Another few portraits for c&c please

sineadw

First off - I know I haven't exactly been giving what I'm getting when it comes to help around here. Anyone who has kids will know what a hectic time of year this is (and I'm currently trying to come to terms with the fact that I have a son starting secondary school tomorrow :eek: ). I'll try to rectify this as soon as things settle here a bit..

I did another shoot this weekend - this time with my friend's children. I've tried to take on board all the mistakes I made last time with the promo shots and all the feedback I was given. I shot with a smaller aperture with the 50 prime this time, and had a fiddle about with the flash settings and the reflector. I know these are 'typical' kiddie shots and probably not that great per se, but I'm looking for technical feedback as well as maybe your thoughts on composition and processing. I'll post the B&W conversions (because I like them, and I've just discovered the tint and desaturate facility on the CS3 B&W layer :rolleyes: ) but the colour ones are also available here...

Lesson learned for this shoot (amongst others) - if you're going to shoot with a creased sheet as a backdrop get your subjects to sit a bit away from it! Hours and hours of cloning...







Thanks for any feedback..

Covey

Sinead,

All 3 are exellent imo.

If your looking for nitpicking comment...

# 2 Somehow the hands of the boy seem to take my eye ??

All three seem to be be perfectly exposed but lack a bit of oooph.. contrast maybe . Could be my monitor though !!

Overall top class, very well done. Great in fact.

T

0utpost31

I'm no expert on portraiture, to be honest I don't have a clue, but these are very good.

pippatee

I really like em Sinead ... you have managed to get their attention and they obviously feel comfortable with you ... that's the hard part if you ask me

really sharp around the eyes .. their Mum will be chuffed with them I'd imagine ...

The clothes they are wearing are a bit distracting, woulda been nice to have them in something a bit plainer, with no writing or patterns on them ... but you can't have it all ...

well done again,

Philip

Paulw

I think all three are lovely, and nice B&W conversion.

One comment - in image #1, the left side of the face is quite a bit darker than the right. This is very clear in the eyes. I think the detail in the illuminated eye looks wonderful, but the other eye just looks a bit lifeless. Now, this could probably be corrected in PP, rather than when taking the photo.

Otherwise, lovely kids portraits.

thebaz

Very nice Sinead , love the conversion (send me the recipe )

while i like shot 3 as is , i wonder would the child or parent prefer it with mouth closed , with the growing nashers-- its a better photograph with it , as i like natural, but maybe as a gift, get it with mouth closed.

just my toughts.

ttcomet

I really like all 3 shots. The B&W conversion is excellent.

If I had to find a small fault it would be that the first one is just a little dark on the right of her face. Maybe using a reflector or even a second flash on 1/32 or 1/64 power would be enough to light it up. But it is an excellent shot.

Roen

#1 As you said, you need to separate the subject from the BG, you did it for the other two so why not for this one? Just wondering because if you twigged it mid shoot you could have repositioned the girl or got her to re-sit after the other two.

The shadow from the flash is quite harsh as a result. The catchlight in her eyes is also a little too pin point as well (it's almost bang on for the other two by the way!).

Anyway, I find the pose to be a bit unusual for a girl of that age. The hands behind the head thing is often considered more of a 'glamour' pose.

The left underarm area is the brightest area in the whole scene and competes with the face for attention.

Personally I don't mind limbs that have been cut off and then re-enter the frame elsewhere, as you've done with the arms in this shot, but it's often considered a no-no. As a result of the pose the shirt has become bunched up around her neck, making her chin seem to extend downwards a bit more than it normally would.
Was she lying down or just leaning up against the BG?

The catch lights on her gums are also a little distracting. As is the little detail toward her right shoulder on her top (left of frame), there's also a small stain on her top to the right of that toward her chin that's more obvious in the full size on Pix.ie.

The scrunchy or whatever she uses to tie her hair back is also providing a specular reflection just behind her right ear.


#2 I think the clothes are the biggest problem here. The button is a large round white object on a black background, and as such provides an area of high contrast that draws the eye to it. There's also plenty of fluff on her top that should 'shopped out.

The catch light in the eyes is great but the pin point of light near the lachrymal duct on her right eye should be removed.
The drool on her lip also could use a bit of work and there is one or two hotspots on her nose that could be helped by a bit of cooling down.

The hands are cut off at the bottom of the frame, I'd either have them in or have them out altogether, not half and half as again they draw the eye further down away from the face in a natural line from face to button to hands.

Also I can't help feeling that the whole shot is quite soft in comparison to the others.

#3 Again the clothing is the main one here, it's too bunched up and has got the fluff thing going on as well. The 'R' in Paris is quite dominant and vies for attention and the threads coming out of the 'i' need tidying too.

The catch lights on the teeth could use a bit of cooling down and the central light in the eye is again a bit too much of a specular point.


In general all three need a bit more contrast and lift.

Hope it helps!

AnimalRights

I'll be brutally honest, I find none of 'em interesting....kids also are erm how do I put this kindly not model material.
If I had to pick a favourite would prob be #3 but only by a hairs breath.

I also find the B+W/poses too contived.
I would recommend you head to the streets and take unposed pics just to see how we all stand.

BanzaiBk

No2 is my favourite, my only criticisms would be that the photos make me feel very cramped which I guess is my reaction to the crop of the pictures. I personally prefer the b&w to the colours, that's just a personal portrait preference though.

sineadw

@ animal rights - laughing! I'm guessing you don't have children I specifically wanted to take shots in a controlled environment rather than on the street. This was kind of the whole point of the exercise - to learn how to control light and such in a studio-like setting. Although in answer to Roen's first point it was more than a little hectic in the end. The house is still pretty much a building site and the kids (my own included) were full of sugar and difficult to get sat for more than 10 seconds at a time...

Thanks to all again for your feedback - its very much appreciated. I'm going to PP again with all your comments taken on board. Roen in particular - wow - I would never have even noticed most of the stuff you mentioned so its really helpful to see what someone with a lot more experience in this sees.. And a few lessons learned on flash positioning too. Methinks I need to get off camera to control this a little better..

Thanks again!

kgiller

BanzaiBk wrote: »

No2 is my favourite, my only criticisms would be that the photos make me feel very cramped which I guess is my reaction to the crop of the pictures. I personally prefer the b&w to the colours, that's just a personal portrait preference though.

+1

Images are very sharp. The lighting is great. And the B+W conversion is really nice, a very warm (not harsh) B+W. They are very nice.

I do agree with BanzaiBk about them feeling a bit cramped, especially #1, but im no expert :P

But i bet the mother loved them

Hugh_C

@Sinead Snap! I had a daughter starting secondary yesterday too. Cool as a cucumber that one, excited for sure but nervous, not a chance.

I like #1 a lot, but I'd be interested to see what these would be like without using the flash, somehow they're over lit for me. Since you were using the 50 prime, you'd have bags of latitude and even, if it were me, I'd push up the ISO a lot. Noise? Who cares - looks like film grain if you treat it nicely in PP. Yeah, so anyway, I'd be stopping up to f/2.8, or wider and using natural light with a bit of differential from one side of the face to the other. Also I'd try to choose a background that it either a lot darker or lighter than their skin tones, and get a bit of distance between the subject and the background so that you're throwing it out of focus a bit more. Kids rock

AnimalRights if you don't like kids, here's something less challenging for you to look at.