STICKY:  How to photograph a high school Senior

YankeeMom wrote in post #13230796
Thanks! And, yes, it's a little crazy around here at times!

Here is another one in a fun, before-and-after format. Thought others might like to see that.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/yankeemom/62321​57204/

Very nice processing. It turned out great and I'm sure she'll love it.

bill

Today was 79* and sunny. I'm so not ready for the week of rain and cold heading our way tomorrow. Just finished another edit of Carlee. Still have to shoot some outdoor photos by the beach and sunset.

gonzogolf wrote in post #13228811

That camel shot is awesome!

bill

Eight Oak Acres wrote in post #13235609
Kelly...

Shot in the shade on a very bright afternoon. Vivitar 285 with a mini soft box on it. (on camera)

Shot with Vivitar 285 inside 40" shoot through umbrella slightly camera left at sunset.

Eric too much difference between ambient and flash. You need more power on the flash or shoot later in the day or in the shade. That will have lower ambient in the bg. For some reason her face in #2 is also not clear. In #1, I wish she wasn't too sunk into the grass. These kind of poses work when your shooting position is lower and you got nice sky in the bg. Look at phamster's old posts. Here is my copy of Phamster's idea. I used hot shoe flash here in a small softbox. But much longer focal length and my positon was lower.

Working on getting my son's senior photos done before I move on to doing some of his friends. I'm waiting on my new monitor to arrive so I will have a calibrated monitor but in the meantime, I'd appreciate C&C.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

KCMO Reefer wrote in post #13237727
Working on getting my son's senior photos done before I move on to doing some of his friends. I'm waiting on my new monitor to arrive so I will have a calibrated monitor but in the meantime, I'd appreciate C&C.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO

First no hunch backs. Also not sure why it looks little fuzzy. That is what I never liked with 1.6x crop but it could be web compression or hosting site issues. I would also get more dramatic light on him.

Like #2 better. But move that light super close to him so other side is in shadows. I like that with guys.

bobbyz wrote in post #13237817
First no hunch backs. Also not sure why it looks little fuzzy. That is what I never liked with 1.6x crop but it could be web compression or hosting site issues. I would also get more dramatic light on him.

Like #2 better. But move that light super close to him so other side is in shadows. I like that with guys.

Great tips and thanks. I was trying to get the file size down and may have compressed the image too much or something.

I have much to learn still and appreciate the feedback. Will get a lot of shooting in this weekend as I have three subjects I'm going to work with.

Good luck man and do post your results. I learned so many things from nice foks here.

bobbyz wrote in post #13237682
Eric too much difference between ambient and flash. You need more power on the flash or shoot later in the day or in the shade. That will have lower ambient in the bg. For some reason her face in #2 is also not clear. In #1, I wish she wasn't too sunk into the grass. These kind of poses work when your shooting position is lower and you got nice sky in the bg. Look at phamster's old posts. Here is my copy of Phamster's idea. I used hot shoe flash here in a small softbox. But much longer focal length and my positon was lower.

Thanks Bobby....I think I get what you mean...not enough flash to overpower the sun, so the background overpowers the subject?

The face being unclear in #2 must be compression. (this image went from Facebook...to photobucket...to here) It looks good full res.

...and believe me...I look at a lot of Pham's stuff.

...Again...appreciate the input. The client may not see that kind of thing, but I want to be able to see it...and get better each time I go out.

Eight Oak Acres wrote in post #13239408
Thanks Bobby....I think I get what you mean...not enough flash to overpower the sun, so the background overpowers the subject?

Yes that is what I meant.

Eric,

I saw this image of the girl laying in the grass and thought when I saw it it had potential but you were not pushing it far enough. Since you had image editing OK on I hope you don't mind I played with the low res file in lightroom to try and make the file sing a little better. If you don't like it I will not be offended just thought it might give you and idea on how to make it even better (of course this is my opinion of better maybe not yours or the clients)

I will upload your file for reference and then the retouched file for comparison. You can see what I did was warm things up a bit especially the skin and then burned the top back down so that the focus hopefully goes to the beautiful girl.

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Slaterza wrote in post #13239941
Eric,

I saw this image of the girl laying in the grass and thought when I saw it it had potential but you were not pushing it far enough. Since you had image editing OK on I hope you don't mind I played with the low res file in lightroom to try and make the file sing a little better. If you don't like it I will not be offended just thought it might give you and idea on how to make it even better (of course this is my opinion of better maybe not yours or the clients)

I will upload your file for reference and then the retouched file for comparison. You can see what I did was warm things up a bit especially the skin and then burned the top back down so that the focus hopefully goes to the beautiful girl.

nicely done!!

Slaterza wrote in post #13239941
Eric,

I saw this image of the girl laying in the grass and thought when I saw it it had potential but you were not pushing it far enough. Since you had image editing OK on I hope you don't mind I played with the low res file in lightroom to try and make the file sing a little better. If you don't like it I will not be offended just thought it might give you and idea on how to make it even better (of course this is my opinion of better maybe not yours or the clients)

I will upload your file for reference and then the retouched file for comparison. You can see what I did was warm things up a bit especially the skin and then burned the top back down so that the focus hopefully goes to the beautiful girl.

Don't mind at all Sam...that why I'm here...to learn...grow.

I guess I have to admit something here. (not sure why...but I am a little self conscious about it when in the presence of other photographers) I am color-blind. I see colors...just not the same way others do...and because of this, I tend to be very conservative when editing/warming up a picture...'cause in the past, even though it looked good to me...I was warming it too much. So I seem to feel safe in the "neutral" area there between warm and cold.

Great edit Sam...I'll play around with it some more in lightroom when I get home, and see if I can't learn something. thanks.

Eric,

Don't be afraid to admit that you are color blind it is better to know then to think everything looks good. I had a friend who was an artist who was color blind and when he painted people he had to have people check his paintings to make sure he didn't paint people green instead of flesh color. It might be good to come up with some formula's to help you to know when something is going to red or too green. Like a certain percentage I know some retouchers that retouch by numbers to help make sure there is no color shift it can be done but does take some learning. I do not see a big problem with your work here or on your site I just felt here that the background was pulling away from the focus so I tried to pull it back in line. I warmed it up because that is my preference.

Slaterza wrote in post #13240399
Eric,

Don't be afraid to admit that you are color blind it is better to know then to think everything looks good. I had a friend who was an artist who was color blind and when he painted people he had to have people check his paintings to make sure he didn't paint people green instead of flesh color. It might be good to come up with some formula's to help you to know when something is going to red or too green. Like a certain percentage I know some retouchers that retouch by numbers to help make sure there is no color shift it can be done but does take some learning. I do not see a big problem with your work here or on your site I just felt here that the background was pulling away from the focus so I tried to pull it back in line. I warmed it up because that is my preference.

Thanks Sam...I appreciate that.