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Family and Kids Critique Part 3

Lesson 21 from: Professional Photographers Critique Student Images

Sue Bryce, Scott Robert Lim, Bambi Cantrell, John Cornicello

Family and Kids Critique Part 3

Lesson 21 from: Professional Photographers Critique Student Images

Sue Bryce, Scott Robert Lim, Bambi Cantrell, John Cornicello

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Lesson Info

21. Family and Kids Critique Part 3

Lesson Info

Family and Kids Critique Part 3

I think this is so much about this photograph, okay, so I love the concept. I hate the fabric in the background like I'm a big fabric thrower and I try and teach people to throw it towards the camera, not up because you get those wings, but maybe that's what you're going for, but it all aside and it is very heavily processed what I height about this image and I'm saying height, which is a very strong word is how much make up on their child. Now you can get the play makeup look which I love and that's what the plane I think they might have been going for, but I just feel like it so close this is such it could have been so beautiful, and I just feel like it was pushed a little bit too far again, just a little bit too much too far that read on the bottom is a little too much if it had been the whole cheer in there and really, you could pull that off, but just the top of it makes you look down the fabric makes you look at the back. I love this little girl, I love her flowers and everything...

but it's just too much to match see, and I really like this photograph, but not it's, not technically, it's not it's all over the place, but it's campy to me, it is not supposed to be taken as a riel courtship to me. I see this just more as an illustrative kind of funky thing because and I don't see it at all. I don't take it seriously. I think that's the point for me is that I don't all take it seriously because she's wearing these little shorts and then she's got this little funky little dress thing going on here. Um, I too I don't like to see little girls wearing makeup. I don't want it to look like a riel portrait of a little like I despise toddlers and tiaras either that to me creeps me out, but I do like to see, like kind of tim burton kind of that kind of twist where it looks more cartoonish. So I do agree with the critics you've made on my riding, huh? Mac writing? Yeah, mac right in the way. He illustrates children out here. It makes him look like little fairies and monsters. Yeah, I tell you what, though the maker I'd love to see the maker take this concept and rework it a little bit because I like the idea I like there's so many aspects of this that I love this little kid she has got an amazing little look on git is very, very campy I'd like to see them take this and move it a bit less portrait e so that you know and really pull it over the edge into something that's much more illustrated have you ever taken a shot that you put on facebook that sits on it? Not so much controversial but you you have the lovers and the haters but not the in between is you know, like I love that I love this and then somebody just slam slam slam that's what they would get it would get a big kick either way so but that's a good thing yeah it's so much better if it's boring you're screwed it is it really bad? I love this image I think it's beautiful portrait I think there's a really big difference between looking down and closing your eyes if you close your eyes in a photograph you either need to be in a sleeping pose or and even when you look down your own body line it's not a nice shot there's a really big difference between close your eyes, honey and look down at the ground when you look down at the ground, you're in your own energy like this and that's a beautiful portrait but when you say close your eyes, it's a blink and I see blanks when I see eyes closed I just see a blink on dh when you're a photographer what's the one thing you look for in camera focused blink focus blink so look down look down look down at the floor looked down at the floor katie looked down to the side kerry looked down your own body line katie looked down to your look down to fear that's it looked down but not eyes closed unless you're lying down in a finite nude our opportunity with eyes close because you're in that moment of sleeping where you call it little cat you know, in the little cat pose and it's like really beautiful and you get that relax mouth and the eyes just chapter when the eyes closed and yeah, well that that suits the energy of it. So what is the energy that you're giving me when the eyes are closed? It's either blinking or I'm shutting you out it's not this not a look down which is coy I looked down could be beautiful chabot this photograph unfortunately really falls flat for a variety of reasons the number one, the expression her expression is is very almost she looks a little bit afraid that's the first thing that hits me in the photograph is that she just has kind of that look of fear on her face the second the second thing about the photograph that I find ah little bit um that needs work is the fact that it's very one dimensional there's no we see it's just very flatly lit across the front of the face and I feel that there's no dimensionality to the photograph I'm all about the flat lights on the opposite debate me I flipped like everybody I think it's more like a beauty dish and that's my style I like the flat light I like the background when I don't like his here expression I never turn the face away from the camera in this way to may I'm always and chin forward engine ford engine is you know