Grab Shot

divamum

Having felt distinctly off my game recently, it was nice to grab this one tonight (seems I can usually coax a few pictures out of her after a haircut, so I took the opportunity :wink ). She was sitting on the kitchen stairs, flash bounced left off the pantry door 50mm lens at f2.0.

anonymouscuban

Nice one. Wow... She's growing up.

jeffreaux2

Sheesh, That shot REALLY makes her look older.

These kids grow up way to fast these days.:D

I really like the shot. Can you steal the blue out of that bracelet(?)....maybe select it and desat?

For a "grab" ....it pretty dang good!thumb

divamum

Thanks both. I've taken a bunch of alarmingly mediocre photos recently and have been kinda bummed - I know it's been partly because I've been trying new stuff (with only mixed success!) but also partly because I just seem to have not quite got it together the last few times I've picked up the camera.

So tonight I went back to my personal "formula" (50mm lens, shallow dof, fairly close perspective) to remind myself that I do know what I'm doing sometimes! I'm really pleased with this one - it does make her look older than she is (although she is most assuredly 13 going on 25), but it's nice to have a few classic portraits of her every year; one of these days I'm going to put them all together into a collage or something

ETA: Yeah, I can easily knock that bracelet back - good catch.

jeffreaux2

Like I said...I like it...I just think it might look a bit more timeless w/o the blue!


.......we all go through phases of not being able to get our vision to appear in photos. (decipher that). It's growing pains.

...but....dont give up on an idea just because it didnt work once or twice.

D3Sshooter

Like it, especially the limited DOF ( I guess F2.8 or less) while still retaining the sharpness on the eyes.

adbsgicom

Saw this on the other side... what a great expression and look for her.

jeffreaux2

Hope you don't mind, I took a hack at the whole image. I have recently "re discovered" a BW method I used to use regularly.

Mitchell

Nice one. Great use of the pantry door. I like the crop and the grown up mini-D

divamum

D3s, 50mm @f2, but standing maybe 3-4ft away so it's very shallow (I shoot a 7d, so crop factor). I use this a lot for my headshot shoots but have been trying some other things recently - this seems to work reliably for me, though, so I went back to it for this quickie few. Main thing I've found with this setup is not to stand too high above the subject (the close distance will result in distortion), try to get the eyes in as even a plane as possible or, if that isn't the pose/angle, to make sure the focus point is on the leading eye.

Thanks Mitchell What I find slightly amusing (or alarming - can't decide which!) is that I can nail a really great image in a 3x3ft corner of a messy kitchen with no decent light, but give me gorgeous fall foliage with perfect light and tons of space and it's all I can do to grab a single decent shot

Nice, Jeff!! What conversion method are you using? I'm cooking a BW as well. I've recently acquired the Florabella Classic Workflow actions and absolutely LOVE them for this kind of shot, enough that they've seduced me back to PS from LR (I still use LR of course - and love it - but these actions really do some nice things and are totally tweakable, so in effect work like a LR preset even though it's in PS). They do all the things I would (and more), but with 1-click. Great portrait actions, IMO and, while you can add x-process and other artistic effects, theyr'e not as instantly recognizable as the TRA "look".

Leave yours there, and I'll post mine if I get a chance later (crazy busy day today)

jeffreaux2

This BW method is done in photoshop. It is called the "LAB Method". The image must be converted to LAB mode. Then delete all but the "lightness" channel. Then convert to "greyscale" mode, and finally back to SRGB.

I usually play with an overlay layer after to bump the contrast.....using a mask to control where I want the contrast.....or not.

It isn't one click, but isn't difficult. It doesnt work well for every image....but when it does.....it is scrumptious. As a method...in one word....I would describe this conversion as "delicate".

If you try it on the right image you will see what I mean.

FWIW the full length shot in my "Senior Project- Part 2 " thread....Christine against all those repeating lines; well, THAT is the right kind of image. Lots n lots of lighter tones.

Let me know hoe you like it!:D

Hackbone

Cute shot of a really cute young lady. Watch out for crushing the cheek abit. I always ask folks to just barely touch the face, chin, etc so that doesn't happen.

divamum

Thanks, all.

Jeff, two different conversions, both done with Florabella Classic BW. First with a little bit of blue & purple toning, the second with no toning and brightness boosted a little (all done by tweaking the many individual layers within the action group - as I mentioned, once you've run it, it's adjustable in the same way a preset in LR is).

I actually like it with even a litttle more of the blue/purple, but it plugged the shadows up more than I cared for.

heatherfeather

Wait? She is 13? Holy cow. She always looks older than that to me...

Gorgeous photo... The angle is perfect and makes her look conversational, like she is looking up from playing a great hand of cards.
I am not even bothered by the far eye being soft, it is such a great photo. Nice job, mom!

divamum

Aww, thanks Heather. COming from you, that means a lot!

Yep, she really is 13 (14 in May). It's funny, I don't see these as looking all that old, probably because I saw all the silliness on either side of the frame!

Bryce Wilson

Everything is really, really nice about this shot. What I like most it the fact that she doesn't look posed. It appears, at least to me, that she was captured in a candid moment with a bit of inquisitiveness on her face.

Very pretty girl.

divamum

Thanks Bryce. I was pretty disappointed with those shots of her in the trees the other week (they're ok, but definitely not my - or her - best) that I'm really happy to have this one - I try to get decent shots of her around the same time every year so (someday when I have time!) I can put together a nice album, and I was kind of convinced I'd missed the boat this year. Funny how the grab shot far exceeded anything more planned

Icebear

Gosh they grow up fast.