I was hired by a friends parents for a big family portrait. 6 adults so I was kinda nervous. But the shots turned out great!!! I just heard back from them yesterday and they want to order $500 worth of prints!!!!! They love the shots and I get to make some cash!!! I'm soooo excited! :)

Here is the best of the bunch. They ordered a 16x20 of it. Please feel free to critique or offer up any advice.

<img src="http://bryans.smugmug.com/photos/279711208_PdEex-L.jpg">

What are you charging for prints?

Did they pay you to make the images?

Looks a bit contrasty on my monitor.



Mike S

PS - Photoshop the earrings out of that guy on the back left! : )

I'd probably crop a little tighter too because the asymmetry of the bench bugs me a bit. And as Mike said, perhaps pp'ing the tree out of the pic could help too. and fix that dude's earrings! :P

That's great!!! Thanks for the tips guys. Looks like I get to go back to the drawing board :)

Did you use a reflector?

doesn't come naturally - our eyes are trained to "separate" the subject. Make it a point to always look around the frame for any unwanted elements.

The tree and the pole are the worst offenders here, but the tree trunks and harsh shadows/sunlight on the grass are distracting as well.

I think you positioned the group very nicely. Watch out for shadows when sending to print - some are blocked and need to be lightened. Highlights on the faces need to be brought down a bit as well, I think.

They might be a bit distracting, but at the same time, the family might prefer them in place to represent them at this point in time.

By the way, without the tree in place, I now feel like the whole picture leans.

just a 580EXII for fill.

Part of the reason for the higher angle is because of the background. I did several shots at eye level and the background was horribly distracting (cars on the street, children playing in the park, etc.)

original with the tree, as they may not appreciate/like a manipulated photo.. so you might want to check with them before printing it after you edit it.

my .02

showed them, bar color/contrast/saturation/levels, etc.

But in the future, take great care with your backgrounds.

It's a very nice image, you just asked for constructive criticism and we offered it.

Sorry if you read me wrong.

Cheers,

Mike S

but i gotta agree with the others. the white tree is terrible distracting, as is that curb (?) and pole above the guy on the left. the dad's hands are cut off and the mom's hands look akward.

nice work on lighting tho!

No didn't read you wrong at all Mike. I appreciate all the tips! :)

having them all looking up at you seems awkward for me...

And while it is possible the all black shirts were a theme, they make for a hard time separating the subjects... against the light busy background..I'm not feeling it.

But hey, they loved them!!!