Difficult Subject (Senior)

[lludlow2]

I have been asked to do my nephews senior photos, he is in an awkward stage of his in general. He really doesn't have a style per say or have any ideas on how he wants to be portrayed.

I really want these to turn out good as I take great pride in what I do, not to mention that it is family.

Any ideas would be helpful, Should I just create an image for him??

Here are a few shots of him

[Drkranger]

Looking at his dress and look, I'd say he does have a "style." It's a ho-hum, nothing positive, nothing negative style, but it is a style nonetheless. For compositions, I'd used that. The first shot in front of the colorful wall is a good choice. Backgrounds that are colorfully saturated would probably work.

I'd look at your lighting and poses a bit more. Not sure Mom would like the "crotch" shot in the second one, nor the straight stick pose of the first. Also, if you're working with a bright background, look at using a fill flash to light him. The third shot has a good pose, but he's fighting the brightness of the background.

Good luck.

[MSidPhoto]

Good try but there are a number of things that could make this photo a lot better.

The first one, i believe, lacks light on the face of the subject. Although the overall light is good a little more light, brightness on the face would give the photo a sharper contrast.

The second one has too much light on the face. Not joking, it really does. The composition in the second one could have been better. And try to use exposure settings to reduce light.

The third one could have been a very good one but it needs better composition and also, i feel that the picture is not sharp enough around the face. Although the background has blurred very nicely *thumbs up *
But at the same time the background is plain (too plain) for the lovely smile of the person. Therefore get a background with more color and that blurred will look better. You could also edit the whole background and replace it.

Hope it helps

Keep trying, practice makes perfect and NOBODY is perfect, I am not NOBODY so i am not perfect.
Just Kidding

Good luck

[MSidPhoto]

The above comment was for how you could make the photos look better yourself.
For your subject (cousin), you could ask him to look into some poses but if the portrait is not too formal than i'd ALSO suggest trying to take the photo without saying "Cheez" or "Ready". Yes WITHOUT them, you will be able to capture natural pose, natural smile and nature always has beauty . So take a casual, natural shot of your cousin and see how it turns out.

In my opinion the 3rd one looks better than the 1st and the 2nd because in the first two it looks like that he's forced to smile. But the third one looks more natural. So try that.

If the photos are for formal use (which i doubt) then ask your cousin not to smile toooooo much. If you know what i mean

Good Luck, hope that helps

[lludlow2]

Thanks allot for the feedback. I am going to take my nephew out this friday for another shoot (without Dad this time) maybe I can get better results.

[windrider86]

Heres a couple of links for ideas on your poses
Senior Photo Ideas & posing tips
http://weeter.com/seniors-gallery.asp

Your subject is too uptight. Casual, relax. Have him lean against the wall with his thumbs in his pants pocket. Shoot from different angles instead of straight on. Check your exposure levels on each and every shot.
Focus on the eyes, first and foremost.

[naeno]

Definitely take the advice given here. Get him to relax, and just talk to him. Have a good time.

I liked the first one best (I really don't like crotch shots, and the last one he looked like he'd really rather be somewhere else). However, the first one still needed a few tweeks. If you want me to remove my example below, I gladly will.

First, this needed a crop. His hands looked very awkward, so cropping them out helped with the stance. I adjusted the levels, opened a new layer, painted his face over with white, applied a gaussian blur of 200 too the white, then turned the white layer mode to Overlay. This brightened up his face. Added catchlights to his eyes. Does this make sense to you?

[BEGM83]

Sit him down in the park or somewhere and have a conversation with him. Get him talking about a subject he's passionate about and shoot while he's talking.

Or are senior shots supposed to be posey and formal portraits? In which case dont do that lol

[nategesner]

Every portrait has him looking straight into the camera, which is hardly flattering. My best recommendation would be to search the internet for "senior portraits" and look at a couple hundred pictures of guys and how they're posed. Try to find guys that are also in the awkward stage, have similar builds, etc. Save or print out ten of your favorites and try them out. It will be up to you to give him direction during the shoot; he's not a model and very few people can naturally strike a pose that looks good in print.

Talk to him about hobbies, interests, etc. If he plays trumpet, involve it in the picture. What about sports? You're attempting to commemorate his highschool years, so integrate his personality into the photo by including parts of his life.

If he's got poor taste in clothing, stop by and help him pick out some things to wear. I'm not a fan of "creating a look" for him because it ends up creating something he's not. Use what he's already got and make the best of it. Consider collared shirts, sweaters, hoodies, jackets, t-shirts, hats, sunglasses, etc. I came from a poor family and most of my clothes were from garage sales, but the photographer made me look just as good as the well-to-do kids!

Finally, you have to remember that a person in front of a fun background doesn't automatically make a great picture. Lean him against the wall. Have him sit sideways behind the chain and then lean on it, looking into the camera. Get him to interact with his surroundings a little to tie everything together. Unless you're attempting to recreate American Gothic, you don't need to face him straight into the camera.

I hope you can find something of worth in this!

[uselymsi]

Originally Posted by lludlow2

Thanks allot for the feedback. I am going to take my nephew out this friday for another shoot (without Dad this time) maybe I can get better results.

I am glad to find your site - now I know what a good one looks like.
Very good topic to share with us. Great info.