grand kids photo shoot: grand kids photo shoot...

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

grand kids photo shoot

sister admiration

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Paizlee and her pose

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the family

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paizlee

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Peyton

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Morgan

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Maci

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Grand daughter Paizlee and our 3 step grand daughters

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laughing grand kids

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posing

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nimbushopper Loc: Tampa, FL

:thumbup: Four beauties, great photos, good lighting!

tamurman Loc: Glasgow Sotland

What a lovely family you should be very proud and the shoot is vg.

Dianakkb Loc: Norwalk, Ohio

Very nice photos and very pretty little girls.

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

They are all wonderful and my wife and I love them dearly truly Gods greatest gift. Thanks for looking and you kind comments Dianakkb, tamurman and nimbushopper

Adicus Loc: New Zealand

Fabulous shots , bet you had a great time with those four beauties

rimcon Loc: North Carolina/Florida

They are all winners👍👍

Weddingguy Loc: British Columbia - Canada

J-SPEIGHT wrote:

grand kids photo shoot

Would like some constructive critique on your images?

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Great pictures of beautiful children Speight.

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

thanks for your comments Adicus,ebbote and rimcon critique is always welcome to get better shots Weddingguy they are fun to shoot not always cooperative though

Weddingguy Loc: British Columbia - Canada

J-SPEIGHT wrote:

thanks for your comments Adicus,ebbote and rimcon critique is always welcome to get better shots Weddingguy they are fun to shoot not always cooperative though

Tell me about it . . . I have eight local grandchildren, from 6 months to 11 years, that I work on weekly! Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. Actually I think you are a natural at getting great expressions from them! Congrats!

I see that you are using a couple of soft boxes, and that you are struggling with the settings. I randomly picked four of your images and the settings were 125th @ F/7.1 ISO 250 . . . 125th @ F/8 ISO 250 . . . . 125th @ F/6.3 ISO 400 and 125th @ F/8 ISO 250.
What I cannot determine is if you are using constant light or flash.

If you are using hot lights (constant) then a constant 400 ISO would be my suggestion . . if flash, then 100 ISO will produce much better results.
125th sec is a little slow, especially for children, as it leaves you open to subject movement that could ruin an otherwise perfect shot. Even with flash, if there is any ambient light, it can record movement at 125th. 1/200th is a better option, and with flash, will not effect exposure.

One thing that is missing in all your shots is modeling and depth. This is created by having the main light at least one stop brighter than the fill light. In your images the light intensity is the same from both. With flash you can simply have the fill light set at 1/2 the power of the main light. With hot lights the main light is moved in closer than the fill to accomplish the same effect.
To get the lights in the proper position, set them up one at a time. With hot lights you can see the effect of the one light . . with flash, a couple of test shots will determine the best position.
Looking at the size of the catch lights in the children's eyes, I would say that you could move your lights in quite a bit closer, especially for the individual shots.

My rule of thumb for F/stop is that with one child I use about F/4.5 . . . with two children, at least F/6.3 and with a group on different planes, at least F/11. At this point I would not be concerned with trying to blur backgrounds by using a wider F/stop.

In the shot of the four girls on the floor . . . this is a tough one and almost impossible to get them all in focus. A pose that gets them all on the same plane would be a better choice.

In the shot of the four girls standing . . . if you have them facing in one direction, have them look in that same direction, or at the camera. Having them look across the camera position causes you to see too much of the white of the eyes.

In portraiture, manual focus is preferred, especially if you are using a tripod. As you can see in the shot of the girls on the floor, the camera focused on the center spot . . . which happens to be on the background. None of the girls are in focus. (this shot makes me think you are using flash)

I hope some of these ideas help. I have made a few suggestions on the following images. If you have any specific questions I would be happy to offer my suggestions. Keep up the good work . . you are well on your way!
I am adding one shot I took of one of my grandchildren to illustrate what I mean about "modeling and depth"

J-SPEIGHT Loc: Akron, Ohio

Weddingguy wrote:

Tell me about it . . . I have eight local grandchildren, from 6 months to 11 years, that I work on weekly! Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. Actually I think you are a natural at getting great expressions from them! Congrats!

I see that you are using a couple of soft boxes, and that you are struggling with the settings. I randomly picked four of your images and the settings were 125th @ F/7.1 ISO 250 . . . 125th @ F/8 ISO 250 . . . . 125th @ F/6.3 ISO 400 and 125th @ F/8 ISO 250.
What I cannot determine is if you are using constant light or flash.

If you are using hot lights (constant) then a constant 400 ISO would be my suggestion . . if flash, then 100 ISO will produce much better results.
125th sec is a little slow, especially for children, as it leaves you open to subject movement that could ruin an otherwise perfect shot. Even with flash, if there is any ambient light, it can record movement at 125th. 1/200th is a better option, and with flash, will not effect exposure.

One thing that is missing in all your shots is modeling and depth. This is created by having the main light at least one stop brighter than the fill light. In your images the light intensity is the same from both. With flash you can simply have the fill light set at 1/2 the power of the main light. With hot lights the main light is moved in closer than the fill to accomplish the same effect.
To get the lights in the proper position, set them up one at a time. With hot lights you can see the effect of the one light . . with flash, a couple of test shots will determine the best position.
Looking at the size of the catch lights in the children's eyes, I would say that you could move your lights in quite a bit closer, especially for the individual shots.

My rule of thumb for F/stop is that with one child I use about F/4.5 . . . with two children, at least F/6.3 and with a group on different planes, at least F/11. At this point I would not be concerned with trying to blur backgrounds by using a wider F/stop.

In the shot of the four girls on the floor . . . this is a tough one and almost impossible to get them all in focus. A pose that gets them all on the same plane would be a better choice.

In the shot of the four girls standing . . . if you have them facing in one direction, have them look in that same direction, or at the camera. Having them look across the camera position causes you to see too much of the white of the eyes.

In portraiture, manual focus is preferred, especially if you are using a tripod. As you can see in the shot of the girls on the floor, the camera focused on the center spot . . . which happens to be on the background. None of the girls are in focus. (this shot makes me think you are using flash)

I hope some of these ideas help. I have made a few suggestions on the following images. If you have any specific questions I would be happy to offer my suggestions. Keep up the good work . . you are well on your way!
I am adding one shot I took of one of my grandchildren to illustrate what I mean about "modeling and depth"

Tell me about it . . . I have eight local grandchi... (show quote)

thanks for you imput i'll try suggestions and see how it goes