Family photo session...critique wanted

Ok, I finally got some lighting setup and on Saturday we had a wedding to attend. That combination is gold for getting the family to do a quick photo shoot! My kids have no patience for me and my photography..but I had their attention for a few moments!

My lighting setup (sorry no pics of it) are
47" Octobox w/diffuser with 2 V860II in Manual mode either both at 1/4 or 1/2 power.
I had the X1T-C to control the V860's and a YN622C on my camera and one my hand to trigger the camera.

The Octobox was probably 8-10 feet to the right of the image and about 8-10 feet in the air...angled some what downward and slightly turned away.

Shot with my 70D and 18-135mm. I did not have time to try with my 50mm or 55-250mm for different affects...wish I did though.

Anyway...critique is what I want....lighting, pose, camera settings, white balance...give it to me!

These have been slightly edited in DPP for sharpening or a slight bump in shadow.

I will clone out the the flower stand or birdhouse and mesh in background but I really want critique in all other areas.

Here is one from indoors.

47" Octobox w/diffuser with 2 V860II in Manual mode either both at 1/4.

The Octobox was probably 6-8 feet to the left of center of the image and about 8-10 feet in the air...angled about 45 degree downward.
To the right of center, I had a V860CII in Manual mode at 1/16 angled thru a diffuser panel for slight fill for under chin shadows.

This has been slightly edited in DPP for sharpening or a slight bump in shadow. I think I could have bumped shadow more or a slight bump in brightness.

I will clone out the outlets and dog but I really want critique in all other areas.

I think the giant candle thingy above their heads is pretty distracting.

The lighting in picture 1 and 2 looks good but I think your depth of field is too great. The flower pot in both of those is vying for attention. I might have had the guy in picture 2 pull his pants up a little which would lessen some of the baggy wrinkles.

Lighting looks good to me.

Poses are pretty stale though, that's a hard thing to do though, they're all "taking a picture" so to speak and don't seem into it (mom seems to be the most into it). Need more contact, closer together. Everyone is "smiling for the camera" too. Sometimes it's good to change it up so they're not looking at the camera, looking at each other maybe, etc. Just need variation. I see a lot of hands and eyes though, and that's good. I would also explore something other than everyone standing sword & board shoulder to shoulder. This may require you to go really wide for something creative, but that's ok!

The flower pots and stones are something I would have avoided, it competes with their legs and feet.
The trees and stuff are fine, nothing looks like its growing from their heads.
The circular fixture seems ok to me, versus just more negative space. Circle near a family, kinda works after all.
The dog or whatever that is half in the photo on the floor though, that is a big oops I imagine, but I'd try like heck to clone that out if possible.
Clone out those side mantle things that just poke into the photo.

White balance, exposure, etc, look good to me. Overall image quality is fine.

It's the poses and general non-variation that I'd look to change up. They're a pretty sterile family, and sometime need direction on how to stand or what to do with their arms other than let them dangle.

Very best,

Overall i would say good job and they should be happy with the images.

I pretty much agree with the above posters, but to go a little more in detail to help as you are posing.

Yes, they are a little stiff , to improve this when dealing with families or couples:
#1 Dad place his hand on moms arm lightly for more points of interaction. (guy and gal in black i assume are mom/dad)
Son in blue put hand, thumb or fingers in pocket or lightly grabbing the buttons on his jacket. Giving people things to do with their hands really adds something personable to an image.
Their hips need to be closer together, tilt heads toward each other when possible, more so with women.I tell my clients to get uncomfortably close as space between people is exaggerated in photos.

When dealing with kit lenses, yes you are limited to that F/5.6 and keeping it there due to OCF (off camera flash) that is understandable. You could have shot these images at f/2.8- F/4 if your lens had allowed it and still been great on DOF as there are only 4 people who are all on the same DOF plane to the cameras sensor. I am saying this because you were at F/6.3. I would never close down more then F/5.6 and shooting longer will really help take you from here we are in the trees/back yard to here we are with a lovely green background, oh yeah, those are trees. I know that this can be hard to do with limited space to get far enough away. Also, i think the 50-350 is a better IQ lens then the 18-135.

OCF. This is subjective. Yes you have good ambient vs flash for a good exposure. An octobox does not need to be feathered as a rectangle box does. It shoots a 12' circle of light. I personally when working with groups of 2 or more is to bring the light more flat toward the center as the shadows under the noses etc don't really add anything, but when it is overall good exposure, that is flattering.
With the bottom of the octabox at the top of their head, you shouldn't even need to angle the light down, again, octas are different then rectangle softboxes.

