Toddler on the move advice

[gayle23]

The first one is cute- a bit dark and cold but nice

View attachment 130704

Ooooh how have you made it look better!?

 

[The_Traveler]

Ooooh how have you made it look better!?

Looking at a photo, understanding how it could be edited to look better is the hardest skill to achieve.
And that is only done by looking at pictures, trying to understand what you like and why and the reverse, reading what other people think in the critiques.
That's what will drive your editing.

I have 3 rules - Put important things in important places, minimize defects, amplify good points.
What should the viewers be looking at? What is really the most important part?
Her face.
Why is it way up in the corner?
Do we need so much dress, so much Out of Focus tree?
I don't think so.

So if this is cropped (I generally crop to a standard format)
(In this case 3:2)
Her face is more prominent in the frame and it is at a strong point (the Thirds).
A lot of the tree and dress are gone but so what? We know that they're there.
Now look at her face; is she really blue and sort of dull - and is that the impression you want to give?

So I added some brightness, added a bit of contrast and warmed up the color.

What I did took me 30 seconds at most.
No fancy tricks, nothing special.
You need to work at actually seeing the picture as it is and not the picture in your mind's eye.
Then learn to understand what the defects are.
The easiest part is correcting them.

The easiest way to focus your attention is to go trhough a set of interrogatories about a picture as a guideline to how a image could be improved.

I wrote this article, Getting to a Final Image - some words on editing photos for a new photographer, a couple of years ago and I think it might help.

 

[gayle23]

Ooooh how have you made it look better!?

Looking at a photo, understanding how it could be edited to look better is the hardest skill to achieve.
And that is only done by looking at pictures, trying to understand what you like and why and the reverse, reading what other people think in the critiques.
That's what will drive your editing.

I have 3 rules - Put important things in important places, minimize defects, amplify good points.
What should the viewers be looking at? What is really the most important part?
Her face.
Why is it way up in the corner?
Do we need so much dress, so much Out of Focus tree?
I don't think so.

View attachment 130742

So if this is cropped (I generally crop to a standard format)
(In this case 3:2)
Her face is more prominent in the frame and it is at a strong point (the Thirds).
A lot of the tree and dress are gone but so what? We know that they're there.
Now look at her face; is she really blue and sort of dull - and is that the impression you want to give?
View attachment 130743

So I added some brightness, added a bit of contrast and warmed up the color.

View attachment 130744

What I did took me 30 seconds at most.
No fancy tricks, nothing special.
You need to work at actually seeing the picture as it is and not the picture in your mind's eye.
Then learn to understand what the defects are.
The easiest part is correcting them.

The easiest way to focus your attention is to go trhough a set of interrogatories about a picture as a guideline to how a image could be improved.

I wrote this article, Getting to a Final Image - some words on editing photos for a new photographer, a couple of years ago and I think it might help.

Thank you so much I feel like that is really good advice. I will definitely read your article.

 

[The_Traveler]

Here is the section with the questions for those who hesitate to go offsite:

These are some of the questions I ask myself when I look at a picture to decide what items need to be considered in a post-processing workflow.

• Are there obviously horizontal or vertical lines that are off their true direction without any artistic reason? (horizon, trees, etc.)
• Are there bright areas of light or color that draw a viewer's eye from the real object of interest?
• Are there one or more obvious centers of visual interest where a viewer's can settle?
• Is(are) the center(s) of interest - the main subject(s) - well placed within the frame and does the placement relate well to the rest of the content so that any viewer's eye is drawn to, rather than away?
• Is there excess space that pulls the eye away and drains any tension or drama from the picture?
• Is there space that gives some weight to an important part of an image?
• Is there enough space so that nothing feels cramped or cut off?
• If the subject is a person or a face and his/her placement in the frame is asymmetric, does the asymmetry make sense to the eye?
• Are there geometric issues? e.g. are the horizontals and verticals correct, and is that important or as you want them?
• Is the skin color 'natural' to the subject?
• Are there little off-tints in the skin? (look at the sides of the nose and under the chin where these lurk.)
• Is there a bluish tint to the skin or the whites of the eyes? (Even with a custom white balance, this is all too common in portraits taken outdoors. Try adding a warming photo filter and see how this looks.)
• Is the color or tonality appropriate for the content? Saturation or lack of it? Correct hues, white balance?
• Does the color make the point that you want?
• Is the sharpness or lack of sharpness appropriate?
• Is everything that should be in focus and sharp, actually so?
• In the reverse, is there so much depth of field, so much in focus that attention is drawn away from the real object of interest?
• Are there individual small defects -points of motion, dirt on the lens/sensor, out-of-focus spots that hurt the image, unduly bright areas that draw the eye?

