Never tried this before, opinions

[jdemoss99]

I wanted a certain pic for Christmas of

Our little girl so what I did was hang a white sheet over our windows where sun was coming through and then set up to small studio lights

I have with reflectors and used my on camera flash, and here is what I come up with, I want to do this as a print for family, maybe on

canvas, opinions anyone

[jdemoss99]

<p>here are the pics one is the standard shot and the other I tried to look more like a painting</p><div></div>

[jdemoss99]

<p>here is the 2nd one</p><div></div>

[jdemoss99]

<p>here are the other 2</p>

[jdemoss99]

<p>kiley 3</p><div></div>

[jdemoss99]

<p>kiley 5 painting</p><div></div>

[parv]

(Text below references only "Kiley 1 standard" & "Kiley 1 painting".)

 

The forced smile looks, well, forced; single leg sticking out looks odd.

 

Perhaps try completely wiping out the sheet behind?

 

Other than slightly overexposed leg & shoe, exposure seems good.

 

There does not seem to be much difference between the two versions other than the "painting" looks like a slightly blurry version of "standard". Be bit more bold in your experimentation in "painting".

[ren__purwin]

<p>I like the idea and the lighting is quite good. It is not that easy toi get that high key look right and you did fine.<br>

Nevertheless, there is room for improvement (there always is...):<br>

I find especially the blurriness overdone. If you print on canvas, the canvas itself will add its structure, which is blurry enough for my taste.<br>

The, yes, the leg is a bit "stickuing out". It would be better to either have a glimpse of both legs or to hide it behind her clothing. But it is certainly not a killer mistake for a family portrait. Grandparents and aunts/uncles etc. will be very pleased with a shot like that!</p>

[jdemoss99]

<p>thats her trying to smile, not forced, its so hard to get her to just relax and give an honest smile</p>

[jeremy_corbin]

<p>High Key work is definitely not for the faint of heart. It's not difficult as far as gear is concerned but depending on how sloppy you place everything it either works out perfectly or is a disaster in post production. I love shooting on white because I've failed at it enough times that I know exactly where everything needs to go in order to minimize the amount of post production required. (I'm of the mind where if I spend more than 5 minutes processing a photo I have <strong>failed</strong> at a proper capture and I'll trash (proverbially) the photo. I don't get overly "painterly" with any of my photos for that reason, but there are plenty of folks on this forum (Dorus Oshiva comes to mind) that know exactly how to push a photo around and make it very interesting to view.</p>

<p>As far as posing, trying to pose kids the way you want can be a frustrating process. They don't know what you're asking them, and trying to work on it with them can result in them stomping off, getting bored, or not being in any sort of mood to smile genuinely. (fake smiles suck. it's obvious to anyone viewing the photo that they didn't want to be there.) My kid plan (similar to the adult plan) is to have everything set up the way you want it and bring them in at the last minute. Then be a total comedian and make them genuinely laugh, smile, and react to you. Let kids be kids, you just need to give them a reason to smile and you're golden. My eldest daughter has been programmed by her mother to react like a lunatic when she's getting her picture taken. It's taken 18 months of training to her to be herself in front of the camera. Moral of the story: Shooting kids is hard.</p>

<p>I think you're on the right track, Jordan. Experiment some more and I think you'll have it.</p>

[jdemoss99]

<p>ok, lets get answers to this, she has her brothers DNA, she loves to shoot and was ready to go before I could get things set up, as for the smile she knows I want her to so to get a natural one is a PAIN, she will start cheesing before I can say cheese or to get her to laugh, she is a poser but her smile is fake, I had her laughing with a natural smile and as soon as I go to take the shot she sees me move and says CHEESE, what do I do about it, I can't break her</p>

[jeremy_corbin]

<p>Jordan, just keep the camera up to your face while making the jokes. Don't take it down. She'll get used to it being in place and it'll smooth that out a little bit. I also would sit at the kitchen table with the camera out and "tinker" with it. My daughter would get used to me sitting there and NOT in a photo session and forget there was even a camera. Then when I made a joke, it would be genuine... the camera became routine and so the behavior became genuine.</p>

<p>Try that for 3 months and report back your findings! :-)</p>

[jdemoss99]

<p>Is this what you are saying about her leg, is to tuck behind her, I just removed it out of the other pic as example</p><div></div>

[parv]

I agree with Jeremiah's sentiment about conditioning other people of the camera presence, and personally have done the same.

[donnie_strickland]

<p>Also you could try using a wireless remote. That way you can move away from the camera and catch her when she's got a natural smile.</p>

[andrewg_ny]

<p>Not sure how you're doing the 'painting' but you might want to try doing it using a mask so that detail in certain places like the eyes doesn't get smeared as much.</p>