Yankee Boy Portraits

The recent great posts prompted me to neglect my pressing side projects and process some photos from the weekend before last.

Like, Todd, I had YBB all to myself, me and a dozen of my closest strangers. Fortunately, having slept up there, I did have most of the good light to myself with lots of worthy subjects. By the time the light was more harsh than I wanted to deal with, the vehicles were streaming in; a good time to leave.

This shot is my favorite flower intimate of the shoot. I love my Tamron 28-75/f2.8 for these shots.

Canon 20D, Tamron 28-75, 1/200@f5.6

Have I mentioned that I love shooting Columbine?

I call this one "Big Brother"

Canon 20D, Tamron 28-75/f2.8, 1/100@f5.6

I like the flower and the depth of field on this one but I go back and forth on the foreground leaves on the bottom. Do they add or detract?

Canon 20D, Tamron 28-75/f2.8, 1/800@f5.0

This bouguet of Arnica (right?) was so cheery and tight (there, Todd I set you up), that I had to shoot them. The early morning light was so intense, I had to wrestle it back into a reasonable range with LR. BTW, all of these shots are LR only adjustments (small ones, mostly), if anyone cares.

Thanks for looking!

Canon 20D, Tamron 28-75/f2.8, 1/6@f25

That first portrait is a beaut!
I'd keep the foreground leaves in #3.

Looks like you've done about all you could to rescue the Arnica.
I think that's about the time to pack up the gear or break out a diffusion screen.
My eyes really took a jolt when that one popped up.

I like the first one, too. Nice. I also have the Tamron 28-75 and it seems to do well.

Kalin - I like #3 the best. The dark leaves at tthe bottom do a nice job of anchoring the image with a certain visual weight and the stem on the left branch serves nicely as a lead-in line. Well-composed indeed!

Great Kalin. I really like the composition of both #1 and #3.

Great shots Kalin! Number 1 and 3 are fantastic - I would not change anything.

Kalin, I like the compositions of 1 and 3, but all the images seem really underexposed. They don't seem to be missing highlights (maybe you could push them a bit higher), so I'm guessing the midtones and shadows are getting pushed down too much. I feel a lighter exposure would suit these images better. Similar to what Todd did in his columbine shot.

Just my 2 cents.

I agree with Craig that they all look dark, but the comps and subjects are stellar. The yellow flowers are alpine sunflowers/old man of the mountain.

Thanks for the input guys.
Funny, I figured Todd would find these dark. I actually went in and brightened them a smidge after my first export based on this expectation. In LR I pump up the blacks to boost the contrast and isolate the subject, pushing down the background. Personally I tend to prefer the slightly underexposed variants for the contrast and saturation but I truly respect and appreciate the critique, so I'll reconsider the adjustments as I start to print these.

Thanks Todd, for the flower ID!

I like 1 and 3 a lot - nice collection.

The foreground leaves in the third image really make that one stand out, IMO.

#1 is very nice!

NIce Kalin, i agree they look a bit dark, except the sunflower shot. I like #3 the best.

Very nice comps, Kalin. I'm in the camp that favors a slightly brighter presentation, but they certainly work as is. Having YBB all to yourself sounds like quite a nice way to start the day!

I really like the first columbine image. The dark background really brings it out.