Xmas Portraits

errant_star · Dec 7, 2005

These were taken last night at high ISO, 50mm prime, and at 2.8

My son and my niece in front of the xmas tree (DOF a little too short and mostly focused on my niece)

My niece cropped out of the above photo

Another singular shot of my niece (shows some of the noise though I think)

This is the first attempt anyway ... any suggestions on how to improve them (other that the obvious DOF issue in the first)

Would a fill flash or reflector of some sort have worked better in the last one to eradicate the shadows as well as dealing with the noise?

All comments and crit appreciated

northman · Dec 7, 2005

The focus does not seem real sharp on them. The light seems good, but I'm wondering if they aren't a touch overexposed (the faces). I would also like to see them in color.

Are you using autofocus? Try manual focus...put a newspaper next to them and focus on it if it's hard to tell. I would close the aperture a little to make sure to get a little bigger DOF and good focus.

JodieO · Dec 7, 2005

What was your shutter speed? I'm guessing your shutter was slow because I am thinking I see handshake - and thus the blur. Try not to go under 1/125 if you can help it with the 50 mm. On my D2X, I find I cannot go below 1/200 or I tend to get a bit of hand shake as the D2X has a larger sensor.

darin3200 · Dec 7, 2005

I like the first one, the other two can be sharper though. The higher tones on their faces works well though :thumbup:

errant_star · Dec 8, 2005

Thanks for all your comments ... I appreciate the feedback.

In terms of the softness I think I lost alot of detail in removing the noise ... I ran them through Neat Image and there was still flecks of it so I ran it through the noise removal in PS.

That's why I'm wondering how I could improve them without having to resort to such a high ISO.

In terms of flash I have a hotshoe flash with a soft-box light diffuser but I can't bouce it off the ceiling as it's stuccoed, and straight on it's still seems to be very flat. I'm not sure if maybe it's in the way I'm using the flash ... so I'm open for suggestions. :mrgreen: (If you tell me I should ask Santa for some studio lights I'll be sure to pass along the suggestion

)

Thanks again!

ClarkKent · Dec 8, 2005

Nice work...I like them all. Maybe a little unsharp mask may help with the sharpness in two and three.

Holly · Dec 9, 2005

The pictures are great.. I did use sharpen in my program to see them with out the blur noise in them and they look great!! Wonderful photos..

Xmetal · Dec 9, 2005

I don't think they need sharpening at all, the softness adds character.

B&W with softness = 2 thumbs up in my books.

Christie Photo · Dec 9, 2005

I'm not sure if you'd be better off just leaving the noise as is. I was wondering what happend to the nap in her sweatshirt... I bet the noise filters did that. Maybe they took away some texture of the skin too?

Cute kids! Is he you only one?

Oh, and yeah... tell Santa EVERY photographer should have at least one monobloc with a sofbox and reflector.

Pete