Eye contact

A couple of weeks ago  had a commission to photograph two sisters partly as a record of their growing up, one off to university soon, the other in a year or so. The session went very badly soon after I had set up as one of the lamp units decided not to play anymore and after trying a few things I decided to give up and reschedule.
Here are some shots from yesterday's session and some inclusions from the previous session. On the whole the parents seemed happy with the original set - apart from maybe being a little too serious and a tad too contrasty. In order to get the best range of results I tried two lighting set ups. The first which had two soft boxes behind the sitters at about 45 degrees together with a couple of reflectors to bounce some fill back in. The second set up had a larger soft box and another 1metre box out front to give a much softer look, this second set up was all I used when I modelled them for their shots together - I didn't get that far the first time.

The original shots first, both at f10, 1/125th sec, ISO 200, 85mm

And now some shots from yesterday - the styling is something they have seen before and have expressed a liking for - these (apart from the laughing shot) are ones that won't be shown to the parents - I may post the final selection. All at f11, 1/125th sec, ISO 200. Left shot is 200mm whereas the second two are at 85mm

102mm

122mm

I think (hope) the parents will be happy with these, the sitters are both more at ease than last time (though my frustration at the failing system couldn't have helped). The fourth (laughing pair) shot captures a moment between the girls, which is contrasted by the last shot which has them very much at ease with themselves and me. The parents were a bit concerned in the first (albeit limited) set that the eyes were a bit "starey" which I have tried to control by lowering the contrast with reflectors in one lighting set up and with the frontal soft boxes in the other.