I was asked by the mother of this young lady if I would shoot her Senior pictures. I explained to her that I felt uncomfortable in doing it since I haven't really practiced doing portraits. She seemed disappointed so I told her that I would try. Here is one of almost 300 I took.
She looks fabulous--this is a wonderful portrait! Maybe, you have a flair for portraits that would not have been realized, otherwise? Lovely shot, Skip!
@beryl@paulam@gilbertwood - Thank you very much for your gracious comments. It turned out to be a lot easier then I thought going into this. I scoured Pinterest and found some helpful ideas from other photographers which I think paid off. Mom and daughter haven't seen them yet. I did text Mom a copy of this one and she seemed pleased. I took them yesterday and I spent a lot of time last night and today going through them, getting rid of all the ones that were bad and easy to detect. I had my camera set for burst mode so I took 3 - 4 shots of each pose in case of blinks and the wind was blowing. I picked the best of those and then I started working on blemishes. When I was finished I whittled the count down to 41. I burned them on a DVD and will deliver them tomorrow.
@kwind@lynnb@seattlite@joansmor@dmdfday@mittens@danette@kellycsva@vegansusan@tabarlett@flyrobin@ludgate@hinkkd@gardencat@nicknac
Thank you all for your wonderful comments and support! You don't know how much I appreciate them! I gave the DVD containing the finished photos to her mother last evening. Now I am waiting to hear back from the family. I showed a friend of mine, a fellow photographer who is also a friend of this young lady's family, this photo last night. The family had asked her if she would do her Senior pictures and she declined. She asked me how it went and I said I thought it went well. I had a copy of this picture on my phone from when I texted it to her mother. When my friend looked at it I got what I thought was a less than favorable response. It's not that she said any negative it was more of her less than complementary reaction. I was looking at her face as she looked at it and I saw no signs of acceptance of it. I know the family has to be the ones who has to approve them, but since this "friend" got me to join her camera club and we have been friends for years, I thought I would have gotten a more positive reaction. And so, I thank you for your gracious support. I'll let you know when I hear from the family how their response was.
@skipt07 That's always nerve racking. Fellow photographers are probably the best (worse?) critics of your work... your friend might have noticed something that the mother and daughter would never notice or care about.
Do keep us in the loop. I'd love to hear what the mom and daughter think!
I'd also like to hear the family's response. I personally don't like it. It appears that you are looking down on her. Her smile looks forced, and she appears to be apprehensive.
@Weezilou@soboy5@nicoleterheide@bill_fe
Thank you for your honest critique of this photo! I can't take credit for coming up with this PoV. Since I have little experience in portrait photography I sought out Pinterest and found some ideas, this being one of them. I still haven't heard from the family. Maybe when I see them on Sunday. I am getting antsy.
@friend2303 - Thank you Vijay for your kind words! They seemed to be pretty happy with them! This was the second time I have done Senior pictures. My first was my granddaughter's. But this being a non-family member put more pressure on me. I do feel I learned a lot doing this shoot!
April 15th, 2015
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Thank you so much for your very kind comments!
@beryl @paulam @gilbertwood - Thank you very much for your gracious comments. It turned out to be a lot easier then I thought going into this. I scoured Pinterest and found some helpful ideas from other photographers which I think paid off. Mom and daughter haven't seen them yet. I did text Mom a copy of this one and she seemed pleased. I took them yesterday and I spent a lot of time last night and today going through them, getting rid of all the ones that were bad and easy to detect. I had my camera set for burst mode so I took 3 - 4 shots of each pose in case of blinks and the wind was blowing. I picked the best of those and then I started working on blemishes. When I was finished I whittled the count down to 41. I burned them on a DVD and will deliver them tomorrow.
Thank you all for your wonderful comments and support! You don't know how much I appreciate them! I gave the DVD containing the finished photos to her mother last evening. Now I am waiting to hear back from the family. I showed a friend of mine, a fellow photographer who is also a friend of this young lady's family, this photo last night. The family had asked her if she would do her Senior pictures and she declined. She asked me how it went and I said I thought it went well. I had a copy of this picture on my phone from when I texted it to her mother. When my friend looked at it I got what I thought was a less than favorable response. It's not that she said any negative it was more of her less than complementary reaction. I was looking at her face as she looked at it and I saw no signs of acceptance of it. I know the family has to be the ones who has to approve them, but since this "friend" got me to join her camera club and we have been friends for years, I thought I would have gotten a more positive reaction. And so, I thank you for your gracious support. I'll let you know when I hear from the family how their response was.
Do keep us in the loop. I'd love to hear what the mom and daughter think!
Thank you for your honest critique of this photo! I can't take credit for coming up with this PoV. Since I have little experience in portrait photography I sought out Pinterest and found some ideas, this being one of them. I still haven't heard from the family. Maybe when I see them on Sunday. I am getting antsy.
Today I saw this young lady's parents at church. She had to work. They told me that they love the photos and that their daughter used one of mine to be in her yearbook. That surprised me since many schools have a policy that the students have to use the same photographer so that the yearbook pictures are fairly uniform. Evidently her school uses whatever the student submits. I am sure there are some constraints. I asked her mother which one she picked and it was either this one or one very similar. That was a great relief and also a joyful moment! Thank you for all your compliments especially when I was questioning myself!