Some Recent Practice....

[princer7]

I am working on building my portrait portfolio. These were from some of my recent sessions this past week. CC is very welcome and appreciated.

Levi - Age 5


Audrey - Age 7


Giulianna - Age 3

[auddii]

Love these, although I'm thinking #3 is a little over exposed. Her skin is almost sheer white, and the fuzzy part of her hat is completely melting into the background.

Also, her left foot looks a little odd to me, although I'm not really sure why. I guess just because it'd being held broad side towards the camera it looks a little bigger.

[princer7]

Thank you, Audrey. Looking to recalibrate my monitor.

[princer7]

I opened up a can of worms with the calibration... Going to be a while but will take a look at the feet to see if there is anything I can do to dainty them up a little. I really appreciate the feedback!

[bryanlindsey]

Sweet. My only thought was that 3 was too bright.

[duronboy]

They all have very flat lighting. There's no drama in the lighting pattern. in order to have some shape to the faces to give them a three-dimensional look, it's a good idea to have some shadow area on the face.

[Photogdude]

parents will eat these up, no doubt about that. And these are very good shots. Now on to the nitpicking :)

first one-great shot/pose- cept for the shirt. all you need is a mildly OCD mom and she won't like it.

second shot-absolutly love the head angle, and expression, thing that bugs me is the cropping of the hands, and the way she is leaning forward--although with the shallow DOF it's not that noticeable.

third, love it, but as said before exposure is off. and it wouldn't have anything to do with monitor calibration if you use a light meter, which you should.


And yes, although the lighting is flat, it's appropriate for what you are doing.

[texkam]

They work for me. Love the innocence and the wonderful color.

[DigMe]

Cute pics and like others have said you could confidently present these to your clients IMO.
I had the same initial thought on the last one about the exposure. Cute outfit. I'm no pose master for sure but I think I'd have rather had her right hand up on her knee. Such a great set with the wood floors and that wall. What a great wall for this pic!

In the second one did you use an upside down Orbis or a Rayflash? If not I'm curious as to what the dark object is that comes up from the bottom to middle of the round catchlight. That is not supposed to be a critique in any way, I'm just curious about what modifier you used. I like the pose.

brad

[morthncds]

I like #3 as is. Love the colors. By the way, I really dig your logo.

[princer7]

I still need to work more on my monitor calibration. Last night I got everything back to defaults. My monitors are the same but are giving a different brightness - thinking it may be a driver/windows problem as it does not matter which monitor I set as #1. The 2nd monitor is continually dimmer.

Here is another rendition on the 3rd photo just bringing back the highlights some.

[princer7]

Originally Posted by duronboy

They all have very flat lighting. There's no drama in the lighting pattern. in order to have some shape to the faces to give them a three-dimensional look, it's a good idea to have some shadow area on the face.

I'll continue to work on the lighting. My bigest challenge with the little kids has been getting them to sit as directed for any lenght of time. A broader light seems to give me more flexiblity - they are quick to loose focus. I would really like to improve it though and welcome some suggestions of what works for others.

[princer7]

Originally Posted by Photogdude

parents will eat these up, no doubt about that. And these are very good shots. Now on to the nitpicking :)

first one-great shot/pose- cept for the shirt. all you need is a mildly OCD mom and she won't like it.

second shot-absolutly love the head angle, and expression, thing that bugs me is the cropping of the hands, and the way she is leaning forward--although with the shallow DOF it's not that noticeable.

third, love it, but as said before exposure is off. and it wouldn't have anything to do with monitor calibration if you use a light meter, which you should.


And yes, although the lighting is flat, it's appropriate for what you are doing.

Nitpicking is WELCOME!! I want to improve and take it as such.

The little boy was quite a challenge. Any time I would move to get a different angle, his body would follow He really was a sweetie. I agree about the shirt!! I corrected the gap in the shirt opening as much as possible.. still does not help with it being wrinkled or untucked.

Hands were killing me too!! I need to remember to step back a little to allow for croping later.

The last one I got too happy in Photoshop. The CyberCommander is so easy to use that I cannot justify why not to use a light meter.





I

[DigMe]

Originally Posted by princer7

I'll continue to work on the lighting. My bigest challenge with the little kids has been getting them to sit as directed for any lenght of time. A broader light seems to give me more flexiblity - they are quick to loose focus. I would really like to improve it though and welcome some suggestions of what works for others.

Believe me, I feel your pain.

brad

[princer7]

Audrey I update the reposted photo with the corrected foot size.