my first paid photo shoot

Hello fellow POTNers. I'd just like to share some images from my first paid photo shoot. I did some pics for my best friend's 2 year old daughter. All taken in my make-shift studio in my home with my 420ex and cloud sphere. I'm only posting the pics she purchased. She was very happy and got lots of compliments on them. I'm looking for C&C as to what I could do to improve them. Thanks!

1. I know I could have cloned the wing straps out but it was too much work to do for the amount she spent on this pose.

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Tiff nice set. The first one is definitely worth framing. I like 3 and the composition of the last. I just wished here facial expression had been a little happier. Well done.

Tiffany, nice shots. I can see why she loved them. I'm guessing the images are a bit "cloudy" due to web compression? Nice job on them though.

sevillafox wrote in post #4680497
Hello fellow POTNers. I'd just like to share some images from my first paid photo shoot. I did some pics for my best friend's 2 year old daughter. All taken in my make-shift studio in my home with my 420ex and cloud sphere. I'm only posting the pics she purchased. She was very happy and got lots of compliments on them. I'm looking for C&C as to what I could do to improve them. Thanks!

1. I know I could have cloned the wing straps out but it was too much work to do for the amount she spent on this pose.

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2. This is her favorite. She ordered an 11x14 and 3 8x10s along with a bunch of wallets, 4x6, and 5x7. I tried to even out the shadow on the top with a vignette but it looked weird and she agreed so we axed it.

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3. Here's another. I really should have cloned out the hairs on her cheek. Oops. She only ordered wallets and it wasn't visible so I was lucky there.

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4. Here's another. She requested more horizontal images because she likes them better. I would have preferred a vertical crop here though.

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5. Another. Not my fave or hers but she got a few prints of this one. I need to get some plywood to put under my backdrops next time.

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6. And another. I had a really hard time cropping so close because I personally don't like pics with the head chopped a bit. But, she does and the client is always right.

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7. And yet another. Taken outside (obviously). We got very few outside as it was at the tail end of a 2 hour session (with a 2 year old) and the little girl got crabby.

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8. The last one. I like it for some reason even though she didn't.

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Again, any comments and critique are appreciated. Some of the pics look a little red here at my work monitor but they printed out beautifully.

First off they all look great, but now I;m going to break down what I like about them.
1. The wing straps look fine, overall the image looks nice in B&W, and you observed the rule of thirds. Yay!

2. Nice pic kept interesting by being at an angle, and because SHE likes it that makes it even better.

3. Once again kept interesting by the odd angle but could use some curves adjustment.

4. I agree that a verticle crop would probably have been better but it is her choice.

5. I think I see what you mean by getting plywood but I also think the ruffled look add texture. However, I tweeked the curves so it didn't look so grey (see attachment).

6. Obviously as you said the client is always right. The eyes could use some sharpening though.

7. She looks like she's getting a little antsy about possing but the exposure is fine.

8. Shows nice emotion that is enhanced by being B&W

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With Jamie on the first one, worth framing...
On the second one perhaps a reflector to lighten the shadow on the side of her face..
Sounds a little like me, need more practice in PP, being able to do things real quick, I can get it done... Sometimes the amount of time isn't worth it..

Overall nice work!

Jamie Holladay wrote in post #4680584
Tiff nice set. The first one is definitely worth framing. I like 3 and the composition of the last. I just wished here facial expression had been a little happier. Well done.

Thanks Jamie. I agree on the last one. I just thought it was still cute.

hawk911 wrote in post #4680641
Tiffany, nice shots. I can see why she loved them. I'm guessing the images are a bit "cloudy" due to web compression? Nice job on them though.

Yep. the web cloudied them up. I didn't want to post better res. shots due to the old right click and save money approach. I know my pal wouldn't have done it since she really values photography (she spent over $3,500 on pictures in her daughter's first 18 months -not with me). But, I like to be careful and consistent.

ssidiv3r wrote in post #4680669
First off they all look great, but now I;m going to break down what I like about them.
1. The wing straps look fine, overall the image looks nice in B&W, and you observed the rule of thirds. Yay!

2. Nice pic kept interesting by being at an angle, and because SHE likes it that makes it even better.

3. Once again kept interesting by the odd angle but could use some curves adjustment.

4. I agree that a verticle crop would probably have been better but it is her choice.

5. I think I see what you mean by getting plywood but I also think the ruffled look add texture. However, I tweeked the curves so it didn't look so grey (see attachment).

6. Obviously as you said the client is always right. The eyes could use some sharpening though.

7. She looks like she's getting a little antsy about possing but the exposure is fine.

8. Shows nice emotion that is enhanced by being B&W

Thanks kitten. I really need to get the full version of PS but I have the feeling that CS3 will kill my computer.

Nice set #5 is my fav.

Vortex99 wrote in post #4680682
With Jamie on the first one, worth framing...
On the second one perhaps a reflector to lighten the shadow on the side of her face..
Sounds a little like me, need more practice in PP, being able to do things real quick, I can get it done... Sometimes the amount of time isn't worth it..

Overall nice work!

Duh, I never thought about that.

Thanks Pete!

Congratulations for the paid session. How was it from the photographer's pint of view? I know you told us the client was a friend. Nevertheless I guess it was something very special?

sevillafox wrote in post #4680702
Thanks kitten. I really need to get the full version of PS but I have the feeling that CS3 will kill my computer.

