Its A Boy! - DPChallenge Forums

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

09/17/2009 12:14:55 AM · #1

Well, it is! But not a baby.

Lately, I shoot enough high school seniors to keep me hopping each year, but I see very few senior guys. In fact, to-date I've shot 4 senior boys and sooooo many senior girls. Girls just like to be photographed more, they have cute outfits they wanna show off and great shoes, etc. Boys on the other hand, just wanna be themselves.

So this week I photographed Lawrence. He's such a sweet guy (and dating my senior daughter), so he couldn't NOT be photographed this year. Boys are so natural, uncomplicated and well... just fun.

I tried hard to keep the poses "masculine", but found most times it was best to just shoot him in the natural positions he fell into (with a few tweeks). We shot in pouring rain for most of the day. My assistant frequently had to cover me & my camera with the giant reflector rather than use it to light the subject. We used 2 flashes, and the reflector when we could and locations all over the town he lives in.

Here is the preview video (its just 6 minutes, so won't bore you to death). Would so love to hear your thoughts....

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBwVX0PGKHM

Thanks, friends.

:D

ShutterPug

Canon EOS-6D

09/17/2009 01:53:38 AM · #2

Wow, awesome work. Thanks for sharing. I'll now return to my mediocre photos and a margarita.

ahjenny

Olympus E-620

Olympus 14-42mm f.3.5-5.6 ED Zuiko Digital Zoom

09/17/2009 02:28:29 AM · #3

Great job! My brother in law is going to have me do his senior pictures to save money, and this has given me a lot of great ideas. I just hope I can do as good a job as you have!

Starbanana

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 II

09/17/2009 05:29:04 AM · #4

Really great shots in there! Just superb work, cant say much more than that.

09/17/2009 09:05:27 AM · #5

Whew! Thanks for the nice comments, guys. I was a little nervous about this set since I don't shoot boys as much as girls. Lawrence and his family are scheduled to be here tis evening to preview his pictures (and his video), I am now more confident that they will be very pleased. Thanks for taking the time to have a look and give me your thoughts. :)

SandyP

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 USM

09/17/2009 10:23:09 AM · #6

Ohmygosh! Those are absolutely fabulous senior pictures! Both the photos themselves and the video presentation. I have a feeling your boy-business is going to multiply exponentially now!

What program did you do your slide show in? That was so cutting edge and added so much to the look of the photos.

Way - to - GO ! ! !

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

09/17/2009 10:30:53 AM · #7

Originally posted by SandyP:

Thank you, Sandy!! I use ProShow Gold for the videos. With a little practice, I have learned to use it's layers function to create more edgy shows. I can't wait to share it with the boy and his family. :)

And yeah, I hope to get lots more boys, they really are a different kind of challenge and I like it! ;)

SandyP

Canon EOS-5D Mark IV

Canon EF 200mm f/2.8 USM

09/17/2009 12:36:32 PM · #8

I have been using Microsoft Moviemaker for my slide shows, but it is not only really limited in what it can do, it is horrible about freezing up on you and making you have to load the file back up again -- which can sometimes take up to 5 minutes if you are at the end of your slide show and the file is big. I've sometimes waited 5 minutes for the file to load back up again, and then after doing one more edit, it froze up again. Do you find Proshow Gold good to work with? Is it hard to learn?

LadyK

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

09/17/2009 01:02:18 PM · #9

is the video being cranky right now, or is it the school server that isnt letting me watch it

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED

09/17/2009 01:08:13 PM · #10

Sandy - Moviemaker was a pain when I tried it too, that's why I bought ProShow. It was pretty simple to learn, but having used it for about 2 years now I've learned more and more the longer I work with it. My early videos were pretty plain compared to more recent ones.

Kat - Its working fine for me. Probably your school's firewall blocking. Try another youtube video and see if it gives you the same issues.

Trumpeteer4

Nikon D7000

09/17/2009 01:11:54 PM · #11

That's a knockout location, and a great shoot. What lighting do you use for outdoors?

