Senior Portraits - the things you do when you're an Uncle

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I was in Florida a couple weeks ago visiting my Mom and then driving across state to celebrate my in-laws' 50th Wedding Anniversary. I obviously brought me gear (there's another thread about how my flash triggers failed during family portraits), so I wasn't totally surprised when my nephew, who is known to take some photos, asked me if I'd "help" take some senior photos of my niece who is graduating high school this year. How is an Uncle with a bag full of gear supposed to say, "No, I don't do portraits"?

I had one day to shoot, my last one there, and thankfully the weather was gorgeous. Alas, I did not have a reflector, and my flash triggers weren't working, so this was going to be all natural light, and my niece has an amazing ability to squint in any light. So, we were shooting in the shadows. They had a couple places picked out, and some things they wanted to try, and I had looked at some of the shots my nephew had taken previously (nicely taken, but with incorrect settings on an older camera that spit ISO noise anywhere after 400), so I had something to go on. The big one was to get "a shot in a grassy field with an old chair" (which somehow I managed to have to carry the entire time), which we got, all while being stared down by a rather menacing and slowly approach bull. Unfortunately, her Mom (who was with us) decided not to jump the fence to get to the one shady spot where she wouldn't squint, and the pose has since been dubbed "unsuitable" since there's a bit too much leg and not enough wardrobe at that angle. So, while I won't be sharing it out of deference to M&D's opinion, at least I got it.

The rest? Let's just say that I'm not about to go into portrait photography any time soon, because I'm not a fan of disappointing people, and the pressure is there with every pose. I'm also way too sloppy in my shooting habits and by nature a little bit too much in a rush to finish one shot and move on. That said, I'm glad I have a decent tool kit because I'm quite pleased with the results. Workflow was pretty much the same on all of them:


  1. Crop to 5x7 aspect ratio (makes it easier to generate all printable dimensions later) in Lightroom and do any spot or gradient light fixes, and send to Photoshop.
  2. Levels adjustment layer, spot healing (she has had multiple knee surgeries) and artifact removal. Occasional application of spot Liquify to add a curve to a straight hanging sweater line or to even eye lines out.
  3. Viveza for contrast, shadow and temperature adjustments.
  4. onOne Perfect Portrait only on her face - eyes, teeth, lips and minor skin evening.
  5. Nik Color Efex Pro where I applied a custom preset that included (in order): Reflector Efex in Soft Gold (saved my ass - if you don't have a reflector in the field, you have one at home), Brilliance/Warmth, Classic Soft Focus set for very mild Diffusion, Glamour Glow set very mild. These were tweaked for each photo as necessary, but as I was shooting her in shadows this set of filters saved my butt.
  6. Dodging and Burning back in Photoshop, along with mild color, light and DoF/blur adjustments using layer masks.
  7. Final light adjustments in Lightroom, application of vignettes and facial lighting fixes as appropriate (love the Radial Filter for this)

The important thing is that she seems to really like them, and was very helpful in letting me know when I got a little heavy handed with my first pass at Perfect Portrait (to my credit, one of the photos she showed me when looking at examples of the chair shot was way overdone, as were a lot of the senior portraits I studied, so I figured I'd go there and pull back if she didn't like it - and she didn't).

I asked her if she'd be OK with me sharing, so here you go. I'll post a couple before/after shots below so you can see what I was working with.

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Marcel

Happily retired
Staff member
Super Mod
Very nice shots Jake. You did great. I hope she's happy with the results but remember that a lot of people never do like pictures of themselves. Looking at oneself in the mirror is not like looking at a picture of oneself... I know too. :)

Great post processing.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Here's what an Uncle will put himself through to get a shot (that's my nephew and his wife)...

Uncle Jake 1.jpg



And here are some before and after shots, with the first benefiting from my prone posture seen above...


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...not a huge difference, but enough to make it possible to shoot without artificial light or reflectors/diffusers.
 

sonicbuffalo_RIP

Senior Member
I thank you did a great job. No reason for you not to create more portrait photography. I look at it this way, when you said you didn't like shooting people, for instance, at the Easton Farmer's Market, you created an exemplenary (hope I spelled that right) portfolio of all kinds of people. It was incredible. I think you can do it with portraits too! I don't mean using the same layering techniques as you did before, but heck, you're creative enough to figure something out. I think you took some great shots here with your niece. Let's face it, you can shoot ANYTHING and make it come out good. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Very nice shots Jake. You did great. I hope she's happy with the results but remember that a lot of people never do like pictures of themselves. Looking at oneself in the mirror is not like looking at a picture of oneself... I know too. :)

Great post processing.

Oh, I hear you. When she texted me and said, "You made my legs look so good!", I knew I was doing okay.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
I thank you did a great job. No reason for you not to create more portrait photography. I look at it this way, when you said you didn't like shooting people, for instance, at the Easton Farmer's Market, you created an exemplenary (hope I spelled that right) portfolio of all kinds of people. It was incredible. I think you can do it with portraits too! I don't mean using the same layering techniques as you did before, but heck, you're creative enough to figure something out. I think you took some great shots here with your niece. Let's face it, you can shoot ANYTHING and make it come out good. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing.

