During the Fall, the family went out to take some shots with me. We decided to pull off some family portraits. The lighting wasn’t the best, but we made the most out of the trip, and I got several amazing shots. In this post, I shall share some of the twenty two keepers, and talk a little about what I did to the photos, and what I could have done better with them. Either way, it’s a show case of my photography, and I hope everyone enjoys this look into my life.
First off is the two most important people in my life, my girls. Lisa and her daughter are two opposing opposites that are shockingly similar, though CJ would kill me for pointing out any similarities. Fact is, this is my soon to be wife, and step-daughter. And I love this shot because it shows off the contrasts and the similarities in one shot.As far as the Photoshop end, I had to neutralize the colors, to keep the fact that CJ was in the sun, and Lisa was in the shadows as minimal as possible. I feel the reds in the fauna in the background suffered, but I also think that subduing those colors made the women stand out more in a fun way.
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Okay, yeah, these two women make me look huge, and the color of my hair in the sun looks blond, but beyond that, it’s a fun picture. The head tilt to the same side was accidental, but worked wonderfully. I enjoy how both women had the same look in it.Main thing in this one, was to bring out the colors. I played with the eyes a tad to bring them out, but I wanted the background to pop behind us, and I’m highly satisfied in the outcome.
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We moved to a shrouded location, under the canopy of the trees, and I decided to use the shadows to good advantage. There’s also something fun about being able to use a bright, washed out sky (and lake) behind some trees to make contrast. This was also the best opportunity to get fully length shots, which was fun to set up, as I had to run to them and post in 10 seconds....In Lightroom, I took this and really played with the contrast and shadows to pull out some detail, later, I went in with Photoshop and darkened the washed out sky by hand, to pull out more of the detail. One of the best things about this photo, to me, is how off center we are, thought it make it hard to ‘straighten’ the photo.
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In another location, that was very rocky, we looked for good rocks to stand or sit on. In this pic, we used a big rock to fun advantage, as I tried to put a good part of the forest with the colors just starting to change to the left.In Lightroom and Photoshop, I went with a bit of whimsy and surrealism, mainly because of CJ’s pose. So, I brought out the saturation a bit, and made the colors really HDR style. I’m not CRAZY about the picture, because I overdid the blue of the sky a bit, but it fits the personalities of the girls, and is one Lisa quite loves.
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There’s nothing quite like a great shot that captures all the model’s personalities. In this shot, you can truly understand who each person is in the family. I enjoy this shot because of the amazing lines, see how that tree that’s almost center curves the same as the family?The editing aspect was to keep the dark feel to it all, while bringing out the colors. I really tried to make sure the get the sky a decent blue, as well as keeping the feel of the models in the shadow yet keeping them bright. The biggest flaw about this photo, is one I always have with the camera I used, the background is in perfect focus, and the models are just a tad bit on the unfocused side. Its very minor in this photo, but its something I watch for when taking shots of people.
CLICK HERE for Part 2 of my Family Portraits - Autumn 2012 set.