because it's the most written thing on my facebook page so yeah just turn around and you know what? You don't want a photo of your kid looking pissed off you want a photograph of your kid even a big smile little smile but not annoyed in not grumpy but it's a cute sharp could have bean really amazing you know they might have taken a few more and there's also wasted to initiate expression and it doesn't mean that you have to have this big toothy smile and every child because there are some children who just are not big smile erso and there's something some adults who are not big smile or so you know I feel that it's important to to capture people the way that they really are not try to make them do you know stupid human tricks you know try to make them smile if they're not if that's just not their natural been but I think that there's things that we can do to engage an expression you know maybe find out a little bit about them or or have them tell stories sometimes I'll have a little child like this age I'll say what's your favorite song sing me a song anything that I can get to help to initiate something in the brain that goes and we'll come out through the face maybe it's not a big toothy toothy smile but it'll it'll appear in the eyes it will be something that'll come cause there's ways that you can smile that we can smile without you know getting a big cheshire credit can't get a grin on our face weaken smile when we think about something that makes us happy it's a micro expression it's really interesting how many if you study body language how mean if you study john gottman how many of you know about micro expression? You know john gottman studies couples and he asked them a question about the couple while they're in the same room but he misses the response not by what they're saying but boy, they're micro expression gives away the way they twitch the way that I really flicks up can team to us look the way they go stiff in the upper level the bottom left micro expression to me it's magnificent when I look at people view the headed conversation with someone and when you pay them a compliment they go from really super serious too you can see that expressions flicker like this it's really subtle and I love that I always look at expressions so when I hold expression I don't do the story or the know anything or to make you laugh I have far more control in there but I tell you what I've been teaching the girls when I'm shooting and I said to nikki the other day hold hold her gaze through the camera how you doing that you have a big black camera in front of your face how are you holding her gaze well I got there so I'll just keep talking to her and I'll be like baby look at me okay I want you to hold my guy looking you know hope my girls I don't want I hope my guys hold my guys hold my gaze in the more you talk the more they listen to you and then I just go really look at me through that camera and I would notice that when I said it to the girls look at me through the camera steamy down really look through that lens of may or the client's instantly went into this complete I'm looking straight through the lens at you and then keep talking to them and just keep asking for expressions try different ones but keep asking for a good line and ice that someone photographs along little kids that sounds like a great idea but it doesn't really work all that much of children so it's been my experience with little kids bribery and corruption, bribery, corruption work a long way and and sometimes even that doesn't work but it's been my experience that yeah, sometimes you just have to you have to sometimes even just shut up and let them be who they are we occasional have a child in and we're like through on our hands up trying how did we get to them when in reality they were already there we were just trying to make them do what we wanted them to do and so I find that with little kids that sometimes what they we have to do we have to find out what they want to do and then find a way to make what they're doing what we want them to do doesn't make any sense you know you just talked a bit about looking down well I think this is a new example would you agree yes it is but unfortunately if you're going to look down you can't crop the chin so close to the bottom of the frame so you either move your crop down the head and show so I always look at top of the here line to around the nipple line is the bigger crop this one's just sitting a little too high, so she would have been in perfect frame when she had to hit up and she looked down. They saw a cute moment but didn't move down with here the case that you just can't cut the chain off of the bottom of the frame, you need to have a little bit of the shoulder and just move back, move down so good, you know, photographing glasses has had I don't care what anybody says. I'm a natural life photographer it's had when you use that official light it's hard, but some people aren't people without the glasses, so they need to have them and they needed them. But to say that they look like here there. So this is a good portrait. This is a classic crops to low again. You could have taken off the top of the head and gone down the brits line just a little bit more. But this is beautifully shot, beautifully exposed. Just move around within it. And if you cropped up posting camera, you missed the mark. So if he crapped in camera, you know you can't crop up that high above the bris line and then the top of the heat it needs to be here just move it all on down just a little wee bit and don't crop half into the four year he aligned mex and the closer to the here line the high you can