How to avoid this

[Fstoplife]

This weekend I am taking pics of two little girls ages 2 and 4. We are going to be outdoors. I am really excited as its my first paying photography job, if it goes well. I shot this pic outdoors and he looks really washed out, how can I avoid this for this weekend? We are going out at around 9 in the morning, and I am hoping to be done before the really harsh shadows come out. So my questions, how can I avoid this look? Any suggestions on poses? What should I bring in terms of equipment? I often hear to bring a speedlight for fill shadows outdoors, true? also I am going to get a piece of oaktag for now to use as a reflector. Anything else? When I use the speedlight should it be on camera? Is there a better place on this site that I should be asking these questions? Thanks so much in advanced, everyone here is so helpful, I have learned so much from lurking and now participating.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2426/4031567567_3411892c2b.jpg

His eyes look a little soft because this is not a full high res image. It was downloaded from my other site so it's been compressed numerous times.

[Qarik]

The exposure in general on this shot looks good. The skin does appear pale but I am betting that is close to his real skin color and not an exposure issue judging by the exposure on the shirt. jeans, wall, etc. If it is an exposure issue then I think you are close enough to simply lower exposure in post processing. If you want to avoid this in camera..simply lower your exposure in manual or set exposure comp -1/3 or so if shootingin a programmed mode.

Yes, bring a speed light for fill flash and yes generally fill flash is on camera.

Spend some time talking to the girls and parents to get them confortable around you. Chimping the shots with the girls is good way to break the ice.

[Hackbone]

First thing is look for shade or some type of overhang. This will lessen the light coming straight down and not give you racoon eyes. Take your hand or a ping pong ball and look at it where they will be standing. Look for the bright side and the darker side and pretend this is there head and try to position the head in the same direction to get some direction of light. One side of the face should be alittle darker. If you have time play with the camera in apeture mode and your flash on camera set to a minus 1/3 to 1 and see how that looks.

When posing it is pleasing to put one persons eyes at the others mouth level(speaking about plains). Don't put all the heads on the same level line.

Good luck.

[Nikolai]

Keep in mind that 2 y.o. typically don't have a whole lot of attention span, don't follow directions and the whole thing probably will be over in 30 min or less. So you better prep everything in advance cause you won't have the luxury of setting things up when the kids are already "in position".
Other than that with an early morning light you can use it as main/fill, although I personaly would use the sun as a rim/hair (it looks great on kids gentle hair) and use gelled flash for the main.

[Scott_Quier]

If it's over-exposed, it's only by a little. You've not blown any highlights so it's all recoverable in post.

To answer the question - if this is overexposed it's a metering problem. With that "expanse" of dark shirt, the camera computer was fooled and attempted to increase the image exposure to bring that shirt up to an 18% gray rather than leave it dark. To overcome this, pay attention to your histogram when you are shooting and adjust your Exposure Compensation (if you are shooting in something other than manual mode) or decrease your exposure by something like either 1/2 or 2/3 of a stop and you should be golden.

[Fstoplife]

First thing is look for shade or some type of overhang. This will lessen the light coming straight down and not give you racoon eyes. Take your hand or a ping pong ball and look at it where they will be standing. Look for the bright side and the darker side and pretend this is there head and try to position the head in the same direction to get some direction of light. One side of the face should be alittle darker. If you have time play with the camera in apeture mode and your flash on camera set to a minus 1/3 to 1 and see how that looks.

When posing it is pleasing to put one persons eyes at the others mouth level(speaking about plains). Don't put all the heads on the same level line.

Good luck.

I love the ping pong ball advice, that makes so much sense! I love when things just click in my head! Thank you so much!