosbychuck · May 31, 2008

Great Photos!

The only thing that distracted me from the subject was the bright spot in #1 on the right side.

Take Care,
Chuck,

Seneca · May 31, 2008

Jeff these are beautiful...good job. My favorite is the mother / daughter image. Superb!

evoryware · May 31, 2008

Beautiful shots. #2 is my favorite. I really like #1's lighting. I wonder if you could change the dear in headlight look by just having her turn her head slowly? Thinking to myself here.

lisap · June 1, 2008

#3 is my favourite. I love the composition and just the overall feel of it.

Having grown up on a farm what seems like a LONG time ago, looking at it brought back some fun memories for me. I'm sure those kids will appreciate it when they're older!

-- Lisa P.

jeffreaux2 · June 2, 2008

evoryware wrote:

Beautiful shots. #2 is my favorite. I really like #1's lighting. I wonder if you could change the dear in headlight look by just having her turn her head slowly? Thinking to myself here.

I liked the lighting in #1 as well. I was doing everything I could to be sure I was getting those stray golden rays of sun playing behind them on the wall. I tried a few different tactics with mom....to no avail.