First Senior Session of '11

e mari ad terram · August 15, 2011

Here are some shots from a session Saturday.

C & C appreciated!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Thanks for looking!

Ryan

Sean Ealy · August 16, 2011

I like the series of shots. Good color and composition. I do have to say that your watermark is a little distracting however.

reyvee61 · August 16, 2011

Nice series of shots....

Asides from the watermark being a bit distracting some nits I have:

I feel that on all but the first her eyes are overdone because the white of her eyes overpower her face.
On the fourth..I dunno why but the shadow from the strobe bothers me on her left side.
The first one is my fave but your choice of negative space to her left feels odd to me.
The overall skin treatment on her face is a wee bit much for my taste.

I'll be she loves these though

jeffreaux2 · August 16, 2011

e mari ad terram wrote: »

Here are some shots from a session Saturday.

C & C appreciated!

She is an attractive young lady and I think your choice of locations is acceptable.

I think #2 is your best shot despite the fact that, like several of the others, it could benifit from a bump in exposure.

In my opinion, a poor choice was made in the sleevless tops she chose. This makes it doubly hard to minimize the shoulders in shots like 3, 4, and 5.

Also, you should avoid posing subjects with their shoulders square to the camera as you did in 3 and 4....even if they arent wearing a sleevless top.

The hard shadows in 3 and 4 make it apparent that you were using a shoe mounted flash.
Those unsightly shadows can be avoided in several ways.

1- Get the flash off the camera and shoot it through an umbrella.

2- Decrease the shutter speed to brighten the ambient exposure while decreasing flash power.

3- Shoot with the camera and shoe mounted flash in the landscape orientation and crop the image in post to get the portrait oriented composition.

...and welcome to DGRIN !!!

Qarik · August 16, 2011

over all a nice set. pleasing tones. I am going to commen ton #1 specifically, It is not bad..I like her expression and processing is good. But here is what I would have done different:

1) straigten her head
2) cut off more of her head or keep it all in frame..cutting off just the top like that doesn't look enough to be deliberate.
3) I like the ivy covered wall behind her. I would have tried to shoot her so that the background is filled on both sides with that ivy

e mari ad terram · August 16, 2011

Thank you all for taking the time to comment! I really do appreciate it.

@Sean - My wife agrees with the watermark issue, she has been hounding me to change it up and go more subtle. I will look to create something less distracting.

@Rey - I have never really done eyes and didn't really know where the line was from realistic to "OMG those are white!". I used LR2 and did some brush masking so this will be an easy fix to address with minor adjustments. Thanks for the input!

@Jeff - First thanks for the comments, second, thanks for your posts here in Dgrin and the galleries you post on your site. I totally lurked through all of them looking at posing, lighting, locations, composition, etc. I am currently trying to learn good fill flash, and also looking to move it off camera. THanks for the tips on both of those efforts. Lighting here in Arizona is always a challenge, there is hot sun, non-existent clouds, and little scrubby trees that produce marginal dappled shade. Buildings and structures are going to be my only real hope for true shade and flash will be a must. I also think the 108 degree day we shot in drove the poor choice in tops. She brought along three outfits, all sleeveless despite conversations about attire...

@Qarik - Thanks for the suggestions, #1 is one of my favs from this session. i wish more ivy was available but it was growing on a corner post and I could only get that little bit.

Again, I appreciate the opportunity to learn. I am going to work on these again and see what of the above suggestions I can incorporate in post. Will post my results soon!

Thanks

Ryan

MDalby · August 24, 2011

jeffreaux2 wrote: »

3- Shoot with the camera and shoe mounted flash in the landscape orientation and crop the image in post to get the portrait oriented composition.

Jeff,

Can you help me understand this suggestion? I was thinking of shooting almost exclusively in portrait format rather than landscape so I didn't have to crop so much. Is this to have plenty of room on the borders for different ratios?

Thanks for the help.

Mark

VayCayMom · August 24, 2011

She has a slight rash on her upper arms that could use some help. Only reason I notice it is because when I was young I had the same thing.

First Senior Session of '11

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