All in all i would say that these are good images. It is great that you are asking for critique as i can already image each shoot getting better and better.

Here is a great video on octas: https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=Zg-UAP31Zs0
Refer to Roberto Valenzuela's posing books Picture perfect posing and Picture perfect practice. He also has videos on creativelive.com

Thank you all for the feedback...in case you missed it or I wasn't clear...that is my family..as in me and my family

I am the older gray haired guy who know realizes that suit does not suit me well! LOL

I certainly do struggle with posing. I am so focused on the technical aspect of things right now, specifically lighting, that I realize I have so much to learn about other things such as posing.

I have already planned to clone out some of the distractions such as the dog, or the flower stand...I will do the flower pot and rocks as well too...while it is character from our yard...I do realize how much better the image will look with out it.

I was glad to hear that the feedback on my exposure is in the positive though as that was really my focus on this lesson by using my new lighting setup.

The godox/flashpoints lighting I have now is just great and fun to use...the trigger/controller (X1T-C) and the TTL and Manual flashes are simple and intuitive to use.

Looks good. Maybe more angle on the ladies more of a 45ish degree to the camera? Little bit more leg kick to curve it up a bit. The guys look stiff. Good exposure, I like the ambient down a stop or two personally but probably harder to do with a group like that.

Just wanted to give a shoutout to ya anyway since I'm from Merrillville

Well, I must say, it's a lot harder when you're doing it with yourself in the photo.

We do family selfies too and it's pretty difficult until you basically have a system. But it's really rewarding to do them yourself at your convenience.

Very best,

I didn't read that part.... by yourself. ya hard. So hard I refuse to do it.

major props.

MalVeauX wrote in post #18428905
Well, I must say, it's a lot harder when you're doing it with yourself in the photo.

We do family selfies too and it's pretty difficult until you basically have a system. But it's really rewarding to do them yourself at your convenience.

Very best,

Talley wrote in post #18428930
I didn't read that part.... by yourself. ya hard. So hard I refuse to do it.

major props.

Thanks, but your responses will help me with area's I need to improve. This is what I wanted and why I posted these pictures.

Talley...Merrillville! That is very close to me...I grew up in Hessville and now live in Chesterton. Another Hoosier discovered!

MalVeauX, thanks again for your lighting recommendations/help. This is allowing me to venture into another area of photography and it is fun and really challenging at the same time, but I love it.

Bring a stool and have one person sit, then have the others gather around so it doesn't look so lined up. You will be a lot happier with your photos because otherwise, they look fine.

I like 1st photograph. Looks perfect.

I'm very new so no advice from me. I just wanted to tell the group that this is great feedback and I enjoyed reading the comments and learned from this!

Thank you for posting these photos! Shooting your self must be so difficult.

Ok folks, I did another family photo session.

My lighting setup (sorry no pics of it...again!) are 47" Octobox w/diffuser with 2 V860II in Manual mode either both at 1/4 or 1/2 power. I had the X1T-C to control the V860's and a YN622C on my camera and one my hand to trigger the camera. The Octobox was probably 8-10 feet to the left of the image and about 8-10 feet in the air...angled some what downward and slightly turned away.
Shot with my 70D and a rented 70-200 f2.8 (way cool lens!).

I took the advice on poses from above. Beautiful fall day and fall backdrop!

Please, provide some critique and or ask questions..its the only way we learn and get better...right?

This last one is very nice. Everyone looks more comfortable and are close together. I might have slid your daughter and son in even tighter. There's a nice, L-shaped progression from your son's head down through your daughter's to your wife and back up to you that my eye just naturally wants to follow. The lighting is spot-on and the background blur provides good separation an. I like the roomy composition.

Improvements: There's a phantom arm in the photo. Your daughter's hand comes out of nowhere to rest on your wife's shoulder. She's also facing dead-on to the camera with her other arm hanging down, which makes her look wider and less comfortable. It would have been better IMHO if she turned to face slightly inward, bent her front leg and put her hand on her hip to allow some space between her arm and her body. Or she could have slid in more towards mom and rested her hand on Mom's upper arm. When arms are flat against the body it makes people seem wider than they are. Even more so when they are facing straight-on to the camera.

If you had positioned the camera slightly higher and mom had extended her head towards the camera (I tell them to make like a turtle) it would have reduced her double chin.

Once you get the shot you need then I try to get folks to loosen up or even crack up by telling them to tickle each other, move into exaggerated or funny poses, etc. Sometimes they wind up being out takes, but sometimes they result in great images. Not hard to do even in when you're part of the photo if you frame loosely and use a wireless shutter trigger.