Little Sisters

JustJazzie · Nov 27, 2016

I accidentally fired off a few shots before I remembered to move my reflector to the other side on shot 3. But in the end, the little lady was having a hard time sharing a natural smile with me, and ultimately expression won out over lightning.

Gary A. · Nov 27, 2016

Unfortunately, it seems that all young kids have developed a "Smile for Daddy/the Camera" smile. My grandkids are no different. Good job on these. On my monitor, it seems they could use a smidgen of darkening, especially on the clothing.

JustJazzie · Nov 27, 2016

Gary A. said:
Unfortunately, it seems that all young kids have developed a "Smile for Daddy/the Camera" smile. My grandkids are no different. Good job on these. On my monitor, it seems they could use a smidgen of darkening, especially on the clothing.

I remember when I was 5 or 6 getting family portraits done and I just COULD NOT give anything but a goofy smile. After leaving the studio, my mom says "Why couldn't you smile nicely?" I replied "Like this?" (giving the most perfect smile ever!)

Ah well. As for the brightness, one one of my screens, I agree completely. The one I edit on usually looks good, but I did recently move it to another room where the lighting has changed. Ill give them another once over from my tablet and see what a third screen tells me. Thanks!

Derrel · Nov 27, 2016

One thing I notice IMMEDIATELY and very profoundly is how gorgeous the bokeh is from that lens!!! Unlike many lenses, the out of focus area has a lovely, soft, very blurred and not "jagged'y" look to it, even on things that often tend to look jagged'y and ugly. Is this the Sigma 150mm macro lens? There's no EXIF for me to be able to cheat and peek, but this lens is a definitely, definitely superior imager for outdoor portraiture. I LOVE the way the backgrounds are rendered by this lens!

As for brightness: thse look lightm, and bright, and "summery"....not too-bright, but, well, summer-like, airy, feminine, fairly-tale like.

Maybe burn the edges down with a 30mm diamter brush, like Minus .33 stop? Just swipe,swipe,wipe,swipe with the Burn briush in Lightroom? Might make a helpful difference, yet leave them still summery and airy.

Gary A. · Nov 27, 2016

To echo Derrel, Yes!, a great job on the bokeh via aperture selection, location selection and lens selection.

JustJazzie · Nov 27, 2016

Derrel said:
One thing I notice IMMDIATELY and very profoundly is how gorgeous the bokeh is from that lens!!! Unlike many lenses, the out of focus area has a lovely, soft, very blurred and not "jagged'y" look to it, even on things that often tend to look jagged'y and ugly. Is this the Sigma 150mm macro lens? There's no EXIF for me to be able to cheat and peek, but this lens is a definitely, definitely superior imager for outdoor portraiture. I LOVE the way the backgrounds are rendered by this lens!

As for brightness: thse look lightm, and bright, and "summery"....not too-bright, but, well, summer-like, airy, feminine, fairly-tale like.

Maybe burn the edges down with a 30mm diamter brush, like Minus .33 stop? Just swipe,swipe,wipe,swipe with the Burn briush in Lightroom? Might make a helpful difference, yet leave them still summery and airy.

Spot on, Derrel! It is indeed my sigma 150mm 2.8 macro. Originally bought for macro, and now easily my go to for outdoor portraits!

Ill look at darkening it a bit, thanks!

tirediron · Nov 27, 2016

Wonderful! I think these may be some of your best. The lighting is spot-on, the posing totally appropriate, and as mentioned, DoF perfect!

JustJazzie · Nov 27, 2016

Gary A. said:
To echo Derrel, Yes!, a great job on the bokeh via aperture selection, location selection and lens selection.

Thank you! I do love a good echo.

tirediron said:
Wonderful! I think these may be some of your best. The lighting is spot-on, the posing totally appropriate, and as mentioned, DoF perfect!

Thank you so much @tirediron! I will have to note my aperture when I see the files again.

The_Traveler · Nov 27, 2016

I think these are lovely but too bright, unless my monior is off.

tirediron · Nov 27, 2016

I think your exposure is more "correct" Lew, but I think the original was more appropriate

Rick50 · Nov 27, 2016

I'm with Lew on the 1st two but I really like #3 as is. Much more life in those eyes.

FITBMX · Nov 27, 2016

Great set, I really love that first one!

JustJazzie · Nov 28, 2016

The_Traveler said:
I think these are lovely but too bright, unless my monior is off.

View attachment 130918

I know you calibrate your monitor, so you're probably right!
On my desktop (thats recently been moved to a new room with more windows) mine looks PERFECT, and this one looks too dark. I may have to do a print test and see what happens. I know I often get critiqued on "overexposure" its quite possible that bright is simply the style I am geared towards.

Though on my laptop, these look beyond overexposed with some highlight detail loss, but my histograms look "correct" to me....I also know my laptop screen is a nightmare with blacks being too bright. But again, since I have just moved the computer, I may need to do a point test to speculate further. Ive taken the cheep way out, and "calibrated" my monitor to prints in the past.