Megan: First Senior of the year!

Well, I had my first senior session of the year todayWe have had it planned for a few weeks, and sure enough Oklahoma weather came into the picture, and we got 6" of snow all morning. That didn't hold us back. We got out in the snow and were going to finish up next weekend. Here are a few...

1.

I really like the composition of these but she is squinting in all of them. I say pick a better/warmer day to redo them.

Yeah, she's squinting and don't have here eyes so dark. (makeup)

Also got some blown highlights.

Some of these shots could have benefited from a flash.

I really like #2 but all the others she does look like see is squinting and or the make up around her eyes is really dark.

Pretty girl, but I can't see enough of her eyes. Use a reflector possibly?

Seriously stunning images in this series

Great shots, nice composition, she is only squinting to the point of disctraction in one, the others appear to be large smile, which I like and is rare.

roentarre wrote in post #7621460
Seriously stunning images in this series

You found some great locations for these shots, but there are some white balance and over exposure issues. Placing the subject so she's not looking into the sun and using some fill flash will keep her from squinting. IMHO, you're off to a good start and with some fine tuning you'll be turning out excellent photos in no time.

Nates98cbr wrote in post #7620628
I really like the composition of these but she is squinting in all of them. I say pick a better/warmer day to redo them.

The squinting was due to the sideways wind blowing snow in her face.
Next Saturday was already scheduled as her backup day in case we had bad weather.

Canon4L wrote in post #7620863
Yeah, she's squinting and don't have here eyes so dark. (makeup)

Also got some blown highlights.

Some of these shots could have benefited from a flash.

The makeup did concern me, I will ask her next week to go easier on the eye makeup.
I had trouble trying to expose the snow properly and keep her looking normal. Any tips on shooting in the snow?
I also used off camera flash on all of these except #1 i think. It was subtle and for fill only.

ootsk wrote in post #7621099
Pretty girl, but I can't see enough of her eyes. Use a reflector possibly?

That was the only issue. It was extremely overcast, and my 52" reflector didnt have any light to reflect. Usually I would.

roentarre wrote in post #7621460
Seriously stunning images in this series

Thanks for the kind words!

Zazoh wrote in post #7621703
Great shots, nice composition, she is only squinting to the point of disctraction in one, the others appear to be large smile, which I like and is rare.

Thanks, thats what I had initially thought, but after looking over them again, I see some squinting in just about every one.

James P wrote in post #7622076
You found some great locations for these shots, but there are some white balance and over exposure issues. Placing the subject so she's not looking into the sun and using some fill flash will keep her from squinting. IMHO, you're off to a good start and with some fine tuning you'll be turning out excellent photos in no time.

Thanks Alot! Again the squinting definately wasnt frorm the sun. Haha. The wind was brutal. I will use the hints on fill flash for next weekend.
Will you let me know which one(s) have white balance issues?
Supposed to be 70* and sunny all day Saturday!

Thanks for all the criticism. Thats exactly what I need. Keep it coming if you have some more.

IMHO all of the colour shots have white balance problems. I don't believe that pretty young lady has orange tinted skin. Check your camera manual for "Custom White Balance" and before long, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. For me, it's essential for doing portraits, where the skin tone must be perfect. At the very least, you could try using the white balance pre-sets until you get on to custom. Please accept this as it was intended: I'm just trying to help

James P wrote in post #7623620
IMHO all of the colour shots have white balance problems. I don't believe that pretty young lady has orange tinted skin. Check your camera manual for "Custom White Balance" and before long, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. For me, it's essential for doing portraits, where the skin tone must be perfect. At the very least, you could try using the white balance pre-sets until you get on to custom. Please accept this as it was intended: I'm just trying to help

Agreed here. Hopefully, IMO, you are shooting raw if you cannot set you WB just right. I cannot see how @ f8, iso 200 and SS at 200 and no flash could over expose and greatly tint her face. I really like your shots....just not the finish. She is a cutie and look forward to some more. If you really want some help.....post a few new ones or old ones in raw and let some members PP them.

Generally bad lighting. Man photos have either blown highlights on her face and/or squinting with her eyes very dark if not black eye sockets.

Even the last one, a close up, you can hardly see her eyes. Far too much contrast. Maybe she also wore too much mascara.

And as others have said you have WB problems and too orangish skin tones which may be a result of using ACR without dealing increasing the red and orange luminance and saturation.

Here is a raw file adjusted to get the skin tones less orange and saved as a jpeg. Nothing else done.

Your colors and contrast are still a bit off. I posted my attempt at correcting the colors but I wasn't anble to get it looking "right". My hair color and skintones are a little off but much better than your reworked version that is very orange still. Many luminance/saturation adjustments in LR2. Are you using a calibrated monitor?

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I like the images overall, but I agree that she is squinting waaay too much. I think she is in almost every single one of them. That's not really your fault though. Try again with her on a warmer day