Aaron and Kenzie at His Senior Shoot

[KellyL]

This is Aaron and Kenzie. I was commissioned to shoot his senior pictures. We did family shots, boyfriend girlfriend shots, shots of his brother and his girlfriend...and finally Aaron's senior pics.

As you can see, my style is transitioning. I still don't have this down yet...a reflector would have been a good thing to include. But now that I have been weened from on camera flash, there is no going back. I want to master this off camera with the VAGABOND and BEE and SOFTLIGHTER as well as using more natural light.

Anyway, here is an image. I have been snowed under with school and portrait sessions...of course...most of them are outside...so the $350.00 a month I am spending on my studio is going to waste...but I am hoping to pick up some November work to pay for the November building.

I have been told by a good friend that I now need to improve my processing skills to get my work up to the next level. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[KellyL]

Also, as many of you know, I have not been very happy with my 70 - 200 f/2.8, but I am happy to report that my issues may have been more to "user error" more than anything else. I am finding that with the right ISO and at 4.0 or 5.6 the images are sharp, the way I would expect them to be. High ISO and opened all the way was not the best way to get a sharp image. I do wish I would have caught his fingers coming out of her back, as well as her opened pinky. I tried to get her to open up to the camera more and turn her head so I could get more short lighting on her, and well, she could be a little....hmmmm....less willing to take instructions than some I have worked with. I got a few eye rolls!

[nldunne]

Excellent image Kelly. If only I was on that level.

[Rodeoshooter]

Kelly,

Nice but what is with the hair tie on her wrist? Details!

[KellyL]

Thanks Norm.

Thanks Al. Yes, I am still fussing with lighting issues more than anything else right now. I am still trying to understand how to get shots like this outdoors. I am doing these shots, but not totally understanding what I am doing to make them work. Does that make sense at all?

I took a reading of the background, set the flash so the light was metered the same as the background, knowing that light is additive. I then dropped the shutter speed one stop to darken the ambient light. Is that what I did? I think so. I didn't have my digital voice recorder with me, and I need to make sure it is packed every time so I can take some notes. A very good friend donated one to the cause, and I haven't used it lately.

[tbnj]

I think this is excellent, Kelly. The lighting is very nice. And your PP looks good to me!

[KellyL]

Thanks Tina. The thing is...I do minimal PP, I think. I look at an image and don't know quite what to do. For this image, I hit the pimples with a healing brush...but both had very few...then I created a new layer and applied shine off to take some shine of their faces...masked it and painted in their faces...lowered the opacity....created a new layer and ran noiseware....masked it so her hair didn't lose detail....created a new layer and ran pearly whites....masked it and brushed over the teeth and eyes....then sharpened. Very little done as far as processing...

Of course that was only after I had it in ACR and checked the skin exposure using the Benji 240 Red Channel rule...and added just a tad of fill and a touch of contrast. Really, in my eyes, that was pretty minimal.

[waves]

Kelly,
I think you did an excellent job at the lighting. The only nic-pic I can comment on is his head needs to be tilted a little more to her, everything else is great. About the lens are speaking of the cannon lens, I thought you mentioned somewhere that you purchased the Tamron 70-200 2.8? Again great job!!

[tbnj]

Originally Posted by KellyL

Thanks Tina. The thing is...I do minimal PP, I think. I look at an image and don't know quite what to do. For this image, I hit the pimples with a healing brush...but both had very few...then I created a new layer and applied shine off to take some shine of their faces...masked it and painted in their faces...lowered the opacity....created a new layer and ran noiseware....masked it so her hair didn't lose detail....created a new layer and ran pearly whites....masked it and brushed over the teeth and eyes....then sharpened. Very little done as far as processing...

Of course that was only after I had it in ACR and checked the skin exposure using the Benji 240 Red Channel rule...and added just a tad of fill and a touch of contrast. Really, in my eyes, that was pretty minimal.

But isn't that the goal, Kelly? To get it as right in camera as possible so you an spend as little time as possible on your post-processing? Cuts less into your bottom line and your family time. Sounds ideal to me.

So, however minimal the processing on this image, it works. IMO, of course.

[felix.reichardt]

Kelly how does that

Benji 240 Red Channel rule

work? Can you explain the steps? Thanks!