crop up on the bo blind. But if you're getting the mid here or the top of that, he had just come down to hear just pulled down a little wee bit it's more fashion it's more contemporary and she's lean enough that she could have been in the frame just a few inches more. She is too far to the left. But her face is captured beautifully. It sharpens well exposed. You know it's, just a little bit of a composition. It's a really pretty portrait. Very, very sellable. This is an incredible, incredible same and a lost moment. I get it she's kissing the child, but that or is in the way they are obviously saw this emotional moment. This is just a classic. Everything was set up and I didn't quite set up the portrait enough a little bit more control would have made this magnificent. I just feel like that child, the mom's kissing the child and then this is big dude and blue with a big or right across and it's a lost moment for me head they or bain looking at each other or laughing, they're all could have been down it would have just been magnificent but you know, maybe the author put this in because they just love the moment so match but the moments lost yeah, there are too many elements that you don't know what to look at in this photograph on because there's no way we can't see enough about the story we don't see the dead, he just looks a bit stiff there and the little girl doesn't have a very she doesn't have any expression on her face and mom's head is down you're not sure what, what what the story is about look, the child was so beautiful and when you see the mother kissing it, you look in and you go, I know where this also love this so much and if they knew that people they'd love it even more, but on in terms of it being a folio sharp knife, you know, if you just if this were the photographer had used a really long lens and photographed just like a portion of the mom said with that little girl, it would certainly improve, I mean, but then it would wouldn't have any of the boat, huh? Oh it's a little boy okay well it's such a pretty child to compete there I think it's it's adorable too bright too close too high speak about being too close um you know teaching composition is really hard because I have a composition method one two three four five which is were I crop but then I have a very specific genre to close is just that moment when you're cutting the ears off okay either one here needs to be in there but never do crop up both ears because you can crop a really tight shot and it still can show both ears but when you're cutting off both years you're slicing down somebody's face and it looks wrong so cute kid and good black and white but too close too high and now his big heart bright spots on the face you need to deal with that so you need to move them you need to put up you know a block of light or you need to block their light I would rather have seen it flat and shadow than that much highlight in the face but don't crop off the ears diane never looks good I love this portrait her hair looks like he's got many mouse ears but she really does have many mouths and she does have many many years it's cat ears I think this is a really interesting portrait I think that her pose fits the style um I think she looks very, very this just very interesting I want to keep looking at it you know what? Um that annoys the hell out of me that that there and I can see where they're burned in every highlight which sacks and post post processing but in terms of capturing who she is with her jewels hirak you know all of that in her expression one hundred percent excellent just like if you move that subject away from that background that background it would have been so much better because that left hand side is very much distracting and the land of the vehicle and that but the chance of catching the girl well done only the elements but this been in here known and in these holiday it just means that you're in a position where you had highlights on here and you didn't take them down and you could have but take them down before you shape them don't shoot them and try and do it in price, but I mean we save a lot in post processing speech when you're winning you're like, well, I can fix that are photoshopped but stopped capturing and cameron now as you get better and better because all I see now is this big bin and on her middle finger in the front in this big ben and highlight and I've stopped looking at a beautiful face in her expression and it's actually quite easy to do in camera all you need to do is you need to have some sort of go boat between that light and that arm and one of the things that's been my experience is that if I squint but when I'm about to capture the image you can kind of see where those highlights are going to be it was this your image mark how did you like this that's natural okay so good then that's actually is here so then you just take something and have it go between that light source and her arms so that you can keep that light off that bright part of her arm or minimize it a little bit and because this is a photograph has so much potential this idea is really good this I would have taken the light down in this image but it's so it's such a incredible capture of this little girl because she's obviously so unit looking I just adore it I just feel like it's too hot if it was just descend traded a little and that shadow under her left eye just really bugs me but if that was gone I would just adore this I think it's amazing she is such a unique little girl and you know sometimes your subjects are so engaged to the camera you don't care about mistakes that it's just too hot this is beautiful I love I am nuts about this picture of mine and I'll tell you what I like about it it's yours it's a beautiful image you know what I love about it I love she looks very relaxed and you know we talk about how you cutting off the arms and stuff that doesn't bother me a bit in this photograph I love how relaxed she looks it looks very believable opposes very believable um I think it is a bit hot and the reason I think that it's it looks too hot to me is because the background is very dark and then you have her wearing these light clothes and then you know, with the lights so this is a raw file no, I mean do you have the ability? Is it was did you shoot? This is a rough I was actually looking much brighter on this glossies radio we can still see it. They're hot on there. Yeah and she's such a fair complected and I can see your light source because it's coming through the split in here which is giving you this base shadowing lived inside yeah there so that's natural light or you just need to bring your recovery up in your roar on finish up open it do prices and light rain will find a job that remained so if you go open it and further shop than you have the recovery towards just dropped your highlight out when she dropped the highlight out. The mood of this image would have bean magnificent this again. This has so much potential because it's it's such a pure photograph and I love pure images where there's not a lot of gimmickry and there's no gimmickry with this it's just clean and natural. And the expression on this little girl's face is so appropriate. It's very pretty great, thanks. I'm not the expression on this little girl's face. When you photograph kids that are like eighteen months old, you just chase him and get what you can and I get that you just chase him and you get what you can for mom and mom would love that. Um, you know, without the reader or the hand there, I would have loved it even more so sellable image folio image not so much see, I'm the opposite. I really love that picture and here's why I like I like everything about it. I don't mind the red, the red ottoman from just a purely technical photographic standpoint. It's not like, oh my god, I'll die. However, when I when I look at photographs of children, I like that higher camera angle down on a child, because what that does to me is that to me indicates perspective on how small that child is and I like that and the way they look up at you is so cute exactly and I think and I like that and I think probably what I would have done is I think the ottoman if we got rid of the ottoman that the background just a clean background and having that child look up you would be priceless right after just that wooden floor there was a lot that one's mind so that a lot of chasing but yeah grows that jim that she's everyone you know you don't have to chase them if you have a wrangler, I can't even tell you the power of a wrangler because if you're just having to put if you're photographing little kids on your own, you are chasing them but cia wranglers whole idea the whole idea of a wrangler is that that's the person that engages that child and gets them and gets them to start engaging with them emotionally and start you know, sometimes it's like my one of my associate photographers does magic tricks and healed that child could literally sit on the floor and he'll be doing magic tricks and engage them and I'm over the idiot just with the camera and because they're so engaged with what he's doing it's easier to get into say still way have like stuffed animals that he puts on his head and then they he squeezes and pop some office head sometimes it means, you know, throwing the ball up in the air and catching it or or balancing a banana on your nose. You know anything that you could possibly do to get that child invasion? If you do that, then it really allows the photographer to be able to not have to work so hard to capture this image is low kids people think a comments from the internet defrost was a regular says way to go, jim and then code five says leave the ottoman for glamour, but it is an opposite on the color wheel to the blue. So as it that's why it really doesn't bother me that is there. I kind of you know I don't really have a problem with it cause I love the child's expression so much and it does give context to how small that child is. Ladies, I just wanted to know, uh fah joe said love how soon bambi are giving their advice on all the photographs and a bit different, but very honest, great teaching ladies, thank you and people are enjoying that you guys are I kind of have different critiques I think that's helping people to learn even more we shouldn't leave things as well, and when we do she ate the same things we shoot them differently, so I think people are really drive, yeah, justice. If there's more than one way to, you know, to cook, I mean, there's. Lots of things that you can cook, and some people cook. I can't very well, I can't either.

Ratings and Reviews

Dell - DLawrencePhoto
 

This a great course. It's like you're taking a lot of what we learn into all the classes and applying it to the critiques. Everytime they give a tip I'm thinking "oh I remember X saying this." "oh I remember Y said that". When will the videos be available for download? I see the thumbnails and the link but it says to purchase to download. Thanks

Chris Hansel
 

The way I learn photography is to watch reviews. but the way I learn is to pause before they pass their comments and then match my reactions to theirs. This was free but is worth more to me than a lot of other courses.

Nora
 

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