Portrait shoot - 2 sisters and a bit of p'shop!

[aliflack]

I recently did a photo shoot for a colleague so she could have some recent photos of her daughters before they head off travelling and go to university - first ever time doing this sort of thing and it was on the client's turf (so no studio lights for me!).

Anyways, here's two of the best. The girl in the black and white shot was the principal and was very relaxed in front of the camera, so I had a lot of good images to work from. The second daughter was a last minute sitter and I only had time to take a few pictures of her - I didn't get her at ease for quite a while so not as many good pics!

Holly:
http://www.alistair-flack-photography.co.uk/Forum_Images/Holly.jpg

Mari:
http://www.alistair-flack-photography.co.uk/Forum_Images/Mari.jpg

As always, comments appreciated, especially any relating to the post processing work (not enough/too much etc)

[hawk911]

I think both are nice, but my eye's not as well trained yet.

[tania622]

I really like the first one :-)

[bdj3]

I like the 1st one too!

[D. Craig Flory]

The 1st image is extremely flat ... you need some direction to the light. The 2nd image has more light below her and not enough on most of her face.

[Rhinotherunt]

The girl in the first one is STUNNING! I like that one. ;)

[HQP]

It's obvious that the first is a lot more comfortable

[Skrim17]

Yes the first is prettier, but the lighting and exposure on the second is great. the teeth on the first are blown out on the right hand side.

[Bill Cary]

Both great looking girls and very good photos.

[ABrownPhoto]

i like them both! your colleague has really pretty daughters!

I think both shots work well! #1 is my choice of the two!!

Nice work!..lets see two more ;)

[pagefile]

I think the 2nd would look just as good if you did it B&W.

[jamiepeter]

Did you use any reflectors/flash? Or just window light?

[aliflack]

No flash (too awkward to avoid nasty shadows on the wall for the most part) and one 30" lastolite reflector held by the mum...quite a useful assistant for the most part!

Good timing for your post - I've just come back from doing a portrait session with the third (and final!) daughter. The best part is that I remembered to do all the things I wish I had done from the first session:

Using ISO 400 to get decent shutter speeds
Checking the histogram and upping exposure comp from the word go
Saying no to the coffee beforehand
Getting some music playing in the background

[jamiepeter]

perfect! Sounds good. Beautiful shots as I look at them once more!

[Meaty0]

Beautiful subjects, well portrayed. Alistair, apart from the obvious B&W conversion, what PP did you do on the first subject's photo?

[darktiger]

I like the first one.

[greg76]

I love them, I think the reason they work is easy because there simple, and they deliver the outcome to which they were intended. well composed simple portraits, in my opinion nothing better, the focus is on your subject. good work.

[aliflack]

Thanks for the kind words!

PP was pretty much as per the first three steps of this tutorial (http://retouchpro.com/tutorials/?m=show&id=209) and some judicious use of the patch tool to reduce the bags under the eyes. First time through the tutorial took me about 45 mins, but I got that down to 15 or so after practice.

For comparison, here's the un-processed pic straight from RAW conversion...

http://www.alistair-flack-photography.co.uk/Forum_Images/Holly-Before.jpg

[Meaty0]

Hey thanks for the link Alistair.