After doing this kind of image evaluation for a while, one doesn't need to dwell specifically on questions and the evaluation will become unscripted and automatic.

Nothing is wrong per se if it creates the impression that you want to make.
Something is wrong if it gets between the viewer and her/his appreciation of the image.
​

 

[gayle23]

Here is the section with the questions for those who hesitate to go offsite:

These are some of the questions I ask myself when I look at a picture to decide what items need to be considered in a post-processing workflow.

• Are there obviously horizontal or vertical lines that are off their true direction without any artistic reason? (horizon, trees, etc.)
• Are there bright areas of light or color that draw a viewer's eye from the real object of interest?
• Are there one or more obvious centers of visual interest where a viewer's can settle?
• Is(are) the center(s) of interest - the main subject(s) - well placed within the frame and does the placement relate well to the rest of the content so that any viewer's eye is drawn to, rather than away?
• Is there excess space that pulls the eye away and drains any tension or drama from the picture?
• Is there space that gives some weight to an important part of an image?
• Is there enough space so that nothing feels cramped or cut off?
• If the subject is a person or a face and his/her placement in the frame is asymmetric, does the asymmetry make sense to the eye?
• Are there geometric issues? e.g. are the horizontals and verticals correct, and is that important or as you want them?
• Is the skin color 'natural' to the subject?
• Are there little off-tints in the skin? (look at the sides of the nose and under the chin where these lurk.)
• Is there a bluish tint to the skin or the whites of the eyes? (Even with a custom white balance, this is all too common in portraits taken outdoors. Try adding a warming photo filter and see how this looks.)
• Is the color or tonality appropriate for the content? Saturation or lack of it? Correct hues, white balance?
• Does the color make the point that you want?
• Is the sharpness or lack of sharpness appropriate?
• Is everything that should be in focus and sharp, actually so?
• In the reverse, is there so much depth of field, so much in focus that attention is drawn away from the real object of interest?
• Are there individual small defects -points of motion, dirt on the lens/sensor, out-of-focus spots that hurt the image, unduly bright areas that draw the eye?

After doing this kind of image evaluation for a while, one doesn't need to dwell specifically on questions and the evaluation will become unscripted and automatic.

Nothing is wrong per se if it creates the impression that you want to make.
Something is wrong if it gets between the viewer and her/his appreciation of the image.
​

So helpful, thanks for that. I will still read your article when I get a chance very soon.

 

[donny1963]

Here is what I mean, some Chrtistmas light shots I took. Settings are mostly 200mm lens at f/2.8, ISO 400 or so, shutter at a slowish speed of 1/25, White Balance for the tree lights set to Incandescent Light, and the subject lighted by a very low-powered foreground electronic flash (Nikon SB 800) fitted with the factory-supplied orange filter for the flash and firing at about 1/16 power as I recall. The flash was maybe 7 feet from the subject, shot into a small umbrella.View attachment 130592

Darrel:
it's a good shot how ever 1/25 is too slow a shutter speed to do a portrait, too many things can go wrong, if the subject moves even slightly the picture will be fuzzy, you got away with that one except for her finger she moved it i know this because the wedding ring she has on there and her hand is fuzzy as hell.

Why would you want to put your self in that situation to use a slow shutter speed when you don't really have to?

you can get the same results by changing the ISO to maybe 200-ish instead of using a slow shutter speed..
So why would you tell some one who is new to that kind of stuff? to increase his chanced in a failed picure?
one thing i would never do is tell some one to use a shutter speed lower then 100 for portraits to some one
who is new at it, that is a recipe for disaster..

and the other thing i mention he was asking about how to do this with kids moving around, well if you got
toddlers moving around you don't want to be using a slow shutter speed unless your looking for a blur effect..
Any one who has kids, knows you can't get a toddler to stay still for a second, and from experience of doing
portraits in the studio, i can tell, not one client who has brought in their kids for portraits, will stay still for a
1/25 shutter speed if you attempt that, good luck with that..

 

[photo1x1.com]

View attachment 130698 View attachment 130699
These are the best out of quite a few!

Really cute! I think there is too much surrounding light to make the christmas lights really pop.
Today I went to a christmas market, because just like you I still have that perfect christmas image in mind . We have a really big one here in Vienna. I found out that they have huuuuge electric bulbs on the huuuuge christmas tree. I guess that would help a lot because these send out tons of light. So maybe if you have a bigger christmas market in your town, you could try that.

