Developing C&C Please

[Lyssi]

I'd appreciate C&C on the processing I've done in Lightroom (RAW). Too late for the composition, they were casual shots but the family is getting them enlarged and printed.

1. I've never processed this type of image before and most concerned about:
skin colour
contrast
white balance (custom - too yellow, especially the background?)
exposure - too bright?

With the white shirts it seems hard to find the faces !

I would appreciate any and all advice as to how to improve these for printing.

2. Any suggestions for a good "people" B&W Lightroom or PS Preset/Action?

Thanks so much for your help.

p.s. I'm going to try and clone out the hanging strap on the woman's leg and they wanted the branch on the the 2nd image left in.

Pat

[Titus213]

Skin tones looks OK as does exposure. As a general rule I discourage folks from wearing shorts or sleeveless tops for any kind of portrait.

I hope these are crops, otherwise re-cropping for different formats will present some issues since they are so close to the edge.

[Lyssi]

Thanks so much for your comments Dave, I'm more than a little lost with this.

As a general rule I discourage folks from wearing shorts or sleeveless tops for any kind of portrait.


I can see why, after working with these photos. Lesson learned! I sure learned a lot from this first time out.

I hope these are crops, otherwise re-cropping for different formats will present some issues since they are so close to the edge.

These are 8x10 crops from the original which is a 2:3 ratio.

The 2nd one is still going to present problems though since the top and bottom are way too tight to the edge. It doesn't leave any room for matting. Now what?

Would I have them printed at 8x10 and then have the print shop add a white border to accomodate matting and framing. I'm unsure what to do here - what are the options in order to have the 8x10 picture not hidden by a matt? That would be the fellow's head!

[joedlh]

Composition, exposure and white balance look good. I would try a bit more contrast.

The woman on the right in the first one is going to hate it because of how you have her posed. The woman next to her won't be too happy either. Having their legs in front of them makes them look bigger due to perspective. Hide them. It's up to the photographer to see what could be wrong with a shot and fix it before releasing the shutter.

In the second one, clone out the green branch in front of the guy on the right. And couldn't the dog be more cooperative? It's like he's saying, "Whatever." Next time, bring a squeeze toy and squeeze it before taking the shot. Oh wait; the kid's got the squeeze toy. Borrow it (without making him cry).

[Lyssi]

Thanks for the advice Joe, along with the chuckles.

Yup, I made lots of mistakes first time out and things very quickly got totally out of control with the kids. A helper would have been great. Always feel that renewed appreciation of a "real" photographer's skill at times like these... :)

[Seneca]

I think the image itself looks good. I will say that the angle is distracting (the slope). Next time find a more level ground. JMHO

[ashjamesgav]

I would clone a little bit of grass onto the lady on the right of the first pictures' rear. I don't know if that is her bum or her shorts, but it doesn't look very appealing >.<