My second real photography job

[zkogut]

Hi Everybody,

So the other day I was asked by my sister to do her pregnancy announcement photos. I've only done one other pregnancy announcement shoot for some friends back in AZ that turned out "meh" in my opinion but the couple loved them. I did these during a heavy snowfall and picked a spot on a walking path behind my house. I'd love some constructive criticism to help me get better. I really like how the light looks in these photos but I feel that it might still be missing that professional touch and still looks kinda amateur. Your thoughts???


-Zak

[Shadowman]

The crop is tight in the first shot. Regarding the others, I would consider changing your angle of view just for some differing shots; drop the horizon line below the couple's waist.

[chauncey]

Agree with John's suggestions...work the scene some more.
Additionally...snowstorm means flat lighting...give some thought as to their attire.
Hers is borderline okay but, his is drab and flat looking, needs more vibrant colors.
Getting in close is good as it better shows the pregnancy scans.

[Texas Dave]

If I were to tweak here I think I would of lowered the camera slightly. First shot would have had the camera between the couples eye levels.

I also like to have good whites of the eyes. I would of neutralized and opened up the eyes a bit.

Do you have photoshop?

[JR1]

For a second only job it is exceedingly good, did you use fill flash off camera !

I would crop 3

Lighten the mid tones

[selig1656]

When planning out a photo shoot, plan out the mission statement , take the weather , lighting and subjects attire into account.Shoot from many angles and distances allowing you the options in PP to have what to work with. I also suggest to shoot in Raw and Jpeg for more editing options.I had to somewhat guess what they are holding and funny in every shot it was crooked.Definitely their attire could have used a stronger pop, even a slight garment that would have given some more color.Also a close up from waist up or even mid chest area would give a greater detail of their faces and expressions. I always try to loos'n my people up and make it fun ,I move around and have them move too like a model shot, a lot of laughing as I goat them on to be expressive.I am not the best at portriat shots that are as I say mechanical probably because I lack those fine skills.

[Polar01]

Zak nice shoots taken under less than ideal conditions. I took down your 4th image and played around just a little. I took the highlights down along with the whites as there is a lot of white in the image, this allowed me to move the exposure slider to the right about 1/3rd of a stop also increased the shadow slider to +39 this opened up the area of her hair around her face. Two things that in my mind helped was to adjust the luminance in the blues -23, darken his blue jeans up to help make them stand out more from the snow. The other was increased luminance in the oranges to +16 which improved her and his skins tones. There were some other little slider movements but nothing major.
These adjustments were how my vision of the image was taking me, we all have different visions hope it meets with your approval.

Cheers: Allan

[zkogut]

Zak nice shoots taken under less than ideal conditions. I took down your 4th image and played around just a little. I took the highlights down along with the whites as there is a lot of white in the image, this allowed me to move the exposure slider to the right about 1/3rd of a stop also increased the shadow slider to +39 this opened up the area of her hair around her face. Two things that in my mind helped was to adjust the luminance in the blues -23, darken his blue jeans up to help make them stand out more from the snow. The other was increased luminance in the oranges to +16 which improved her and his skins tones. There were some other little slider movements but nothing major.
These adjustments were how my vision of the image was taking me, we all have different visions hope it meets with your approval.

Cheers: Allan

Thank you for your comment! That helped a lot. I'm still learning the ropes when it comes to figuring out what'll make an image pop more and look more professional. Thanks for taking the time to explain it and actually edit my image!

[Mike Buckley]

These are really nice and I'm sure your family and all of their friends will be blown away by the photos. In addition to other comments...

I see that you didn't use flash, at least no flash is indicated in the EXIF data and it appears as if no flash was used. In such diffuse light, you could have used a small amount of flash positioned on the side to separate the subjects a bit from the background and to generate more of a three-dimensional look.

In the first photo, notice the second scan from the top. There seems to be a rather large snowflake relatively close to the camera and out of focus covering up much of that scan. I would copy the third scan and replace the second scan with that one. Also consider adding more contrast to each of the scans to make them stand out a bit more.

Select the snow around the couple's feet and darken the shadows a bit to bring out the texture in the snow.

In the last photo, something (perhaps moisture on the lens?) is decreasing the contrast on the mother's hair on top of her head. Try simply increasing the contrast in that area and/or applying Local Contrast Enhancement, but there may be nothing you can do about it.

[zkogut]

These are really nice and I'm sure your family and all of their friends will be blown away by the photos. In addition to other comments...

I see that you didn't use flash, at least no flash is indicated in the EXIF data and it appears as if no flash was used. In such diffuse light, you could have used a small amount of flash positioned on the side to separate the subjects a bit from the background and to generate more of a three-dimensional look.

In the first photo, notice the second scan from the top. There seems to be a rather large snowflake relatively close to the camera and out of focus covering up much of that scan. I would copy the third scan and replace the second scan with that one. Also consider adding more contrast to each of the scans to make them stand out a bit more.

Select the snow around the couple's feet and darken the shadows a bit to bring out the texture in the snow.

In the last photo, something (perhaps moisture on the lens?) is decreasing the contrast on the mother's hair on top of her head. Try simply increasing the contrast in that area and/or applying Local Contrast Enhancement, but there may be nothing you can do about it.

Thanks for the insight! I really like your idea about the flash and how it'll separate the subject from the background.