Kid's Birthday Party

[fokker]

I did a paid job last night for an Indian couple who were celebrating their son's first birthday, just thought I'd share a few of my favourite shots from the night here. C&C if you like or feel free to edit them. These were all taken with my Canon 40d and 50mm f1.4. I was initially using my 17-55 2.8 and using the flash (430ex) but wasn't getting the results I wanted, so I went to the 50 and upped the ISO. I think the noise is a good tradeoff for being able to get the look I wanted. I did however make the crucial mistake of taking a lot of group and coupled posed photos with a wide aperture, and in a lot of the shots I have one or two or more blurred faces and only one in sharp focus. I should have stopped down to about f/3.5 or so and used a bit of flash - lesson learned there.



1. Father and Son - 1/80 f/2 ISO 1600 no flash

2. Facepainting - 1/80 f/2 ISO 1600 no flash

3. 1/100 f/1.8 ISO 800 no flash

4. 1/80 f/2 ISO 1600 no flash

5. Tikka Masala - 1/60 f1.8 flash bounced from ceiling

 

[Robin Usagani]

they are underexposed. I think you really need the flash unless you are going for black and white classic look.

 

[mrpink]

These photo's do not really speak to a "1st birthday" at all. I would have guessed more along the line of a wedding reception.

here is one from my nephews 1st....


Logan's 1st B-Day 040 by Matt Francosky, on Flickr

See the difference?





p!nK

 

[Robin Usagani]

different culture mrpink..

 

[fokker]

Yeah, it's not really what you would expect for a child's first birthday. There were about 60 people there, mostly adults. About 10 kids in total. It went from 7.30 - 10.30 pm and there was a dancefloor, coloured lights and loud bollywood style music playing the whole time. I thought my shots fitted the mood of the event quite well.

 

[Robin Usagani]

So what didnt you like about the flash ones? It seems you have a perfect scenario with low ceiling and white paint.

 

[GeorgieGirl]

Yeah, it's not really what you would expect for a child's first birthday. There were about 60 people there, mostly adults. About 10 kids in total. It went from 7.30 - 10.30 pm and there was a dancefloor, coloured lights and loud bollywood style music playing the whole time. I thought my shots fitted the mood of the event quite well.

A 1st Birthday party is usually always for the adults unless the family and friends are all in kid mode and having chlidren at about the same time when you may see a few more in the mix. I'm sure the family is happy to have the photos for the memory box.

 

[fokker]

So what didnt you like about the flash ones? It seems you have a perfect scenario with low ceiling and white paint.

I dunno... they all just look too bright. Maybe I just like underexposed photos. It was somewhat dark in the venue so properly exposing the photo surely accounts for that right? The photos to me look about right in terms of exposure because they match how I remember it looking at the time.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Even if you like to underexpose, you want your histogram more on the right because it can retain more information than the left side of the histogram. You can underexpose it on PP. Plus the noise doesnt look as bad when you over expose it a bit.

 

[fokker]

Tis a tradeoff though. If I wanted to overexpose the photo when taking it I would have had to crank the ISO to 3200 and/ or drop the shutter speed even further. Boosting the exposure 1 stop in post increases the noise about the same as cranking the ISO by 1 stop so it's neither here nor there really.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Fokker, higher ISO photos that are not underexposed are better with noise. It has been discussed many times. Dont be afraid pushing the ISO:

Under-expose vs bump iso

Low light: underexpose vs. high ISO

 

[sobolik]

I think they all need tighter crops for starters. I think they all could use 20% cropped off each dimension. I'd also work on lighting adjustments in PP. And sharpen.

for example