Failed Senior Shoot

So here's the story: I wanted to take my sister and my cousin out for their senior portraits and to build a "seniors" portfolio. This was going to be their grad gift. I also had a friend who paid me for her son's senior portraits as well. I shot them all at the same time, which they kinda enjoyed since they had company and stuff. Before the shoot, I had check my camera settings, charged all my batteries the night before. I also just bought a new flash, the Yonguo 560 which I brought with me so I can use along with the 430ex. I have the older Yonguo 460 as well which was not present. During the shoot, I could not get the 560 to work right. I thought it worked the same as the 460, but no, not very user friendly. I couldnt adjust the power settings and I did not want to sit there to figure it out. The sun was almost setting, time was running out. I just used the 430 for the entire shoot. Thought I did "OK" by the looks of it. Came home, put the card into the computer, opened up DPP to start adjusting the raw files. Where are all the RAW files??! Oops, that RAW was set on "-". Doh! Worse off, my JPG settings were set on fine SMALL. Double DOH! The photos really did not turned out as good as I thought when I saw on the camera. To compensate, I tried to put more effort into the PP for the paid client. I also offered a free reshoot if they were not satisfied. Here are the results:

Not to be a jackass, but I'd say at least half your shots are soft too (at first I thought it was hosting/compression), but there are a couple of sharp ones in there...and I'm only getting the "senior shot" vibe from the pics you got of the guy (his photos look great, by the way). The girls just look like random snapshots of friends by friends.

Definitely some lessons learned there, and don't get discouraged...see if you can get them to redo it, they looked like they were having fun, so why not.

And good for you for learning some lessons here...on one of my first assignments as a reporter I forgot the memory card in the card reader from a previous assignment. It was some big opening ceremony at City Hall. So I went up to the Mayor, introduced myself (I was brand new in town) and asked him to stall until I could go back to the office and grab my card. Ever since then I carry spares/have spares in every bag I own, my ashtray in the car, etc lol

I like the last shot of the girl a lot . . .

I just want to mention that in the guys montage, two of the pictures have been distorted so that his head looks unnaturally smashed - the middle shot in the first set, and the upper right in the second.

I take no offense at all. I do appreciate the feedback. I agree, some of the pictures are a little soft, since I did soften them up for a little more glamorous look on the girls. The distortion was from the transform option in photoshop to fit the frames. I did also forget a card on my very first senior shoot for my other cousin. I now carry 3 CF cards in my bag. Will going to reshoot all three of them.

Hold the shift key down when you transform. It will keep the ratio the same as you resize.

Pics look fine btw. Keep working at it.

dengar wrote in post #11857300
Hold the shift key down when you transform. It will keep the ratio the same as you resize.

Pics look fine btw. Keep working at it.

Nice, thanks for the tip!