I appreciate the comments, but for me there's a huge difference between street candids and posed portraits. There are so many other things to think about, from head and body angles (particularly with two people) to acting as a coach to your "model" and getting them to emote. I overshot like crazy - about 400 shots total. 1/2 got thrown out immediately, 1/2 of the rest got whittled down to groups of similar poses that then got sent to her to pick the ones she liked best and those are the ones I edited. I'd certainly do it again, especially for friends or family (only one more graduate to go in the family whose father isn't already a professional photographer), but the time involved on the back end isn't something I want to invest in a style I'm not enamored with. That said, I do want to at least get the techniques required under my belt in case the situation arises where I really want to shoot someone.
 

RockyNH_RIP

Senior Member
Jake,

I am not really qualified to comment much but let me say I thought you had a lot of very shots/poses in the set... I also liked your before and after series, possible subtle adjustments but dramatic improvements... great job! I enjoyed looking at them and learning!

Pat in GA
 

SteveH

Senior Member
These shots look great Jake, thanks for sharing! I always enjoy your descriptions & tutorials of how you get your results too, thanks again!
 

Anco

Senior Member
You certainly do a really good impersonation of a portrait photographer. I don't do portrait work either, so I don't know the intricacies of it, but the images look great to me and the post work is outstanding. I have to agree with sonic, I think you can shoot anything.
 

Roy1961

Senior Member
Contributor
jake i cannot comment either, i just say what i see, those are great shots, and you are lying down on the job again. :D
 

Browncoat

Senior Member
Nicely done, Jake. Portrait work is difficult, but rewarding. Difficult because sites like Pinterest put ideas in client's heads that aren't always good. They see something online and think, "Oh I like that, I want to do that!" And it usually involves chairs in the weeds or some crazy homemade flower wreath in their hair. It's all so cliche and overdone, and it can be hard to convince someone to break out of that mold and do something different.

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Pretzel

Senior Member
For a "non-portrait photographer", you put out some pretty amazing shots... of course we've all come to expect that from you. Thanks for taking the time to share the tips and before/after as well, because even though we've come to expect that too (just because of your amazing willingness to do so), it's very much appreciated!
 

mikew_RIP

Senior Member
One thing i dont like is your taking position,it could encourage a lot of old guys to get into a position they cant get out of and only be able to shoot the sky if they want to miss there belly :D

Not able comment on the technical side but really enjoyed viewing them.
 

Pretzel

Senior Member
One thing i dont like is your taking position,it could encourage a lot of old guys to get into a position they cant get out of and only be able to shoot the sky if they want to miss there belly :D

Not able comment on the technical side but really enjoyed viewing them.

BWAHAHA! I was just sitting here thinking, "I might have to lay on my belly, though, to keep it out of the way..."
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
One thing i dont like is your taking position,it could encourage a lot of old guys to get into a position they cant get out of and only be able to shoot the sky if they want to miss there belly :D

Not able comment on the technical side but really enjoyed viewing them.

It's funny that you bring that up. I'm sucking mine in and realizing full well how that articulating screen on the D750 would come in very handy should I need to do this again. LOL
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
Nicely done, Jake. Portrait work is difficult, but rewarding. Difficult because sites like Pinterest put ideas in client's heads that aren't always good. They see something online and think, "Oh I like that, I want to do that!" And it usually involves chairs in the weeds or some crazy homemade flower wreath in their hair. It's all so cliche and overdone, and it can be hard to convince someone to break out of that mold and do something different.

I know. But she's my niece (my favorite one, if she's reading - and if the others are, just know you're not working hard enough!!) and she wanted the brick wall and the field shot, so who am I to say "No" even though I saw them everywhere? :)

Truth is I would have loved to have had another day or two to shoot as there are some very cool places around there. I might have been able to talk her into some spots I wanted to shoot at, if only for myself. Next time - I'll tell her she owes me.
 

Krs_2007

Senior Member
Great job Jake, it's tough taking shots like this. My first time I was so nervous because they were paying for them and I don't like to let people down.

It is gratifying after you get them edited and the customer is happy.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
So I'm flipping through Instagram last night and I see that my niece put one of the shots up - but I'm freaking out because the colors are really off, so I'm wondering if I somehow screwed something up with my monitor calibration. So I text her and ask, "Hey, not that I'm bothered by it, but did you toss a IG filter on that shot you uploaded?", to which she responds, "Oh yeah, I just stuck some random filter on it".

Gotta love kids. LOL
 

Krs_2007

Senior Member
So I'm flipping through Instagram last night and I see that my niece put one of the shots up - but I'm freaking out because the colors are really off, so I'm wondering if I somehow screwed something up with my monitor calibration. So I text her and ask, "Hey, not that I'm bothered by it, but did you toss a IG filter on that shot you uploaded?", to which she responds, "Oh yeah, I just stuck some random filter on it".

Gotta love kids. LOL

You know, I see this a lot. My daughter does it and I just have to move on. But I did noticed that she will get a bunch of likes from my photo with a filter on it. I guess its a sign of the times. I dont get it.
 
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