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

09/17/2009 01:31:14 PM · #12

Nice work. Only thing "negative" that impacted me was It went all the way to 5 minutes in before he showed any teeth, and I was actually wondering if he had bad teeth, but no, at the end I saw 4-5 shots with a very nice set of chompers indeed :-)

R.

AJSullivan

09/17/2009 01:53:29 PM · #13

Originally posted by idnic:

I snagged prophotoshow after a camera club lecture about it, pretty awesome. Ive also been doing some work in Final Cut 7, but thats over kill for slide shows pretty much.

ikopanas

Nikon D7000

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Nikon

09/20/2009 02:25:13 PM · #14

Originally posted by idnic:

Well I got a trial edition from this ProShow Gold and its pretty awesome. You can make lots of things. I already got this result Portrait of an Amateur Photographer which is rather lousy but it shows what you can do from the very first try!

Thanks idnic for sharing! How did it go with the "boy"?

Enjoy Shooting
Yannis

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

09/20/2009 03:05:57 PM · #15

Nice work, Yannis. PS Gold is a fun and powerful tool and you will enjoy getting to use it and learning all about its secrets. :)

The boy's parents were soooo happy with his pictures and ordered my largest senior package. I'm thrilled. Can't wait to start using some of his pics to market to other senior boys and hopefully start booking as many boys as I have been booking girls. Life is guuuuuuuud. :)

LadyK

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

09/20/2009 04:46:47 PM · #16

went and watched this without the school server blocking it. really quite nice, i liked the brick and vine photos, since im always trying to go for that look and never quite achieve it

cdrice

Nikon D7000

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8G IF-ED

09/20/2009 06:55:41 PM · #17

Originally posted by idnic:

Not to side-track the thread into geek-talk, but can you share your video settings in ProShow? I've been using ProShow Producer for a while now, and am still toying with different settings for "high-or-at-least-reasonable-quality" youtube-upload. Looks like you have it pretty-well dialed in.

gg3rd

Canon EOS-500D Rebel T1i

Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM

09/20/2009 07:12:22 PM · #18

Originally posted by idnic:

The boy's parents were soooo happy with his pictures and ordered my largest senior package. I'm thrilled. Can't wait to start using some of his pics to market to other senior boys and hopefully start booking as many boys as I have been booking girls. Life is guuuuuuuud. :)

Great work indeed - super pro - both the images and the video!! I am not surprised his parents got your largest package... Congrats!

briantammy

Olympus PEN E-P3

Konica Minolta MF 85mm f/1.7

09/20/2009 07:25:51 PM · #19

there are some really great shots in there. i love the backgrounds and different scenes used. the cemetery and the trains were really cool. it seems like you must have spent lots of time with him to do all that. i'm assuming that that was your daughter in the last picture. very nice looking couple too. i think the video is ok, i'm not really fond of the graphic effects but overall it is a very nice package. nice job cindi.

Canon EF 75-300mm f/4.0-5.6 II

09/21/2009 10:23:00 AM · #20

Originally posted by cdrice:

Originally posted by idnic:
Sandy - Moviemaker was a pain when I tried it too, that's why I bought ProShow. It was pretty simple to learn, but having used it for about 2 years now I've learned more and more the longer I work with it. [ . . . ]

Not to side-track the thread into geek-talk, but can you share your video settings in ProShow? I've been using ProShow Producer for a while now, and am still toying with different settings for "high-or-at-least-reasonable-quality" youtube-upload. Looks like you have it pretty-well dialed in.

Hey, sorry I only just saw this question. I save each video in 2 formats. "PC Executable" for showing on the LCD projector during their Preview session and to burn to CD if they wish to buy a copy, and "Video File" for uploading to my website and/or YouTube. For both I use the highest quality settings, for the webshow choose DVD High Quality Max. Lately I'm liking the 16:9 Widescreen format as it shows nicely on most computer screens. I also choose highest quality sound settings. This makes for a large file, but I'd rather have the quality.

Starbanana

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

09/21/2009 10:52:42 AM · #21

Originally posted by idnic:

..Lawrence and his family are scheduled to be here tis evening to preview his pictures (and his video), I am now more confident that they will be very pleased...

So how did they like it? I should think they were blown away by it :)