First Maternity Shoot

[NewGirl13]

I'm not used to photographing people, I'm more of a landscape kind of girl, but I wanted some opinions on a picture from a recent maternity shoot.

How's the composition? When photographing people should I concentrate more on filling the frame or leaving some space around them? Should I have zoomed out a bit, not cutting them off at the legs or would a tighter crop, under her stomach be better? Are the colors ok? Too saturated?



Here's the EXIF data:

Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

Hi 13,

Wow, not sure why nobody has bothered with this one.. so you are stuck with me!

Not a bad shot at all. I think you sense that the crop should be tighter and I agree, I think either just below her hand.. or, at the bottom of her shirt.

Color is saturated but I can live with it, the contrast is also pushed. Looks like you have processed with a filter (?) If you had a way of dialing down the filter by about 10-20 percent.. I think that would be more natural but still give the photo some "pop".

Originally Posted by Papa Rotzzi

Color is saturated but I can live with it, the contrast is also pushed. Looks like you have processed with a filter (?) If you had a way of dialing down the filter by about 10-20 percent.. I think that would be more natural but still give the photo some "pop".

(I know that this information is all kind of subject to the taste of the artist (you) so.. no big deal to me if that was the effect you were going for... )

[d_monger81]

I agree that cropping in tighter might be the way to go, limited experience here too, but to me it would feel more intimate up close to really emphasise the belly and reason for the pic. But apart from that I like the shot.

[ajax_andy]

Originally Posted by Papa Rotzzi

Hi 13,

Wow, not sure why nobody has bothered with this one.. so you are stuck with me!

Not a bad shot at all. I think you sense that the crop should be tighter and I agree, I think either just below her hand.. or, at the bottom of her shirt.

Color is saturated but I can live with it, the contrast is also pushed. Looks like you have processed with a filter (?) If you had a way of dialing down the filter by about 10-20 percent.. I think that would be more natural but still give the photo some "pop".

I agree with this.

Also I'm not sure of you considered zooming right in to just show the hands on the bump, and then converting to B&W? This could potentially give a great impact to a shot like this. Would have to be done at the time of the shoot really, but its maybe something to consider the next time.

I think its a good shot though and shows good emotion about the impending arrival

[Kit]

I'm not keen on this shot. I think that it could have been improved if both subjects were staring at the bump (or at each other). The relationship between the two appears disconnected (in my opinion). The dad's eyes look as if they could be closed because you can't actually see any of his eyes (just the eyelids). I think overall the picture is too harsh (saturated colours and contrast) given the subject matter.

Sorry, I didnt mean to sound too harsh but wanted to give you some feedback that might be helpful.

[Mark Engelhart]

Here something else to think about. They are going to buy these images and most people are familiar with standard size prints 8x10, 16x20, etc. I used to shoot exactly what felt right in the camera and then I would get into post production and find that i had to lose part of what I wanted to fit the size. Always shoot more than you need so you can crop out what you don't need later.

[NewGirl13]

Originally Posted by Papa Rotzzi

Hi 13,

Wow, not sure why nobody has bothered with this one.. so you are stuck with me!

Not a bad shot at all. I think you sense that the crop should be tighter and I agree, I think either just below her hand.. or, at the bottom of her shirt.

Color is saturated but I can live with it, the contrast is also pushed. Looks like you have processed with a filter (?) If you had a way of dialing down the filter by about 10-20 percent.. I think that would be more natural but still give the photo some "pop".

Thanks for your comment! I've been away for a few days, otherwise I would have answered this sooner.

I actually didn't use a filter, it's all post-processing so that's something I'll have to look at if I decided to re-edit it.

[NewGirl13]

Originally Posted by ajax_andy

I agree with this.

Also I'm not sure of you considered zooming right in to just show the hands on the bump, and then converting to B&W? This could potentially give a great impact to a shot like this. Would have to be done at the time of the shoot really, but its maybe something to consider the next time.

I think its a good shot though and shows good emotion about the impending arrival

Thanks for your feedback. I like the suggestion about zooming in and converting to black and white. I actually have a couple of shots that I just shot the hands on the bump, but I'll take a look at cropping this and see if I like it any better.

[NewGirl13]

Originally Posted by Kit

I'm not keen on this shot. I think that it could have been improved if both subjects were staring at the bump (or at each other). The relationship between the two appears disconnected (in my opinion). The dad's eyes look as if they could be closed because you can't actually see any of his eyes (just the eyelids). I think overall the picture is too harsh (saturated colours and contrast) given the subject matter.

Sorry, I didnt mean to sound too harsh but wanted to give you some feedback that might be helpful.

You didn't sound harsh at all. I need to hear honest feedback so I can get better. I have a few shots where they are looking at each other and I didn't even think about the fact that a shot like this would make it look like there was a disconnect. That's the sort of thing I need to hear so I can think about that for future shots. So thanks!