That's a good idea thank you, I will have a look out for some really good big lights. Good luck getting your perfect Christmassy photo! Be good to see it if you get a good one.

More than two weeks later I found a christmas tree that was suitable. Yesterday I went to the biggest christmas market in vienna - oh my god it was crowded beyond belief. I forgot to take a picture of the tree alone, but I took an image that was resembling exactly what I was looking for:
Lens was 55mm full frame. ISO800 | f2.0 | 1/80sec
It was about 20 min after sunset, open skies.
The tree was pretty big - I´d say around 4m high, rather wide and well covered with lights. The lights themselves haven´t been that big, but nice and bright. Distance to the tree was about 2m
Now I need to go back and reshoot it with our cute little neighbour .
I hope that helps you with your christmassy images.

 

[photo1x1.com]

And when I say it was crowdy, I´m talking about this:

 

[gayle23]

Wow that market looks amazing and god so many people! The lights look amazing in your picture, really beautiful. Thanks for remembering, I am still trying to get a really good shot, have been experimenting with my tree at home and trying out stuff with fairy lights, just been watching a tutorial about using card with cut out shapes that you stick to your lens, gonna try that as it looked fun. Still struggling to use a slow enough shutter speed with my moving daughter and I don't have a tripod so getting camera shake. Will post some if I get any I am pleased with. Hope you get a really good one with your neighbour.

 

[KmH]

EV = Exposure Value
Most DSLR camera come set by default to adjust EV by 1/3 stop increments.

What’s A Stop?
A stop of exposure is a fundamental photography concept.

A 'stop' is a doubling (2x) or a halving (0.5x) of the amount of light that reaches the recording media, be it film or an electronic sensor.
Since exposure is a triad of adjustments (shutter speed, ISO, lens aperture) you can change 1, 2 or all 3 of the triad settings.

If you want 1 more stop of exposure (brighter) you can adjust just one of the 3 by 1 more stop.
Or, you can change 2 of the 3 by 1/2 more stop each for a net gain of 1 stop of exposure.
Or, you can adjust all 3 by 1/3 more stop for a net gain of 1 stop of exposure.

You can also change the triad of settings and have no change in the exposure.
If you change 1 of the 3 settings by 1 stop more exposure and change a 2nd setting by 1 stop less exposure the net change is zero.

Suppose you subtracted a stop of shutter speed to help stop subject motion, you could add a stop of lens aperture to keep the exposure the same. However, adding a stop of aperture will also affect the total depth-of-field (DoF) by a small amount. So, if you don't want the DoF to change you would add a stop of ISO instead, however, adding a stop of ISO will likely increase by some amount the image noise in the photo.

Notes:
• DSLR cameras are set by default to adjust the exposure settings in 1/3 stop increments.
Most DSLR cameras let you change that to 1/2 stop or 1 stop increments.
However, the advantage of 1/3 stop step increments is more precise control of exposure.
• DSLR cameras only meter reflected light and have 3 or 4 scene metering options - Spot, Partial, Center-weighted, and Matrix/Evaluative.
• Many professional portraiture photographers use a hand held light meter so they can measure reflected light, incident light, and strobed light (flash).
Good hand-held light meters meter in 1/10 EV increments allowing very precise exposure adjustment.

 

[smoke665]

Lots of good advice on the technical side, so thought I throw in my two cents on non-technical. We have a 15 month old granddaughter who must be a decedent of Speedy Gonzales because she's everywhere at once, touching everything in sight. I've had to totally readjust how I take pictures. First of all, my lights are set to light a zone. X marks the spot so to speak. Exposure and shutter is all set to manual for that zone. Auto Focus on (spot), so that when she enters the zone, all I have to do is compose and shoot. Secondly, at that age only one thing stops them cold in their tracks - something sparkly that they haven't seen before. We keep an assortment of shiny (the brighter the better) non-breakable objects so that just as she enters the zone, my wife makes sure they magically appear in the right spot. If lucky we get as many as 3 or 4 shots before she's on the move again.

