Looking for serious C&C on some portraits

Hey guys, be harsh, be very harsh. Yesterday a fellow photog and good friend of mine asked me to snap some shots of his g/f and her two brothers for fathers day. They are really fun and easy going and aren't crazy about serious portraits so we just messed around for a while doing pictures. I need feedback on these. Im not unhappy with the pictures, but i feel like at this point in time i should be much better. I think my pain problem, aside from not shooting portraits on a regular basis, is that I am trying to control too many things at once...like properly metering for 2 light sources, making sure the camera is set up right, composing the right shot, etc etc. Please also comment on the image quality if you can... for some reason i felt like the images could have been sharper... but i might be just getting overly picky.... please let me know as I would most certainly appreciate it.
1

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#s 2 and 5 are the best for a father's day gift.
Comments:
#1 They are squinting
#2 I like it.. The younger boy's face looks a little washed out though.
#3 The subjects are lost in the photo (too small). The lighting appears harsh.
#4 Is good, but I think not for this purpose.
#5 Nice.
#6 Where's the girl? and who is the other person? Again, probably not the shot you are looking for.
#7 The younger brother ruined it, but I also don't like the bottom (brightly lit green grass behind the foreground shadow).

BTW.. I agree with your summary of the challenges.. I find it very difficult to get it 'all' right because there is so much to consider. The pictures I have taken of my four kids, where my wife is with me directing them, turn out the best because I am free to focus on the rest (no pun intended).

Thanks for the input! I totally agree with the comments. I'll say this though..the reason they were squinting is b/c they wouldn't stop laughing and goofing off the whole time, all 3 of them. And because im not using studio strobes but a 430exii and an older vivitar 280 there is a delay between shots b/c i have to let the fill-light (vivitar) power back on for a second, so i can't burst multiple shots in a row w/out getting different exposures or the flashes not firing.

The other thing i found difficult to do is actually compose an interesting image.. i find it MUCH easier to work with a single object.

oh and ps: the other guy is my buddy, the girls b/f, they wanted one of just the guys, not necessarily for a fatherday print, but just to have, i posted it b/c i found it to be with the "better" set of photos from the evening.

I think #5 is the winner for Father's day. Nice lighting and composition and good pose (and good call on keeping the thumbs out of the pockets).

yeah 5 has to be the best.

aemravan wrote in post #12597476
... for some reason i felt like the images could have been sharper... but i might be just getting overly picky....

Yes you are being picky because these images are certainly sharp enough for this size of viewing....

John

ok good! Last time i found my images to be not up to par with sharpness i sold all my cheap glasses and upgraded...maybe this time it will be an excuse to get the 35L and the 135L or a cheaper 85 or 50 1.4

#5 FTW!