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.....

[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]

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]

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.

[Rocco]

Agreed.

Thanks guys! Glad I'm not completely losing my mind.