Thread: Some advice needed, please! (pic heavy)

So, I wasn't even going to post these because I think they turned out so bad, BUT then remembered, that's why I decided to be a part of this board, to get BETTER!

I attempted to a do a valentines shoot with the kids, while DH was home from work one day. Thank goodness he was there, or it would have been impossible to round up the kids and keep them somewhat in one spot. haha. I don't know who was more stressed, me or DH. LOL.

So my set up was just in front of my big window. I taped some wrapping paper on the wall, and used Dani's pink carpet from her room. I used natural light for the most part.

I bought these cute neck ties for them to wear with just their diapers, since it was kind of a last minute thing and I didnt have any actual nice outfits for them. The idea in my head was much cuter than it turned out. lol. I was using my 50mm and just didn't have the room to get far enough back to get them all in.

It was nearly impossible to get them to both look at the camera, heck it was hard to get ONE of them too look at it.

1/125 f/4.0 iso 400

dj1 by JamieMarie1, on Flickr

1/125 f/3.5 iso 400

j2 by JamieMarie1, on Flickr

1/125 f/5.6 iso 800

dj4 by JamieMarie1, on Flickr


1/125 f/3.5 iso 400

d3 by JamieMarie1, on Flickr

1/125 f/4.0 iso 400 I played around with this one, and used the Cross Processing in Flickr.

dj2 by JamieMarie1, on Flickr

So there's some of the ones I took, probably the "best" ones I got. I want to try again in the next couple days and just wondering what I could do to improve them...any advice/suggestions would be awesome! This is the first time I've tried to do a set up like this.
Ugh, after previewing the post and looking at them again, one thing for sure is they are not consistant..the colour looks different in every one! bleh.

Thanks for looking!

hmmm, first of all, they ARE cute, even if they are not technically perfect. I think the neck ties are just too big, and they look more like aprons when you can't see the bottom half (which actually looks cuter to me) What if next time you tried half with, and half without?? I love the expression in #4.. adorable! My other suggestion would be to try a different background color, so you can avoid those yellow casts!

Oh yeah, I'm definitely not using the yellow again! Haha, seemed like a good idea at the time. I did take a few with a white background, but none of those turned out nice enough to even bother with.

This was a great go at it! Your light looks good and you have great catchlights. Unless you have a great handle on white balance, I would go with a pastel background to avoid color cast, but still get a decent background color. I only use fleece for "studio" backgrounds (check out my blog for some examples). This will also give you some more space to work with. I think the neckties are a cute concept, but their size and undefined top makes it hard to work with. Maybe play around with conversation hearts instead of messy suckers to help the session last longer, and borrow your older toddler's favorite stuffed animal to "help" take the photos for eye contact. Expect photo sessions to last 10-15 minutes max with these guys...

you've already gotten some great feedback, but I just wanted to add how cute I think these are! your ideas were right on and they certainly have that great V-day feel to them. I love it!

Yellow is so hard to work with. The 2 rooms in my home w/ the most light are painted yellow and the other orange. ORANGE! color casts are so terrible in there that I'd rather shoot in a low light room w/ better color.

Pastel colors work great as does basic black or even brown. As this is a v-day shoot ... patterned wrapping paper with hearts might work well too.

Thanks so much for sharing! These 2 are just TOO CUTE and I can't wait to see more.

best,
GiGi

You have a very creative spirit! I think all the girls' suggestions sound good. Have you tried converting any of these to b & w? I think #4 would look awesome that way.

Originally Posted by maricopamom3

I only use fleece for "studio" backgrounds (check out my blog for some examples).

Sorry if it's right in front of me, but I can't see a link to your blog and I'd love to look.

Originally Posted by acarbo99

Yellow is so hard to work with. The 2 rooms in my home w/ the most light are painted yellow and the other orange. ORANGE! color casts are so terrible in there that I'd rather shoot in a low light room w/ better color.

GiGi, my house too! Yellow and orange! Seriously, it's so impossible! And I have zero "equipment" for backdrops or anything, so it sucks!

Sorry about that! www.photosbyejrussell.com and click on blog!

Hey, trust me...I KNOW how difficult it is to get them both (or in my case, ALL 3) to look at the camera, never mind a good cute face and perhaps a smile! So I think these are pretty cute. If that darn sucker wasn't blocking her face in the last one I think it would be my favorite! I like the "feel" of it the best.
Your kids are so cute!

These are cute! My faves are 2 and 4. Color issues are also the bain of my existence these days...
It's so hard to get my ONE toddler to stay still for 2 seconds, let alone 2 children...so I definitely feel your pain there! Thank goodness for hubbies who are willing to play along! I have a backdrop stand that I've used maybe twice because he simply won't stay still!