Few portraits from last sunday

The relaxed, easy-going style of the photos belies your prep work and that is terrific. I'm not a big fan of #1 because of the DOF but the rest are excellent IMO. And they look like they were enjoying it.

You might be able to over-prepare for something but I haven't seen it happen yet.

Ugh, I really hate you. Even your portraits are fabulous!

Excellent work, especially the last one.

Phocus73 wrote in post #2416977
At first I thought it was a radial blur as well. But then realized it's just a bit too perfect. I think that is what I like about these photos...they present two people in a very natural way. I don't look at these and say wow, lots of photoshop. I see them and I am impressed by the photographer's skill in the shot. It's nice to see work like this that is natural and uses real settings. Also the faces and skin tones/textures are so natural too...A lot of photographers seem to use lots of techniques to smooth out skin and blur it, but in your shots this just would not have worked. Thanks for sharing...u've inspired me to try less photoshop and work more on shots right from the camera. I think the danger of digital is it sucks me in to more photoshop work and less thinking about what my camera can do for me. Good stuff.

Thanks alot man, being told you've inspired anyone to anything is IMO perhaps the best compliment you could receive as an artist, I appreciate that alot.

As to photoshop, I think a balance has to be reached. Not on some philosophical "a certain amount of photoshop is going too far" basis or anything like that, but simply in the sense that I've found if your processing is counterintuitive to what you've captured in the camera, no amount of skill in the world will make it come out nicely. I absolutely use photoshop to finish off the effect I captured in camera and I don't make any attempt at hiding it, I think that my post work is just as important to my camera work in getting the finished product in fact. But I can't emphasize enough the words "just as important" and not "more important" because to me they are absolutely two sides to the same coin. Alot of people have been commenting recently that my processing is getting better and better, which is wonderful because they like the finished product, but it's also innaccurate IMO. My processing hasn't actually changed much at all in the past 4 months or so, I've simply learned what it is I need to capture in camera to get the finished product that I want. In fact, as my photos have gotten more refined and "finished" looking I've noticed that my processing has actually become much less involved, despite the finished product looking perhaps like more work has been done to it. I'm pretty sure actually that if I were to show the unedited versions to a person who thought the photos were strongly processed, they'd be amazed at how complimentary the work is and how very little it's been changed from the original. It simply is a matter of "enhancement" and not at all of trying to mold the photo into something even the slightest bit different than what you started with.

Personally, I'd love to show a before/after shot to illustrate my point but unfortunately there are a number of people (on other forums in particular) who have been rather candid about trying to copy what I'm doing which is something I try not to get upset about but something I'm not thrilled about either. As a result it means I have to be a bit more selective about what I show rather than keep getting frustrated when I spend time coming up with a feel in a set only to see a few days later "hey I was going for the Twitch look, what do you think?".

Buuut, that's a whole other issue entirely

I'd love to see some of your own work to see where you're coming from, please feel free to send me a private message or post one of your own photos here.

D. Craig Flory wrote in post #2417467
My favorite is #6. I like couple portraits showing emotion. I have done some of female couples in my studio and have done several commitment ceremonies too.

Thanks alot Craig. It's nice to get a positive reaction from someone with a bit more experience doing these types of shoots such as yourself. I feel much better about the finished product at this time than I did right after I finished putting it together where I started second guessing myself. It helps as well that they were happy enough with it as to want to get 3 8x12s matted and put into one custom frame as a triptych. I figure that means they were at least somewhat happy

Titus213 wrote in post #2417508
The relaxed, easy-going style of the photos belies your prep work and that is terrific. I'm not a big fan of #1 because of the DOF but the rest are excellent IMO. And they look like they were enjoying it.

You might be able to over-prepare for something but I haven't seen it happen yet.

I couldn't possibly agree more. I think at one time I was under the illusion that it would be possible to have a casual attitude throughout the entire process but I've lately come to realize that the more prep work gets done, the less time is spent scrambling around during shooting and the more relaxed the entire process is. I think alot of people realize how their subjects feed off their current emotional and mental state, so being at ease and confident IMVHO had a profound effect on the finished product.

Shutter22 wrote in post #2417521
Ugh, I really hate you. Even your portraits are fabulous!