Almost two year old girl ~ Wanting some hardcore C&C

[Lacey Anne]

Yup, I do indeed have my big-girl panties on. After trashing my last session so badly I grabbed my daughter and decided to do some theraputic shooting. We just went out and had fun. It was raining though, so maybe not as much fun as if we'd been dry. However, I am thrilled that my dd is finally getting to the point where she doesn't just cry when I get the camera out. So, C&C away!

All settings were:
1/125
f/4
ISO 100

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

 

[kellylindseyphotography]

They all look pretty underexposed, except for the last one. Also, you might hit a better sweet spot with a higher shutter, aim for 250. Even if you bump your ISO, if your exposure is perfect, you'll avoid grain.

Also, I think you could work a bit on finding the light. Such as shooting in open shade, and watching your background. (IE no dappled light and avoid shade which ends and is bright sun in the background). These look as if your not fully focusing on how the light is hitting her eyes.

In the first one, I can see that if you had bumped your ISO and upped your shutter, exposed perfectly, those eyes would have sparkled. Also where was the sun in relation to her, or if it was cloudy what time of day was it? It looks by the shadows that the sun was at her 11oclock which is a hard time of day with the shadows being cast downward like that and no light really getting into her eyes.

 

[kellylindseyphotography]

One last thing to better understand more Lacey, is I'm wondering your workflow and which if any actions you are using. They may be hindering these.

 

[Arch]

You have some nice poses here Lacey, i think i like #2 best.

I have noticed in some of your recent posts that you get alot of cyan/blue cast in your images. This will mainly be because of the lighting and white balence.

You can see here that there is quite alot of cyan in eyes...



This can be altered in PP... i also thought the eyes where quite dark... so here's what i did:

Create a levels layer... focus on the eyes only and bring in more of the highlights. Then mask off from the rest of the image using a layer mask.

Create a curves layer, again adjust untill the eyes are brighter, mask off from the rest.

Create a hue/sat layer, de-sat all cyan and most blue form the entire image.

I also made a few more curves layers to brighten the image as a whole so that it looked right on my monitor.

 

[Lacey Anne]

They all look pretty underexposed, except for the last one. Also, you might hit a better sweet spot with a higher shutter, aim for 250. Even if you bump your ISO, if your exposure is perfect, you'll avoid grain.

Also, I think you could work a bit on finding the light. Such as shooting in open shade, and watching your background. (IE no dappled light and avoid shade which ends and is bright sun in the background). These look as if your not fully focusing on how the light is hitting her eyes.

In the first one, I can see that if you had bumped your ISO and upped your shutter, exposed perfectly, those eyes would have sparkled. Also where was the sun in relation to her, or if it was cloudy what time of day was it? It looks by the shadows that the sun was at her 11oclock which is a hard time of day with the shadows being cast downward like that and no light really getting into her eyes.

It was a very cloudy day and actually drizzling while I was shooting. I actually really liked the lighting on these... I'd love some specifics on what you didn't like about it. The first few were shot on a covered porch. Thanks for your C&C, Kelly. You know I appreciate it.

 

[Lacey Anne]

You have some nice poses here Lacey, i think i like #2 best.

I have noticed in some of your recent posts that you get alot of cyan/blue cast in your images. This will mainly be because of the lighting and white balence.

You can see here that there is quite alot of cyan in eyes...



This can be altered in PP... i also thought the eyes where quite dark... so here's what i did:

Create a levels layer... focus on the eyes only and bring in more of the highlights. Then mask off from the rest of the image using a layer mask.

Create a curves layer, again adjust untill the eyes are brighter, mask off from the rest.

Create a hue/sat layer, de-sat all cyan and most blue form the entire image.

I also made a few more curves layers to brighten the image as a whole so that it looked right on my monitor.

Thanks, I can see what you mean. I appreciate your insight.

 

[kellylindseyphotography]

It might not be the lighting now that I look closer.. like mentioned above, it could be just that you WB was off which severely affects good exposure. once arch fixed the wb issue, I see that the light looks tons better! Only in #4 is the lighting not desirable where the shadow falls across her face. I hope things are going well with you lacey :hugs:

 

[Lacey Anne]

Ok, thanks. Yeah, #4 the lighting was off. I should have used a reflector to the left but it was just her and me and I didn't bring it with.
Thanks. Things are going... Well, they're going. Not well, but that's life I suppose.