Baby faces- close ups

kidzmom

Any thoughts on these? I was trying to really get a sharp close up--especially of his eyes and eye lashes. This isn't easy with a moving 9 month old! Thanks for your comments on these There is one that is a duplicate because I didn't know if the saturated version was "too much" on the eyes (the first and last picture are the same). The first is the more realistic color of his eyes, but when I upped the saturation it just blew me away so I kept it---btw in that one he was chewing on my camera strap which was hanging down and not around my neck, lol! I did some in color and some b/w (b/w was on a different day). These are all with natural window lighting. What are your favorites and why. What can I do to improve this kind of shot. Thanks so much for being my sounding board!

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#10

sweet caroline

Okay, first of all, CUTE. Now that we've gotten that out of the way.... I don't mind tops of heads cut off but I prefer chins not cut off. Those eyes and lashes look gorgeous in black and white. I realized that all my favs are all the black and whites!

Caroline

kidzmom

Thanks Caroline! Gosh...I didn't really even realize cutting off heads and chins, ! I was seriously thinking about shooting his eyes and this is how I framed. Nothing was cropped post shoot. THANKS for the input on the chins. I guess I knew I didn't want to be too squarely symmetrical going into this. I was already nearly centering his face in the shot each time, and was really going for eye capture. I think subconsiously cropped the shot in my mind's eye so that it wouldn't be so centered (pefectly centered round face each time). I got it... NO NO to chin crops. Gotta remember that before I go into auto-pilot mode--just clicking away without really thinking! Thanks so much for your input. I value you opinion as I just ADORE your work!

lilmomma

I was wondering where you've been lately... 8 is absolutely beautiful! I also like 6 a lot! Some of the color ones are a bit noisy. and I'm with caroline on the chopped chins, but that baby has stunning eyes!

kidzmom

Thanks Melissa! I've been here but not posting too much. Kids are on vacation now so I'm SUPER busy, lol! How I love institutionalized education! They are off for another week and a half....uuuugh.

I know the noise is pretty evident on those color ones, but I just loved his eye color in the series due to the sharp focus.

These were shot on 2 diff days.

The B/W were ALL taken with my 50 mm at 1/125 sec, F 2.8 and ISO 200.

The color shots were at 1600 ISO with my kit lens. They were around F 4.5, 1/80 sec...with DRURY window light. It was quite early in the a.m. (breakfast in the highchair). I had my kit lens on the cam and just grabbed the moment. My bag was upstairs with my 50 mm lens.......ANYWAY the 1600 shows a lot of noise. I ran it though a noise reduction filter but ultimately I prefered the noisy look, as the eyes looked sharper than without the noise. I suppose I could run a selective filter....

Looks like the 50 mm lens takes the cake! It was interesteing to compare the 2 for a similar shoot.

THANKS for your input!:D

kidzmom

Oh I just wanted to add to this... Take a look at his pupil size in the 2 different series. Like I mentioned before, the B/W session was with the 50 mm prime at 200 ISO and 1.8 F. The color series was at 1600 ISO (thus the noise) and about 4.5ish F. His pupil size is HUGE in the color version...which I honestly think looks much more innocent and cute (though noisy!). The BW had a ton more light and his pupils are tiny! The detail is great though with all that light. Both were window lit.. The 1600 ISO series (color) was early in the a.m. I thought this was super interesting to note the differences.

Elaine

I agree with Caroline...super cute baby!!!
And I also agree about the cropping of chins. I think number 3 would be my favorite if it were taken about an inch lower...from a bit above of the eyebrows to below the chin. That would also nicely put his eyes in the upper third of the photo. The colors and light are so nice and soft.
I think I like #8 the best. I like the expression and the contrast of his eyes to the rest of the shot. I wonder how it would look cropped just a bit...I would try taking a bit off the left (so his arm leads down into the corner) and a bit off the top so his eyes move up a bit in the frame (maybe halfway between the top of the frame and the top of his ear).
Between 1 and 10, I prefer 1. The skin tones look nicer to me in 1.
The cool thing about smaller pupils (and therefore larger irises) are the amazing textures and flecks of color and depth that can be captured.

I like #2 for the detail in his eyes, but like #3, wish it were taken about an inch lower.

Perhaps changing your focus point to an upper third one (above the center), would help in framing shots like this?

You found some lovely light so I hope you keep shooting there!

Agnieszka

Haha, beautiful photos! Really like the skeptic look in #9!!

kidzmom

Thanks Angie and Elaine.

Elaine, you offer some wonderful advice and perspective. Thank you for taking the time to analyze the shots for me. I will definately use this lighting again...and take with it a new perspective on framing. I think I can get some very good takes next time with everyone's advice. I will also try to crop that shot as you suggested.

Thanks again!

adbsgicom

FWIW, I'm liking the color better. The b/w eyes with the small pupil and the huge catchlight just seem kinda otherworldly esp. with the super-sharpness of they eyes. The color eyes are very sharp, and seem more balanced with the rest of the picture. Seems that I have the minority opinion, but I offer it anyway....

kidzmom

Andrew. You crack me up----"otherworldy"! My kids eyes are something...perhaps otherworldy might be the term. Everyone in the world who sees them comments on their eyes--people on the street, people in the store, people, people, people. They have their Dad's eyes. My husband's eyes were what instantly drew me to him---from second one. His nickname is "wolf" because of his translucently blue eyes. Evan has the darkest of all the kids eyes if you can imagine, . Glad you like the color version. I like it too...1600 grain and all

ivar

Cuteness overload!

I personally have no problem with the noise, but I rarely do. Noise shows a lot less in print anyway.
#2 (even though I would have liked more chin ), #7 and #9 are my favorites out of these.
Those blue eyes are amazing

divamum

I REALLY like 2 and 4 - those catchlights are gorgeous, and his eyes most certainly pop! Agree wtih the comments on the crops although I have discovered that if you go for a REALLY extreme crop, it sometimes works better than one which just snips off a little bit - if you're going t crop close, get right in there. This is one of my favorite features of Lightroom - the cropping guidlines and ability to rotate as you crop and SEE what it looks like as you do it (as opposed to after you've cropped it) helps me enormously to see the possibilities in a shot.

Really adorable set

kidzmom

Thanks Ivar and Diva!

Diva, Yes I think I was straddling the fence with this choice of framing...I should have gone more extreme if I was going to cut anything off, . In general though, no more chin crops for me! I might try to recrop these as you suggested to really get the emphasis on those eyes that I wanted. Funny how you just don't think of these things sometimes when you are getting carried away with that shutter button. Live and learn!
Thanks for that suggestion.

divamum wrote:

I REALLY like 2 and 4 - those catchlights are gorgeous, and his eyes most certainly pop! Agree wtih the comments on the crops although I have discovered that if you go for a REALLY extreme crop, it sometimes works better than one which just snips off a little bit - if you're going t crop close, get right in there. This is one of my favorite features of Lightroom - the cropping guidlines and ability to rotate as you crop and SEE what it looks like as you do it (as opposed to after you've cropped it) helps me enormously to see the possibilities in a shot.

Really adorable set