STICKY:  How to photograph a high school Senior - Part 2

bobbyz wrote in post #17736968
Personally if you spending 25-30min per picture you doing something wrong. In that last shot where there is sun on the grass, move her a little so no sun and no yellow cable. Under eye lines, for younger people? Are you using strobes? Looks like from the eye shot. It should take care of it right before you shoot. Reproportion body, get the right pose from the start. Sorry to be hard. For me pp is not even 1-2 min. Mostly few blemish removal in LR, that is it, no skin soft, no nothing.

Other points I agree, lot of things go into the shoot and most folks think it is just camera.

For her benefit I embellished the edit times. As far as the positioning that was it, a foot in either direction reveled an old tin shack or the poll the yellow wire was tethered to. I was using a flash bounced against a gold reflector, she has naturally pretty heavy eye lines. Also however I posed her and whatever arm position she was in she had thick arms. I had a positioning guide and utilized it for her frame.

I was pressed for time (I'll use the excuse here) being out of town for a whirl wind weekend so only had the basics with me. She's also the typical, I'll show up at noon in full sun and you can do it then as I have something else going on.

I did not skin soften other then the eye lines. And did remove the blemishes. The editing was done in Photoshop, and the pp in LR. As I'm not a high school portrait photographer, and I only have a mouse and laptop, PP does take a tad longer then 1-2 minutes. Good for you if you've got your work flow down to that. I do doubt on your final pre-print output that you've only invested 1-2 minutes on the shot, possibly for the proof though.

Thanks for the feedback. I was more venting on the rudeness of family and the frustration involved then the actual final output.

Picking apart a family member's images online just because they didn't pay you is foolish. Let me show you some photos I did for free for family. I charged them nothing. I expected nothing and I refused attempted payment. I would never ever nitpick a family member's edits on the internet. Be happy that if anything it will be free advertising. Even if she wasn't a family member....low class move.

UmphreyBogart wrote in post #17737163
Picking apart a family member's images online just because they didn't pay you is foolish. Let me show you some photos I did for free for family. I charged them nothing. I expected nothing and I refused attempted payment. I would never ever nitpick a family member's edits on the internet. Be happy that if anything it will be free advertising. Even if she wasn't a family member....low class move.]

He wasnt picking apart their edits, simply showing a before and after to show the work he put in. It's pointless to try to get thanks out of a teenager however.

Did you post those before and afters where she can see them? Where her friends and family can see them? That would be pretty low, in my opinion, basically body-shaming. Regardless of stated intent I can't imagine the girl seeing that as anything other than saying she looks so bad you have to digitally reshape her to make her presentable. Pretty humiliating stuff for anyone, but especially a teenager.

Chet wrote in post #17737019
....I was more venting on the rudeness of family and the frustration involved then the actual final output.

m2c: I'm a Dave Ramsey fan and the Total Money Makeover has turned my life around. Dave's advice on family and money is spot-on, IMO. Overall situation is one where you loaned money (ie - time), but the other side expects it to be given.

"
So the old joke goes: if you lend your brother-in-law $50 and he never talks to you again, was it worth the investment?
.... ....
.... ....
Loaning money makes relationships awkward. Parents who lend their newly married daughter and her husband a down payment for a house think they are helping out the new family. Soon, however, they are giving the young couple disapproving looks when an upcoming vacation becomes more important than repaying the loan. This leads to nothing but resentment and pain on both sides.
"

http://www.daveramsey.​com/blog/the-danger-zone/

OK, so here goes, my first post to the forum . . .
These photos have a lot going for them, but nothing is ever perfect, so a couple of new suggestions that I haven't seen posted yet . . . In the first one there is a dark, dark shape in the bg that is at the same height and almost the same size as your model (might be a doorway) that is so dominant that it competes with your model, and my eyes went immediately there, then to the model, then back to the black shape. My suggestion is to find a way to lessen the dominance of that shape. And here's my suggestion for the 2nd one, on this one I think that all the activity going on with her hands, and what kinda looks like a wooden leg top (I know it's a boot, but I had to look at it first) detracts from your attractive models face, so, I would crop this one a little differently to just below her elbow and presto, the distractions are all or mostly all gone.

Here's a couple quick edits from my shoot with Cheyenne last night. She hasn't picked any out yet though.

Nice. I'd whiten that one yellow canine cuspid just a tad.

^^ Thanks, I will if that's one of her choices.

from this evening session

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/zoLt​6j

Nice one.

Thanku

A few from this weekend.

Photo from tmalone893's gallery.

Nice job on these Theron.

Thank you!