Need some guidance on this one

[amy_bb]

So I was at the football fields doing my Little Loop sports shots and was approached by an acquaintance between games. Her whole family was here (some from out of town), kids home from college, all watching the youngest play in his game. Would I take their family photo after his game.

It was a SUPER bright sunny day, I did not have any flash or other lighting devices with me, my locations were limited by the other activities going on in the park that day and I had about 5 minutes to shoot. I told her that "I do not have a lot of experience" in doing portraits but that I would do my best. Truth is, I would like to begin trying some posed, outdoor family shots and I really want to try and make this one look as good as possible with what I had to work with.
Realizing that I chopped their feet off...

What edits would you do to this shot to give it the best boost possible? I don't want to over edit or overprocess but I want it to have a semi-professional look to it if possible.

Here is the shot with a bit of editing (see if you can guess what I did) and the EXIF info.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!




Exposure:
1/2500 sec

Aperture
f/2.8

Focal Length
95 mm

ISO Speed
200



Exposure Bias

0 EV



Flash

Off, Did not fire

[Kbaby]

Hi Amy,

Not sure what you could do to help in post (Sorry, I know thats no help to you now, hehe!) but I would have tried to find a tree with some nice open shade to shoot them under. If I couldn't find some shade, I maybe would of faced the family so their backs were to the sun and spot metered off one of their faces. It would of meant an overexposed background but they wouldn't be squinting into the sun like they are here.

Sorry I can't offer more advice though, hopefully someone else can help =)

[amy_bb]

Originally Posted by Kbaby

Hi Amy,

Not sure what you could do to help in post (Sorry, I know thats no help to you now, hehe!) but I would have tried to find a tree with some nice open shade to shoot them under. If I couldn't find some shade, I maybe would of faced the family so their backs were to the sun and spot metered off one of their faces. It would of meant an overexposed background but they wouldn't be squinting into the sun like they are here.

Sorry I can't offer more advice though, hopefully someone else can help =)

Thanks for the reply, Kbaby.

Unfortunately, the trees around had some very harsh shadows around and through them and since the only flash I had was my on camera flash, I was afraid I'd lose them in the shade. I was stuck between having the sun right into my lens or find a way to have the sun come at them from the side (it was to the left of them, looking straight on).

Thanks for the advice for next time! I will play with the spot metering on very bright days like this.

[Kbaby]

Thats okay =)

By the sounds of it you made the best with what you had to deal with then. Definitely play around with spot metering when you get a chance, it can make a huge difference for portraits =)