 

[gayle23]

Lots of good advice on the technical side, so thought I throw in my two cents on non-technical. We have a 15 month old granddaughter who must be a decedent of Speedy Gonzales because she's everywhere at once, touching everything in sight. I've had to totally readjust how I take pictures. First of all, my lights are set to light a zone. X marks the spot so to speak. Exposure and shutter is all set to manual for that zone. Auto Focus on (spot), so that when she enters the zone, all I have to do is compose and shoot. Secondly, at that age only one thing stops them cold in their tracks - something sparkly that they haven't seen before. We keep an assortment of shiny (the brighter the better) non-breakable objects so that just as she enters the zone, my wife makes sure they magically appear in the right spot. If lucky we get as many as 3 or 4 shots before she's on the move again.

Thank you, good advice about the sparkly stuff! I will try it. I have recently switched from using the auto servo focus mode (as a friend said it was no good) to using either single point (when she's sat still) or continuous servo, but I'm really having trouble catching shots with the right compostion now when my girl is on the move. I have been trying to keep the middle focus spot on her face as I heard that the middle focus spot is the most sensetive and I want to get sharp focus of her face. But then I'm trying to recompose quickly and it's all going wrong. Am I in the wrong focus mode? Is that a whole other thread question? There is dynamic mode on my d3300 is that what I should be in? It's hard to quickly move the focus points to track my toddler. Frustrated!!

 

[gayle23]

EV = Exposure Value
Most DSLR camera come set by default to adjust EV by 1/3 stop increments.

What’s A Stop?
A stop of exposure is a fundamental photography concept.

A 'stop' is a doubling (2x) or a halving (0.5x) of the amount of light that reaches the recording media, be it film or an electronic sensor.
Since exposure is a triad of adjustments (shutter speed, ISO, lens aperture) you can change 1, 2 or all 3 of the triad settings.

If you want 1 more stop of exposure (brighter) you can adjust just one of the 3 by 1 more stop.
Or, you can change 2 of the 3 by 1/2 more stop each for a net gain of 1 stop of exposure.
Or, you can adjust all 3 by 1/3 more stop for a net gain of 1 stop of exposure.

You can also change the triad of settings and have no change in the exposure.
If you change 1 of the 3 settings by 1 stop more exposure and change a 2nd setting by 1 stop less exposure the net change is zero.

Suppose you subtracted a stop of shutter speed to help stop subject motion, you could add a stop of lens aperture to keep the exposure the same. However, adding a stop of aperture will also affect the total depth-of-field (DoF) by a small amount. So, if you don't want the DoF to change you would add a stop of ISO instead, however, adding a stop of ISO will likely increase by some amount the image noise in the photo.

Notes:
• DSLR cameras are set by default to adjust the exposure settings in 1/3 stop increments.
Most DSLR cameras let you change that to 1/2 stop or 1 stop increments.
However, the advantage of 1/3 stop step increments is more precise control of exposure.
• DSLR cameras only meter reflected light and have 3 or 4 scene metering options - Spot, Partial, Center-weighted, and Matrix/Evaluative.
• Many professional portraiture photographers use a hand held light meter so they can measure reflected light, incident light, and strobed light (flash).
Good hand-held light meters meter in 1/10 EV increments allowing very precise exposure adjustment.

Thanks, I'm trying to really internalise all of that advice. It's like at the moment I get it when I read it and then when I'm taking photos of moving kids I kind of get so focused on capturing the moments that I get confused by it all! I get a bit frightened of using manual. Would you suggest using manual when photographing kids on the move, or one of the priority modes? I have also been struggling with using the continuous servo focus mode as I described in my response to smoke665's message. Have you any advice? Thanks

 

[smoke665]

Am I in the wrong focus mode? Is that a whole other thread question? There is dynamic mode on my d3300 is that what I should be in? It's hard to quickly move the focus points to track my toddler. Frustrated!!

Though my camera model has "face tracking" mode I don't use it, nor do I use continuous focus. Instead I set my exposure as I said above so that I know I have an acceptable depth of field, set auto focus on single spot, then concentrate on placing that spot on the eyes.

 

[gayle23]

Am I in the wrong focus mode? Is that a whole other thread question? There is dynamic mode on my d3300 is that what I should be in? It's hard to quickly move the focus points to track my toddler. Frustrated!!

Though my camera model has "face tracking" mode I don't use it, nor do I use continuous focus. Instead I set my exposure as I said above so that I know I have an acceptable depth of field, set auto focus on single spot, then concentrate on placing that spot on the eyes.

Thank you for that, does single spot mean the same as single point af? I thought auto focus was the one that switched between single spot and using multiple focus points automatically? It's all a bit confusing. I'm trying out using Af_c with dynamic af_ area mode but not sure if that's the best combination for a moving toddler. Just trying to read up on it all. Thanks again Gayle