Two candids from Christmas Party

Mike J

I took these last Saturday at our church's Christmas party...

1. This was a quick shot. I like the expression but am disappointed that I cut the top of his head off. It was PP'ed using a trial version of Portrait Professional and then converted to B&W. Anyone else using Portrait Professional? Comments good or bad?



2. A friend of this family was taking pictures for them so I snuck up on them a took a few while they were busy looking at the other camera. Well...except for the youngest. The lighting was a mixture and I struggled to find good skin tones. How do they look to you?

Mike J

Anyone using Portrait Professional?

Elaine

I'm not familiar with Portrait Professional. I really like the first shot and don't mind a bit that his head got chopped. I think I would play with a different crop...maybe a bit tighter on the left?
The family is very cute! At this size it's hard to tell, but it almost looks like the tree is more in focus than mom and dad. Not sure though. The skin tones look pretty good...maybe a touch orange. But nicely warm is better than too cool, IMO.

Mike J

Elaine wrote:

I'm not familiar with Portrait Professional. I really like the first shot and don't mind a bit that his head got chopped. I think I would play with a different crop...maybe a bit tighter on the left?
The family is very cute! At this size it's hard to tell, but it almost looks like the tree is more in focus than mom and dad. Not sure though. The skin tones look pretty good...maybe a touch orange. But nicely warm is better than too cool, IMO.

Thanks Elaine. I played with the crop some more (the orignal post was uncropped). Here it is a little tighter on the left:



I actually think I like this crop better though:



Thoughts?

Elaine

Mike J wrote:

Thanks Elaine. I played with the crop some more (the orignal post was uncropped). Here it is a little tighter on the left:


I actually think I like this crop better though:


Thoughts?

My initial inclination was to crop tighter on the right, but then I thought it may not give his eyes enough "room." Seeing the crops together, I like the tight on the right better. It's a much cleaner image that way.

alexkhoo82

Cool shots here with the braces~ Nice~

Mike J

Elaine - thanks for the input. After you mentioned crop, my initial reaction was to crop from the right. I'm glad you suggested left as in my laziness, I probably would not have even looked at that crop. I'm glad I went through the process though. Learning to look at things differently!

alexk - you should see them in color! Seems like 20 years ago we did everything possible not to bring attention to our braces and now they do everything they can to make them stand out!