First senior pics of the season - DPChallenge Forums

09/23/2007 11:09:10 PM · #1

So these are my first senior pictures this season... but the "session" itself sure didn't start out the way I would have liked.

The girls were late so we didn't start shooting until 40 minutes before sunset (so it was already getting dark where we were). So we're rushing from location to location and I'm shooting at a lot higher ISO than I would have liked. And to top things off, I left one of the Canon 5D batteries on the charger, and the one in the camera grip was dead, and I had just emptied my bag of all batteries 30 seconds before we headed out the door. SO ... instead of my boy playing "second shooter" with the Mark III, I ended up shooting almost everything with the Mark III while he played "light boy".

Anyway, here's a tiny selection of images ... see what you think of these:

P.S.
NONE of these have been edited yet. Everything was shot raw and is straight out of Lightroom.

09/24/2007 08:45:26 AM · #2

Just a morning *bump* to share with the day crew. :-)

Telehubbie

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

09/24/2007 09:40:12 AM · #3

Great shots as usual David. You captured some great personalities there. Were you using your strobes or your speedlight/umbrella setup for these?

On another note, I feel very badly for you that you had to "settle" on using a 1D MKIII. ;-) That must've been tough!

timfythetoo

Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

09/24/2007 10:06:16 AM · #4

Aimee and I are doing our first senior portrait session in 2 weeks for a friend from church. We are in the process of looking at as many images as we can before then to stay up on ideas. We do appreciate you posting these. Excellent work as always.

idnic

Canon EOS-60D

09/24/2007 10:08:39 AM · #5

Nice work, David. :)

Prof_Fate

09/24/2007 10:25:54 AM · #6

Very cute.
The last four need another light for seperation from the BG. Shadows are a bit harsh - if that's what you want, then fine, but these 4 look rather direct harsh flash and are not as good as the rest.

228 is very cute but double catchlights in the eyes in this one, but not most of the others. Easy to fix in PS, but it jumped out at me.

160 is excellent.
I like 213 too - a bit of ps at the bottom left to fix the paint might be a good idea as nothing else in the image suggests run down. could color play with her top and BG.

Nice overall use of a focal length/aperture!

09/24/2007 11:52:25 AM · #7

Originally posted by Telehubbie:

Great shots as usual David. You captured some great personalities there. Were you using your strobes or your speedlight/umbrella setup for these?

Just the speedlights. I was using the 420EX as a slave and had the 580EX on camera to fire it.

Originally posted by Telehubbie:

On another note, I feel very badly for you that you had to "settle" on using a 1D MKIII. ;-) That must've been tough!

I really do prefer the 5D for portrait shots. The Mark III does great candids and awesome sports, but the 5D can't be beat for portraits.

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

09/24/2007 11:57:29 AM · #8

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

The last four need another light for separation from the BG. Shadows are a bit harsh - if that's what you want, then fine, but these 4 look rather direct harsh flash and are not as good as the rest.

It's a flash shooting through an umbrella, but yeah, I agree. We were outside. The sun had gone down and we no longer had any kind of backdrop or additional lighting, just the one flash and umbrella plus my 580EX on camera.

If I had known that we were going to start 40 minutes late and shoot into the night I would have brought better lighting (actually, I would have preferred to move in studio). Such is life. I've talked to both of the girls and them seem ecstatic (guess they aren't as critical of the images as I am).

Originally posted by Prof_Fate:

228 is very cute but double catchlights in the eyes in this one, but not most of the others. Easy to fix in PS, but it jumped out at me.

That's one thing that has just never really bothered me... I get double catchlights all the time (especially in studio) and don't mind seeing them.

Thanks for your comments. :-)

Prof_Fate

09/24/2007 12:42:20 PM · #9

I get two with high-key - kind of hard not to really.

For other stuff I've adapted a lighting setup I learned from Ralph Romaguera with bit of something else i picked up...

main light is a shoot thru umbrella just about beside the subject - 90 degrees to the camera (say to your right as you face the subject).
behind you to your left and up kinds high is another light into a silver umbrella set as fill (about 1 stop under main at subject's face)

This alone works well on location.

You can add a hair light (i use a grid) back by the BG and on your right. works well catching the hair and shoulder.

OR ralph would use a second umbrella (or two softboxes in stead of two umbrellas - more control on direction to control spill on the BG) placed near but behind the 'main' light and used as a 'kicker'. Due to my studio space (too small) I use the grid bit instead, but it does require constant re-aiming as the pose changes.

This ligting gives modeling, one catchlight and NO issues with eyeglasses.
example

kill the fill and you get this (softbox on this one)
example 2

Sunniee

Canon EOS-40D

09/24/2007 12:48:08 PM · #10

Beautiful photos as always Terry! I always enjoy viewing your work!

Nusbaum

Fujifilm X-T1

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

09/24/2007 01:15:28 PM · #11

Thanks for posting. One thing I really like here is the expression from your subjects. I am finding that getting a warm and open expression can be challenging at times, but I'm sure having a group of them helped.