Sons and Daughters Portrait

[jujitsu1]

I bought my self a little light studio set up off ebay this week and I was messing about with it to see how the photo's would look. Well I take this of my 3 of my 4 children.



EXIF
Camera: Sony DSLR-A200
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 26 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Auto, Fired

What I would like to know is .
1 Is the lighting ok
2 Ant there cc welcome.

I know this isn't a portrait cc forum but ever time I try to load that forum page it just keeps telling me to log in. If the mods want to move it then feel free.

[nategesner]

It looks like they were well lit, but there are some areas you could improve. First, move them away from the wall. They should be at least six feet away from the background and then you can use a shorter DoF to throw the background out of focus.

If you look at your oldest daughter, she has a harsh shadow on the wall behind her. Moving them away from the wall will help, but you also need to consider light placement. Search the portrait threads for advice on how to best place your lights. Good luck!

[jujitsu1]

thank you for moving this to the right thread

[jujitsu1]

Originally Posted by nategesner

It looks like they were well lit, but there are some areas you could improve. First, move them away from the wall. They should be at least six feet away from the background and then you can use a shorter DoF to throw the background out of focus.

If you look at your oldest daughter, she has a harsh shadow on the wall behind her. Moving them away from the wall will help, but you also need to consider light placement. Search the portrait threads for advice on how to best place your lights. Good luck!

Thank you for the tip and I shall try again at this.

[drummersteph]

I would also suggest when posing don't have all their shoulders pointing the same direction. If you pose them making a V with their shoulders so that they sort of angle toward the center it will feel a bit more cozy....or even try getting creative with levels and such, therefore allowing them to relax a bit. Hopefully that is clear.

[i speak in math]

Classic portrait poses usually include triangles. That is, try to place their heads so that they form triangles

Try tallest on the right, facing slightly inward. Middle height on the left facing slightly inward. Then put the shortest in the middle facing slightly either direction.

Your lighting, while well exposed, seems harsh and near or on axis. You'll want to get the flash away from the camera and slightly above the subjects, like the sun.

You can soften the light by making it appear bigger. If you don't have a softbox or umbrella to increase its size, you can point the flash into a white sheet. The increase in the size of the light source will soften the shadows and give you soft even light.

[mandyatm]

My first thoughts were all of the above suggestions. Pull them away from the background, don't use the on camera flash, and pose them so their heads form a triangle. Try to make it so that each child's eyes are at a different level than the others. You could do the pose suggested above, or just move the youngest next to the middle child even.

[jujitsu1]

thank you for ur comments