Help save me some money!!!

[Skeeter4]

I'm trying to convince my wife that I can take better pictures of our kids than Sears can. Everytime I go out of town my wife takes our kids to Sears to get their picutes taken and everytime the pictures turn out horrible. The worst part is that she is paying $100 - $200 for these totally crappy pictures. I'm trying to tell her that if we take the money she is pissing away at Sears I could get a couple of lights and backgrounds and take pictures here at the house.

Here is a shot I took of the kids outside on our swingset. Please give me some feed back on this so I can impove.

http://www.2and2.net/Uploads/Images/b%20&%20c%20014%20copy.jpg

[im2postal]

Take one of the terrible shots from Sears, and notice what you don't like about it. Usualy they do a good job at grouping and coordinating shapes (which is more than putting the taller people in the back and so forth). Where they seem to fail most miserably is in capturing the personality of your particular family.

In a very casual setting, group your family similar to the way the studio would, and take a shot. View it later and tweek your technique a little and try again. Sooner than later you will develope your own style, and you will make shots that are evidently better, and your wife will certianly agree. Also it would be a good idea to see just why your wife is so enamored with Sears. She might have a valid reason beyond "They are professionals." It would be worth while to seek to please that element in her.

Robbie

[dewmuw]

Just a tip I picked up when we were having our family potrait done - try and get your girls eyes on the same level, especially if you have them with their heads side by side. It makes for a better composition and it does work!

Good look - for $200 a pop you could buy yourself a lot of camera over a couple of years!

[Molydood]

It would be good if you could post a picture of the Sears jobs.

From your picture, I would recommend a smaller depth of field, the background is a little distracting for me. Other than that I don't have a scooby as I'm pretty clueless.

[cmM]

Well.... if you are thinking studio lighting and other equipment then you better impress your wife because that'll suck a few grand right out of your bank account :wink: .

As for your picture. Isolate your subject better (smaller DOF), a little more contrast and color would be nice too. But if the sears stuff sucks and your wife really wants a lot of pics of your daughters, then I think you shouldn't have too much trouble convincing her to spend a some $ on a studio. Plus, if you take the pictures your subjects will be a lot more confortable, that means a lot more natural expressions, that means better pictures.

Good luck !