Portrait Practice

[SoCal Steve]

Got to practice taking some family pictures while photographing my nephew's recent wedding. This is my sister-in-law Carol's family. She ran in the last Boston Marathon. Her husband plans to run in next year's. Comments welcome.

http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php ... fullsize=1

[sirhc55]

Steve - I really like the relaxed formality of your shot, my only suggestion would be to throw the walls into a OOF situation. They are a tad distracting

[kipper]

What he said. I don't necessarily find the stone a distraction, more the doorway.

If you really had the time and patience you could probably isolate the subjects. Select the background stone and duplicate it over the doorway to make a pure stone background

[SoCal Steve]

Steve - I really like the relaxed formality of your shot, my only suggestion would be to throw the walls into a OOF situation. They are a tad distracting

Good point, Chris. Thanks, I'll give that a try.

[BBJ]

I agree with Darryl, the stone i could live with but i keep wanting to look at the door and whats outside and look very nice too. But great shot anyhow.
Cheers
John

[ozimax]

Definitely stone background is OK actually quite good but doorway no, too distracting, they all seem to be enjoying themselves which makes for good photos!

Max

[Geoff]

It's a good shot max, but as said the background with the door leading onto the field is a bit distracting - this was about a 2 min photshop job, hope u don't mind but u could enhance it a lot with about 20 mins of work to perfect the stone background.


http://www.geoffyates.com/photos/Comp-Flat-5283&84-1.jpg

[sirhc55]

Personally, I still believe the open fields and hills behind the subjects give the whole shot a breathe of air - like a picture in a picture. The whole background as a stone wall looks more like a prison and does nothing to enhance the pic IMO.

[SoCal Steve]

I'm in full agreement with you. That's why we ask for opinions.
Since this was family, I got preoccupied with the people.
The opening is actually a fireplace with a glass back that was completely blown out to white. I brought it back to this with Photoshop and two different Raw interpretations, but I agree that it would be much better with additional deemphasis. Thanks to all for calling it to my attention!

[kipper]

Socal, I looked and looked at it. I was either wondering if it was a doorway looking into fields or actually something reflecting the fields that were actually behind you. Guess I should of gone with my initial gut instinct of what it was.

Could you replace the fireplace with some sort of burgandy colored cloth. Something like that you might find in some Scottish Highland Castle.

[phillipb]

I prefer the original to the stone wall one, but I thought I would try to see what it would look like without the reflection.



Still not convinced that this is the solution though.

P.S. Disregard the sloppy photoshop work.

[kipper]

I reckon a burgandy regal tapestry would look good to cover up that section.

[Geoff]

ok ok, I know mine was crap...I did it with no sleep for in excess of 20 hours if that counts for anything?? ...

[SoCal Steve]

Interesting efforts there, guys. I think maybe just darker and OOF might be the best effect overall. I may repost it in a few days when I've had a chance to fiddle with it some more. Thanks for the all the shared opinions.

[mudder]

Maybe just cloning out the few hinges on the glass doors and the black edges of the doors down the middle?

[SoCal Steve]

Maybe just cloning out the few hinges on the glass doors and the black edges of the doors down the middle?

Yeah, Mudder, my wife went right to those black edges too. Guess that they definitely have to go. Sometimes realism is best wiped clean.

[Manta]

ok ok, I know mine was crap...I did it with no sleep for in excess of 20 hours if that counts for anything?? ...

Sorry Geoff, doesn't count. No sleep for 20 hours equates to a mental state roughly equivalent to 0.1 blood/alcohol concentration. I reckon several members here have submitted pretty good work with far higher concentrations than that so you'll have to come up with a better excuse!


Steve - this has certainly opened up some debate. I found the original okay; the stonework version a little too claustrophobic and the black background a little stark. There's a happy medium in there somewhere...
Maybe you could try adding a duck?

[SoCal Steve]

Steve - this has certainly opened up some debate. I found the original okay; the stonework version a little too claustrophobic and the black background a little stark. There's a happy medium in there somewhere...

Thanks, Simon.
I've got an idea that might make everybody happy, but since it's 5:25am here and the sun just came up, I should probably go to bed. I'll post something tomorrow.

Ain't this a weird and wonderful forum?!

Regards, SoCal

[SoCal Steve]

Here's a different portrait group from the same day that you might like a little more, or not. (I feel kind of like a flak magnet at the moment.) This is my first attempt at this kind of work or doing a wedding.

This picture has a tighter grouping and a darker and slightly out of focus background. Let me know if you think it's any better than the first. It's okay, tell me the truth.

http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php ... fullsize=1

[Alex]

Wow, this looks great, SoCal. The only minor negative comment is I find the shadows on the dress of the woman behind a ted bit destractive.

Alex

[SoCal Steve]

Thanks, Alex.
Yeah, I decided to let that shadow go, but perhaps that was the wrong decision, since you noticed it right away. I just finished printing three 8x10's for their family so I guess it's too late on that one. Thanks, though. Next time I'll think thrice before ignoring something like that. I did a ton of other work on it though. Nikkor 35mm f2.0. I could live with just that one lens.

Regards,
SoCal