From the "hip"

michswiss

1)

This was a dropped camera shot. Not framed through the VF and fairly heavily cropped. I use a wrist-strap system so my right arm becomes the camera. I absolutely understand the need to frame things appropriately and to not disguise what I'm doing while remaining discrete. But perspective sometimes demands we get into unusual positions quickly.

It's not always possible to look through the camera to get the shot framed.

thoth

Haha, love the shot Jennifer. You could have always laid on your belly!

Nir

Fantastic!

bdcolen

michswiss wrote:

1)

This was a dropped camera shot. Not framed through the VF and fairly heavily cropped. I use a wrist-strap system so my right arm becomes the camera. I absolutely understand the need to frame things appropriately and to not disguise what I'm doing while remaining discrete. But perspective sometimes demands we get into unusual positions quickly.

It's not always possible to look through the camera to get the shot framed.

No it's not - and this is a great shot and a great example of sensible use of shooting this way! (Or it would be in black and white...

sara505

Very good! Though I would also prefer it in BW.

Flyinggina

This is a marvelous shot. It needs to be at kid level to be as powerful as it is. Doesn't matter how you got it. You got it.

The look on the child's face - almost like a worldly wise adult - plays just wonderfully against the mannequin's expression. Very, very well done.

It works in color just fine for me. Good as it is, it will also look great in b&w. The true test.

Virginia

eL eSs Vee

Good thing you put parentheses around hip, because this looks like a shot from the ankle.

An excellent shot! As said, it doesn't matter how you got it; you got it! Very well done!

michswiss

2)

Did you honestly think I didn't already have a B&W conversion done?

Patti

michswiss wrote:

1)

This was a dropped camera shot. Not framed through the VF and fairly heavily cropped. I use a wrist-strap system so my right arm becomes the camera. I absolutely understand the need to frame things appropriately and to not disguise what I'm doing while remaining discrete. But perspective sometimes demands we get into unusual positions quickly.

It's not always possible to look through the camera to get the shot framed.

This is what I meant about technique when you want or have to get down for the right angle. What a terrific shot! How wide did you shoot?

rutt

I vote for color on this one. It is a little distracting from the boy's face, but the colors are really interesting, especially the gold of the mannequin.

In both the color and B&W, I'd like to see better into the shadows right. It's distracting that it's just this unbalanced huge blob of black.

thoth

rutt wrote:

I vote for color on this one. It is a little distracting from the boy's face, but the colors are really interesting, especially the gold of the mannequin.

In both the color and B&W, I'd like to see better into the shadows right. It's distracting that it's just this unbalanced huge blob of black.

I think I am more interested in the B&W version, especially if those shadows can be fixed. The color version is certainly not unappealing though.

rutt

I took a look in PS and nothing can help the shadows in either jpeg. If you shot in raw, you may be able to recover some detail in ACR and then fine tune in PS. Try playing with the "blacks" and "fill light" sliders. Try a flat curve on the curves panel.

michswiss

Patti wrote:

This is what I meant about technique when you want or have to get down for the right angle. What a terrific shot! How wide did you shoot?

Patti, I posted this shot for you. It was with a 20mm on a crop body. Easily my favourite setup these days when I just walk out the door for a stroll. As silly as it sounds, I am certain that having a wrist strap instead of a shoulder strap makes a huge difference. But so does working with fast focussing primes.

I've shot many, many, many images over the last year from the "hip." I only got this shot because somewhere 10 meters away or 30 seconds earlier, I checked exposure, aperture, shutter speed, ISO or all of the above. And I love shooting wide and close.

Btw, I like the shot too. I hadn't noticed the mannequin's expression until I'd down loaded the images.

michswiss

rutt wrote:

I took a look in PS and nothing can help the shadows in either jpeg. If you shot in raw, you may be able to recover some detail in ACR and then fine tune in PS. Try playing with the "blacks" and "fill light" sliders. Try a flat curve on the curves panel.

Rutt, I always shoot raw. I was aggressive on the conversion trying to draw out any contrast in the pastels in the boy's sweater. But while the shadows are recoverable, the exposure differential between inside the shop and on the sidewalk is large and I opted to dump the shadows to keep the exterior looking good. I could play with it a bit more.

rutt

michswiss wrote:

Rutt, I always shoot raw. I was aggressive on the conversion trying to draw out any contrast in the pastels in the boy's sweater. But while the shadows are recoverable, the exposure differential between inside the shop and on the sidewalk is large and I opted to dump the shadows to keep the exterior looking good. I could play with it a bit more.

You want the exterior to look good and you also want to unplug those shadows and restore a little balance to the composition. At least, that's what I'd want. And I'll bet you can do it. The trick is not to lose the shadow details too early in the process. You can lose them in ACR, and then they are gone forever. You can lose them when you convert to B&W. You can lose them with a curve.

Try an ACR conversion which doesn't plug the shadows. Use the shadow clipping warning on the top left of the histogram. After that, you have a couple of options.

1. Use a layer for the shadows and a layer above for the rest of the shot. Make the top layer look good, with a plugged shadow. Then add a layer mask and use a big soft brush to paint with very low opacity to reveal some shadow detail. It won't have to be much. You can even steepen the curve in the shadows on the bottom layer to exaggerate the shadow details.
2. Try shadow/highlight as the first step of processing and then proceed as you did before.

There are other more arcane things, but these are pretty easy and easy to understand.

Patti

michswiss wrote:

Patti, I posted this shot for you. It was with a 20mm on a crop body. Easily my favourite setup these days when I just walk out the door for a stroll. As silly as it sounds, I am certain that having a wrist strap instead of a shoulder strap makes a huge difference. But so does working with fast focussing primes.

I've shot many, many, many images over the last year from the "hip." I only got this shot because somewhere 10 meters away or 30 seconds earlier, I checked exposure, aperture, shutter speed, ISO or all of the above. And I love shooting wide and close.

Btw, I like the shot too. I hadn't noticed the mannequin's expression until I'd down loaded the images.

I figured you had, given my thread asking about this. I've wondered about trying a wrist strap rather than a neck. I usually walk around with my Dirty Thirty on either body, not as wide but the widest fast prime I've got.