stant52 Loc: Williamsport, Pa.

My Grand-daughter asked me to take pictures for her "pinning" for graduating Nursing school . Pinning is a formality that they do the day before graduation. Thes student asks the person they want to pin her in our case it was my wife . All though she is technically her step-grand-mother we have been instrumental in her life ever since she was born . A long story

But my problem is I shot 80 pics ,assorted shots of family , all of which I felt came out rather good . Inside it was necessary to shoot with no flash so without thinking I continued to shoot outdoors still with the "no flash" setting . I had experimented during the week and I seem to get almost identical pictures whether I shot A priority , or Program or "no flash".

Si felt there would be no problem ,outdoors ,overcast ,with occasional sun peeking out . Now in the past there are certain family members that don't like full length pictures (weight) SO I never thought to shoot any full length while doing group shots.. My Grand-daughter looks great from any angle.

So here are a bunch of the pics that I was told "LOOK AWFUL!" . Needless to say I was greatly disappointed. So tell me what you think. You can't hurt my feelings anymore then they already are .
Thank you

HRoss Loc: Longmont, CO

First, shame on those who said they look awful, they are not. Can they be improved, sure. the first few could have their shadows brightened and a little work on exposure and contrast. The others with the flower frames are fine. You have a beautiful daughter and she looks fine in these photos, so ignore the "critics". You're using these for memories, not for a modeling magazine!

jim quist Loc: Missouri

You could add a flash for fill light. A good way to photograph these is to have them stand do the sun is behind them creating a nice hair light. Then using a flash on your camera to light them from the front. People will say to never use the flash mounted on the camera but the images will be well lit.

PoppieJ Loc: North Georgia

My only suggestion for improving these or the next batch of family pictures would be to pay attention to the background. For some reason people don't look their best with things coming out of their head (parts of buildings, trees, water fountains, etc..)

stant52 Loc: Williamsport, Pa.

I did think of that afterwards I don't shoot that many people and of course everyone was in a rush

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Judicious PP can also help these ......

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

I think that these photos have good elements, but could benefit from more work. If you really want someone to work on these to show what can be done in post-proceesing, you need to post them to allow downloading. You should consider Photo Analysis or Photo Analysis for help.

terryMc Loc: Arizona's White Mountains

I don't know how "awful" they are, but some are not exactly what I would do, I guess.

The first four have a very busy background which detracts from the people. I don't see how to fix that after the fact.

The flower pictures (of which I have included an example) could be cropped down to make a border instead of the massive bunch of flowers filling the frame. I think there is just too much flower and it becomes a picture of flowers with people in it instead of a picture of people with flowers.

I like the fountain pictures, I think they look great. Just do some standard retouch on the shadows/highlights and they are good.

I think that some of the crops are in rather odd locations on the various bodies. Remember the old rule about cropping at joints, etc., and don't cut people in half.

The photo example is not necessarily "better," but it is just more like how I would have done a shot like this to make it more about the people...

(Download)

Seabastes

Could your critic's have done better ?

Some fill flash and watching the backgrounds could make the images
better, but unless you are a paid professional, they are off base in
their criticism. The white post in the background in some images is
distracting and the signs in the background in others others are distracting
but we don't how pressured your situation was.

Boris77

You have happy smiling people that look comfortable in front of your camera, so the pictures are a real success! Some of the pictures could use cropping, but that is just part of the finishing process (based on use).
Many could use a little color correction or contrast modification to be more flattering, again just refined processing, or buy one of the cheat programs that does the slick stuff.
The weakest point of the pictures is distracting backgrounds, and even that can be processed into submission.
YOUR biggest problem is that you still need to do the processing work if you want top quality images, while the pros would solve the problems as they shoot. But you DO have successful images, and many of the Smiling people will tell you that.
Boris

Don, the 2nd son Loc: Crowded Florida

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Nicely done!

BE KIND

Congratulations to a very attractive graduate!

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

agillot

Nothing wrong , just maybe the back ground on the first 4 is too busy .