Test Shot

Kachaffeous

Just got a Canon xsi kit in hopes to improve my photos of my daughter. Here is a test shot that I did. I messed around in PS a little (didn't really know what i was doing) and ended up liking the grey background. The colors are a tad off her hair isn't that red but didn't know how to fix it.

Things I can see that need to be fixed are leveling up the stairs and some color adjustments. I wanted the FoD to be a lot shallower but I guess the kit lens can't get it as shallow as I want it?




Here is the picture unaltered.



Comments welcome.

edit: Stairs are leveled.

Kilo

Kachaffeous wrote:

Just got a Canon xsi kit in hopes to improve my photos of my daughter. Here is a test shot that I did. I messed around in PS a little (didn't really know what i was doing) and ended up liking the grey background. The colors are a tad off her hair isn't that red but didn't know how to fix it.

Things I can see that need to be fixed are leveling up the stairs and some color adjustments. I wanted the FoD to be a lot shallower but I guess the kit lens can't get it as shallow as I want it?

Here is the picture unaltered.

Comments welcome.

edit: Stairs are leveled.

Cute baby and nice shot, and welcome to DG! I don't know what I'm doing either when I use my PS7, but I try. lol

Also your second photo, the original one, didn't show up. Maybe it will later.

Kilo

Now it's showing.

Kachaffeous

Kilo wrote:

Now it's showing.

Yeah I put it on hide so it wouldn't show up in my gallery, guess that breaks links also.

jeffreaux2

My guess...from your comments...and the desaturated background is that you wanted a depth of field shallow enough to obliterate the newel post and rug?

If so....you will have a tough time with the kit lens. You will need to have the aperture wide open.....have the camera position closer to your subject...zoom to its longest focal length and if that fails...have the subject farther from the distracting background elements.

There is another possibility.

The rug could be moved temporarily when you get the camera out....and the wood flooring could be used as a backdrop.

Kachaffeous

jeffreaux2 wrote:

My guess...from your comments...and the desaturated background is that you wanted a depth of field shallow enough to obliterate the newel post and rug?

If so....you will have a tough time with the kit lens. You will need to have the aperture wide open.....have the camera position closer to your subject...zoom to its longest focal length and if that fails...have the subject farther from the distracting background elements.

There is another possibility.

The rug could be moved temporarily when you get the camera out....and the wood flooring could be used as a backdrop.

Yeah that is probably a better idea b/c the wood does look nice as a backdrop. I'm sure there are going to be plenty of more pictures to play with though :P

Frog Lady

welcome to dgrin - that's a cute little gal you've got there

for just messin' around in PS, I think you did a good job of smoothing out the vessels and rosea on her cheek, but, IMHO, it looks a bit over done by the ear...

hope to see more.

cheers,

C.

Kachaffeous

Thanks for the welcomes. Yeah I admit the skin tone was a bit overdone, but I like the way it made her "pop".

Here is a retouch with a blurred background instead of grey and a better skin tone.