Reflections & Punctuation

[Rocco]

Been trying to work out a time with these guys for over a month now. We finally locked down the time and got a perfect window in the middle of a horrible day as far as weather is concerned. Lucky to find a tree that still carries leaves. (Not sure the breed.)



This was pretty straight forward. Had my subjects walk towards the camera. Camera left is a 64" PLM with diffusion, feathered towards camera a bit, camera right was a large softbox for fill, oriented horizontally to avoid filling in shadow on the grass. and of course the sun, behind and camera left. Both modifiers were PCB Einsteins triggered by the PocketWizard Power MC2 and PocketWizard TT5 on camera. Canon 7d, 17-55mm f/2.8 @ ISO 200, 1/250th sec, f/8 - 28mm.

CC Welcomed!

-Richard

[conropl]

Speaking of.. I often reach out to some of the more successful photographers in the industry and ask for CC. David DuChemin and Benjamin VonWong have both agreed to give me their thoughts on this photo! I could post them here for everyone to benefit, if you guys would like.

Thanks!

-Richard

Yes please

[jrw]

Would love to see what critique gets offered on that shot!
Have you tried looking at Renee Robyn for some ideas on where you could take that Candid Coyote van to next? Could get interesting.....

[Rocco]

Yes please

Would love to see what critique gets offered on that shot!
Have you tried looking at Renee Robyn for some ideas on where you could take that Candid Coyote van to next? Could get interesting.....

Will do! Already got my response from David DuChemin, VonWong said he was very busy, but would get to it when he could. I'll post after I have them both. As far as Renee Robyn goes, I've talked with her a couple times! Super cool photog. She critiqued my "Fugitive Bride" photo for me and one of her pics was the inspiration for the Halloween Selfie I took with flour last year.

[Rocco]

Would love to see what critique gets offered on that shot!

Well, I heard back from them both. Predictably, David DuChemin didn't offer much advise about the technical aspects of the photo (was hoping he wouldn't)... He is very much concerned with composition and the feel of a photo. Benjamin Von Wong ripped it apart. VERY appreciated. He noticed things about the color pallet I never would have. I took their comments and made adjustments. First, here's the photo as it was when they critiqued:



And now the critiques (Copied and pasted from Facebook Messenger):

David DuChemin:
Richard - Great photograph. Well done. I love the emotion. Compostion and lighting is great. Lots of energy. Real sense of what you're pointing at. I'm not a lighting guy, so all I can tell you is I think it's strong technically. I'm much more interested in the emotional content of the image, which this has a lot of. My only suggestion, in terms of what I'd love to see, is the dog reacting to, or relating to, the guy with the banjo. Right now there is no relationship between them, other than spatially beside each other. I want that dog to be sharing the moment, maybe being the reason for the laughter. But that's just icing on the cake of an otherwise strong image. Love it.

Lots of flattery here, a compliment from David DuChemin! But more importantly, his comment about the relationship between the two totally carries weight.

Benjamin Von Wong:
Hey mate the photo itself isn't bad. I think what feels off is that there are two seperate color pallets and lighting happening
The light and color on the subjects don't match that of the sky so it feels a little bit funny
we see the presence of the light because of the shadow on the car
i think if u desaturated the entire image by say -30
and re-toned your image with whatever color method you prefer (curves, split toning white balance wtvr)
you could probably even out the image a bit more
The light comign in from the right just looks like its too harsh and strong too
theres no reason a light would be there in the natural world
so if theres some way to tone that done a bit it might help
Last but not least I think compositionally the fact that the model is looking one way and the dog the other is a little bit funny
we don't really know where to look or what to focus on because the lines int he image arent pointing to the same place
hope that helps@

Good points. The differences in color pallets and confusion with the shadows are two things that didn't occur to me. And of course he's right, the light camera right is too harsh. Too heavy handed. And then there's the same comment about the dog. Point taken.

Taking both of their comments into consideration I reworked the image and this is what I came up with:



I did a lot of cloning and frequency separation to eliminate or minimize shadows, put a different head on the dog, and reworked the toning by desaturating -30 as he suggested, and used a spit tone combined with white balance adjustments.

Overall I think it looks much better! I appreciate the help that all of you have continuously given me, and I love how humble all of these pro photogs are in their responses to me. All things considered, I'm a better photographer because of it.

Thanks!

-Rocco

[Jayson]

First let me say that I think the shot is great. You did an excellent job capturing this family in a way I think they will print big on their wall. I could see this over the couch or something. My only nit pick would be shadows on the faces. This could be personal preference, but in family photos I like to have the faces bright and out there. Mom's face is good, just wish that her hair was a little further back so you could see some more of her face. The father I think could use a little tweak on the dark side of his face. It looks good, but I think a flatter ratio might make it better. The child is going to be the focus point of this photo and I think her face, and maybe her in general, should be the brightest of them all. Right now it is one of if not the darkest. I think everything else about the photo is awesome! Take my opinion with a grain of salt because I don't come anywhere near the quality of work the others critiquing your work do.

Jayson

[Sean Setters]

I'd have to agree with Jayson about the shadows on the faces. The shadows on mom and dad's faces aren't too bad, as they give definition to their faces. But the kid's face is dark, and she should be the main focus of the image because of her placement in the scene and her importance in tying the family together. I feel like a gridded flash right on her would have been ideal, but probably not feasible given the movement of the subjects.

[Rocco]

First let me say that I think the shot is great. You did an excellent job capturing this family in a way I think they will print big on their wall. I could see this over the couch or something. My only nit pick would be shadows on the faces. This could be personal preference, but in family photos I like to have the faces bright and out there. Mom's face is good, just wish that her hair was a little further back so you could see some more of her face. The father I think could use a little tweak on the dark side of his face. It looks good, but I think a flatter ratio might make it better. The child is going to be the focus point of this photo and I think her face, and maybe her in general, should be the brightest of them all. Right now it is one of if not the darkest. I think everything else about the photo is awesome! Take my opinion with a grain of salt because I don't come anywhere near the quality of work the others critiquing your work do.

Jayson

I'd have to agree with Jayson about the shadows on the faces. The shadows on mom and dad's faces aren't too bad, as they give definition to their faces. But the kid's face is dark, and she should be the main focus of the image because of her placement in the scene and her importance in tying the family together. I feel like a gridded flash right on her would have been ideal, but probably not feasible given the movement of the subjects.

I have to agree with you both. It was a struggle, for sure. Eventually I had them stagger a little bit in an effort to keep the kiddo from being hidden from the lights. Only problem is the angle hid the mother's face from view. Here is what would have been the best shot of them all: I like the body positions better, seems to imply motion more, the lighting is great, Dad's expression is better, and I'm happy with the composition. Just that hair...



I finally threw in the towel and took mom's face from the other shot and composited it onto the one above. Here's the result:



So now this looks to be the result that's more technically sound, but I've been looking at these pics for so long I don't know what to think. Which of the three do you guys prefer? Why?

Thanks so much for the feedback. Appreciated it on this one! I was staring at them for so long I lost perspective.

-Rocco

[Sean Setters]

The last one, without a doubt. Significantly better, in my opinion.

[Kayaker72]

The last one, without a doubt. Significantly better, in my opinion.

Agreed.