Senior shots - my son the trumpet player

My son graduates this year ( I am stoked , he is not only a talented musician , but also pulled down a 4.75 GPA , missed validictorian by .05 ! ).

He did not want any normal type senior shots and he asked me to shoot his instead of having studio shots by the same studio most of the kids use.
Many of these shots he came up with and we played around with them until they looked the way he wanted. He didnt want to have to smile or be told to keep his eyes open. He's a jokester , so these were to depict his serious side.

I know they aren't purfect , I have a lot to learn , but we had a blast with these. Marching band shots were taken in the morning , the other taken between 10pm and 2am outside . He is a night owl like myself.

# 1 - The mom shot

He should be very happy with these. I think a hair or kicker light would have separated his hair from the background a little better in shots #1 and #3, but that's pretty minor. Good job.

#6 rocks...nice job!
+1 on the hair/kicker/rim light

Nice shots.....coming from another trumpet player's father. Love the lights in #6 and #7 is my fave!

Thanks to all for the comments. Indeed I wish I had more gear , a 2nd and 3rd stand for the lights would have helped out a ton on these , the more I shoot the more I learn , and the more I realize I have so much to learn. Sharing this hobby with my 3 sons is a blast , nothing like just jumping in the car with kids and their cameras and just going out to shoot random stuff.

At first when I got him the Yamaha Pro Xeno I thought , man I could buy a new SLR body....till I heard him play it , he is a far better musician than I am a photographer so it was worth it.

#6 is cool, but i would have tried to put his head in a clean spot.

Doh ! I never noticed that until you mentioned it ( I feel like such a rookie ! ) Good catch... I will probably remove that light thru his head in post for the prints.

IMHO, there are lighting issues, wrong spots, underexposure, overexposure... But maybe that's what he likes.

colormaniac wrote in post #12525494
IMHO, there are lighting issues, wrong spots, underexposure, overexposure... But maybe that's what he likes.

Thanks... I agree , there are lighting issues , but I did the best with gear and knowledge I had. Some were under exposed , a few over , oddly he really likes the over exposed look ( I don't ) , but since they were his pictures , we went with what he wanted.

Suggestions for me to improve next time ?

** it's ok , I can take any and all criticism , I just want to learn **

I'm no expert, and people have different tastes. Please take what I say with a grain of salt. From my meager experience, making the dark areas and bright areas too contrasty may not always work. And some separation is helpful.

#1 and 7 could use some light on the hair and the jacket. When the jacket is black and his skin white, a good exposure for the face would mean a very dark jacket/body. Just a little light on it is enough.

#2 is OK, but it looks like cut-and-paste. Maybe a light from up high to mimic sunlight.

#3, 4 and 6. If you are using LightRoom, maybe increase the "fill" by a little.

#4 could use a light from behind or above him.

#5. The lighting could be the best except that the upper left corner is too bright and it's distracting.

#8. He is probably too close to the background such that the wrapping is too much.

Thanks for taking the time to provide input.

I will agree with all you have pointed out. I wish I had a few more light stands ( my voice activated light stands didnt show that night aka a couple friends ). I would loved to have had a bit of backlight kicking in on some of these for separation.

Some of the darker ones I did adjust a bit more in LR2 , but he liked the darker ones for some reason. I am going to re-edit some of them for my prints ( since he aint paying for them ).

# 2 was shot around 9am , I had a umbrella and stand with me , but it was a typical windy Vegas day , and after it hit the ground once I gave up and we shot in the shade.

I can see where a sturdy pair of tall stands will come in real handy.

These pictures were supposed to happen weeks early , but he is the king of procrastination ( gets that from me ).

Again , thanks for taking the time to give feedback... I listen and I apply what I learn

Honestly these have exposure issues all over. And on the Glowing Trupet one, #4 you can actually see the Strobe on very bottom.

I agree, exposures are not consistent. #3 would be great if the light was on him instead of to his side (camera left)

I've been playing trumpet for 21 years, tell him good luck and keep practicing =)

These images were shot over many different locations , I need to learn more to be consistant.

I think in total we shot close to 900 shots that day. Once I get the ones I liked better edited I will post a few , these are the ones he selected.

# 3 I actually liked as the flash was set at the same level as the old style street lamp. This is a place we go to often , and we wanted to capture the ambience of the way it feels when you are there. There is basically no light to camera right , and the street light just barely illuminates the whole bench.

Trumpet is is his love , Honor Band , All State Honor Band , Jazz Band , Honor Jazz , All State Jazz , Concert Band , Marching band.... I can't play anything but an MP3 player , but he has some mad skills.

A recent highlight for him was getting backstage with Chris Botti.