Well, I'm still stuck with PS7 so I want to upgrade to CS3. I hear you can edit RAW straight from the camera I don't think it would kill your computer. How much hard drive space do you have?

Great start Tiff!
That girl is absolutely precious, would be VERY hard to take a bad picture of her I imagine.

#1 Precious...the straps of the wings don't bother me too much esp since they're smooth. (don't see the knock where you tied them).
#2 is cute...seems a bit I dunno...dark somehow...just can't pinpoint what, its a cute photo tho.
#3, this one I like...maybe zoomed out a bit more, but still cute.
#4 is cute as well, love the focus on the face and those curls.
#5 would be my favorite, just looks a tad washed out. Run USM on the eyes and add some blacks to the photo with levels and it should improve the look of it.
#6 too close for my taste in this one, esp in the vertical crop, she looks "squished" into the frame.
#7 Love this shot too, very natural looking.
#8 aww she looks a bit sad. Maybe play with the contrast and levels to make it less of a greyscale? Just a thought.

I played with #5...with a few adjustments its definitely my favorite, I would have ordered a TON of this one. Perfect pose, smile, lighting, just a bit flat.
I did 10, 1.00 and 235 I believe in levels, selected just the eyes and ran USM on them 36, 16,0 I think. And dodged JUST the iris twice at I think its 10% opacity, 20% total anyways.

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TSEE wrote in post #4680730
Great start Tiff!
That girl is absolutely precious, would be VERY hard to take a bad picture of her I imagine.

Yeah, she's pretty photogenic. She's the light of my friend's life especially since she's had 2 miscarriages.

#1 Precious...the straps of the wings don't bother me too much esp since they're smooth. (don't see the knock where you tied them).

I tied them under her arms so as to better hide them. I'm glad it worked.

#2 is cute...seems a bit I dunno...dark somehow...just can't pinpoint what, its a cute photo tho.

I thought so too. I wouldn't have ordered this one personally. I think it's just too unbalanced with all the dark on top and the light on the bottom. I tried a vignette to balance it and it looked like poo.

#3, this one I like...maybe zoomed out a bit more, but still cute.

It's one of my faves. My friend chose the crop. She was there when I started the initial editing.

#4 is cute as well, love the focus on the face and those curls.

Thanks. It was SO hard to do this one horizontal.

#5 would be my favorite, just looks a tad washed out. Run USM on the eyes and add some blacks to the photo with levels and it should improve the look of it.

Thanks for the edit. It made a lovely difference. You rule. I tried some of that myself but I apparently didn't do enough.

#6 too close for my taste in this one, esp in the vertical crop, she looks "squished" into the frame.

Thanks for the input. Like I said, doing these tighter crops goes against my grain so it was a challenge.

#7 Love this shot too, very natural looking.

Thanks. I got to use my 5 in one reflector to diffuse the sun to make it possible. YAY!

#8 aww she looks a bit sad. Maybe play with the contrast and levels to make it less of a greyscale? Just a thought.

Thanks for the thought. She was sad. She was sick of wearing the wings and rapidly running out of patience with us.

Thanks again sue!

Tiffany- the trick I use, since viewing on any screen is only 72 DPI, resize them that way. Save as jpeg medium quality or similar, and resize to 1024. You'll find the images are only good for viewing then, and not anywhere close to print quality for anything larger than 1x1inch.

sevillafox wrote in post #4680702
Thanks kitten. I really need to get the full version of PS but I have the feeling that CS3 will kill my computer.

Give corel paint shop pro a look, it has most of the power if PS for 100USD. system overhead is low as well.
I also own cs3 (wifes a student) perhaps I just don't use it enough.. but I find the tools PSP to be very good... worth the download and the 30 day trial..


BTW
Compatible with a lot of the PS plug ins and what not...

sevillafox wrote in post #4680821
I tied them under her arms so as to better hide them. I'm glad it worked.

I thought so too. I wouldn't have ordered this one personally. I think it's just too unbalanced with all the dark on top and the light on the bottom. I tried a vignette to balance it and it looked like poo.

Thanks for the edit. It made a lovely difference. You rule. I tried some of that myself but I apparently didn't do enough.

Thanks. I got to use my 5 in one reflector to diffuse the sun to make it possible. YAY!

Thanks again sue!

The wings definitely worked like that for me. I have to remember that. I've got 3 or 4 sets of wings myself that I need to use, I just had trouble finding a good place to tie them. I've considered changing the ties to "elastic" bands so they fit snugger and easier to clone out. But I dunno, I'd probably butcher them, maybe need to go get some and bat my eye lashes at my MIL who's a wiz at sewing? LOL
Isn't it funny what they order? I showed pictures of a 3yr old I photographed back in what November...the mom ordered one I wouldn't have picked, and she ordered a package plus several extras of it. I guess goes to show everyone sees something different.
I'm glad you liked the edit. Yours was nice, just lacking just a bit of punch. I think we all work a lot on the pics at times its hard to see where to stop, I've done it plenty of times. I know approximately what numbers to do now to get the punch I need for most photos since I use basically the same set up every time, that helps. Its a learning curve.
Ya know I bought one of those 5in1's but only used it once and I don't think I did it justice, I need to practice more with it.