More Portraits of a Young Family

[KansasMom]

Here's a few more I did of a young family last week. A lot of these have slower shutter speeds, but I was using my 28-135 USM IS lens in hopes they would still be sharp, and I'm pretty satisfied. I've also applied a softness technique to some of them per the family's request.

C&C greatly appreciated. I value all your remarks!

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[CliffordPhotography]

I like the shots buts there is something about them that seems off to me. Tell us about your PP youve done.

[KansasMom]

the only PP I did was slight levels/curves, and the softening technique is similar to midnight sepia.

[stampedeone]

Please tell me what midnight sepia is? I love the softening effect. Nice pics! Thanks

[me_julie]

wow they are all really good shots. very well done

[KansasMom]

thank you very much! So far, the family is very pleased.

Would love more C&C on these! How can I improve?

[canoflan]

I recently had a family portrait shoot. The location was inside the client's house and in front of their fireplace and other nice furniture along the wall. The thing my wife noticed was that a clock on the mantle of the fireplace looked like it was growing out of the head of one of the subjects. This is something well all battle with and why the simpler the background, the better. I recommend that you really pay attention to what you see through the camera before finishing your posing and ensure nothing looks like it is coming out of your clients. This is the reason that studio photographers use such pedestrian backgrounds so as to not distract from the faces/people in the pictures. Photo 4 looks like it needs a bit of work in this area, but photos 1 and 2 are examples of backgrounds that don't distract because of their simplicity and contrast with the subjects. I am continuing to work on this as well.

I like your pictures, however, but I have also seen where most portrait photographers of families will leave at least a good amount of space around the family, else they look cramped in the photo (i.e. see photo number 4 above). For some reason, the few people in the photo, the less room you can leave around them, but for more, the more you need.

I am glad to hear the client likes their portraits. I find that most clients like simply having their portraits taken and they look half-way decent. They are usually more interested in the emotion that can be elicited with certain poses (all the family looking at the newborn, etc...) and the fact they are getting their photos finally taken (most families put this off too long) vs. getting some Ansel Adams work of art.

Pat

[KansasMom]

thank you all so much.

stampedeone - do a google for 'midnight sepia action' and you'll find the plug-in.

[Clint]

I think #1 is a tad out of focus, and #5 the flash is to strong, other than that, the photos are very good.