Santa Baby! C&C Please!

SabrinaO · Dec 16, 2010

I did more of my sons portraits and im wondering are these too dark? It was my first time using a black background. HUGE mistake putting Yo Gabba Gabba on the computer because he wouldn't look at the camera once, but it kept him from crawling everywhere..lol.
Anyways how do you all get the background super black without post processing? Is that possible SOOC because I brought out the blacks in LR. How are the exposure in these?

PavementPilot · Dec 16, 2010

I think the only one that needed more light is the last one. Side light on the gift to bring it up to level without blowing the rest of it. Nice work with a young one.

reznap · Dec 16, 2010

These are pretty solid. #2 and #3 are my top picks. I'd probably photoshop the drool away on #2 but I guess drool can be cute on kids. I'd definitely photoshop an adult's drool away though.

Why so many different crops? What have you cut out? Hopefully you have a pre-crop of the last one with fingers... I really want to like that one a lot, but the fingers cut off are hurting it I think. Also, you said you clipped the blacks curve with Lightroom, it really took all the detail away from the boots on the last pic too.. feet and floor blend together.

I'm not sure exactly how to keep a completely black background but I would think a non-reflective black fabric, kept kinda far in the background and without any lights pointed at it would do it.

If you want to just darken the background, you can also do so by using masks.

cyngus · Dec 16, 2010

adorable really great work

the last one is my favorite, great expression..

SabrinaO · Dec 18, 2010

PavementPilot said:
I think the only one that needed more light is the last one. Side light on the gift to bring it up to level without blowing the rest of it. Nice work with a young one.

Thanks i didn't even notice that! I'll bring it back.

SabrinaO · Dec 18, 2010

reznap said:
These are pretty solid. #2 and #3 are my top picks. I'd probably photoshop the drool away on #2 but I guess drool can be cute on kids. I'd definitely photoshop an adult's drool away though.

Why so many different crops? What have you cut out? Hopefully you have a pre-crop of the last one with fingers... I really want to like that one a lot, but the fingers cut off are hurting it I think. Also, you said you clipped the blacks curve with Lightroom, it really took all the detail away from the boots on the last pic too.. feet and floor blend together.

I'm not sure exactly how to keep a completely black background but I would think a non-reflective black fabric, kept kinda far in the background and without any lights pointed at it would do it.

If you want to just darken the background, you can also do so by using masks.

I love the drool. It's him

I made all the shots to 1024 width. Its just with flickr i just randomly selected the smaller ones..500width, 450 width... etc. And about his fingers i know... thats my fav too but he was crawling up to the camera fast so I just snapped the picture. Maybe if I changed it to portrait mode I would of captured everything. :x

Thats what I did with this backdrop. I have black savage paper. But I read somewhere that even a white wall can turn black SOOC. how is that possible?

Thanks for your reviews!

SabrinaO · Dec 18, 2010

cyngus said:
adorable really great work the last one is my favorite, great expression..

Thankyou!

GeorgieGirl · Dec 18, 2010

These came out great! You have to be pleased.

Re: The black Savage Paper, very nice...I had read reviews that are certainly not what I am seeing here. I am ditching the muslin now.

myfotoguy · Dec 18, 2010

Well done! These are great!

Genka81 · Dec 18, 2010

Nice job!!! I think the last one needs less light on his face, it looks blown out a little, and I do agree to light up the gifts a little more. All the others are perfect.

I love his expression, too. He's seems to be a tough little guy... holding back the smiles. =P He's totally adorable though.

Robin Usagani · Dec 18, 2010

You didnt use lighting did you? These are great though. Still a little dark for my taste.

mwcfarms · Dec 18, 2010

You can increase your aperature (close it down) to make the background darker when trying to bring out the subject more. I use lighting and haven't tried this with just ambient. Did I get that right? :scratch: