My grandson

snapapple · December 2, 2005

Hi everyone,
Hubby and I spent 8 days in Connecticut for Thanksgiving week. We stayed with our son and his wife and got to see our grandson for the first time. He is 2 1/2 months old. I took loads of pictures, but most of them were terrible. The house was dark so I used high ISOs and the on-camera flash. I have a few to share.
#1. Happy Dreams - natural light, f4.5 ISO 800 1/40 sec.

#2 Cropped version of above. My husband likes seeing the spindle of the cradle. He says it gives it context. I think it's distracting. Which do you prefer?

#3 - With both spindles, even more context.
How are the skin tones? I wondered about the lightness and darkness and contrast. I wanted to keep it soft so I did not sharpen at all. Just used LAB for the skin tones.

#4 Peaceful Sleep - no happy dreams, just contentment.

#5 Bath in the kitchen sink - used the flash here. It was late at night and very dark. I don't have a great flash. Just the on-camera deal.

Pointers would be appreciated. I have a tough time getting the settings right. Most of my shots were blurred because I couldn't get the shutter speed fast enough with the low light. These are the best out of about a hundred. Thanks for looking.

snapapple · December 2, 2005

High key look
I thought I'd try the high key look on #2.
I'm trying to pick one to do a portrait to give to the kids for a Christmas gift.
Does this look right? Did I make it too bright?

johno · December 2, 2005

WOW! lots of hair. All my kids had lots at birth too.
Great job with the shots, Snap. I love what you did with the last one, "Sweet Dreams"

peace.
johno~

snapapple · December 2, 2005

johno wrote:

WOW! lots of hair. All my kids had lots at birth too.
Great job with the shots, Snap. I love what you did with the last one, "Sweet Dreams"

peace.
johno~

Thanks Johno,
Yes, this guy has lots of hair. I wonder if it will fall out. Glad you like that last one. It's more of a "portrait" than the others. Thanks for stopping by and commenting on the shots. I appreciate it.

Does anyone have any tips on skin tones or opinions on the cradle spindles, yea or nea?

Frog Lady · December 2, 2005

no spindles

snapapple wrote:

Thanks Johno,
Yes, this guy has lots of hair. I wonder if it will fall out. Glad you like that last one. It's more of a "portrait" than the others. Thanks for stopping by and commenting on the shots. I appreciate it.

Does anyone have any tips on skin tones or opinions on the cradle spindles, yea or nea?

Hi Snappy,

love that head of hair

While I'm too much of a PS novice to comment on the skin tone, I'll vote for no spindles and agree with you that they are distracting. You did a nice job with the last post.

Colleen

PlayeTyme · December 3, 2005

Hi Snappy. I

"Sweet Dreams" shot. Can you post another one that's toned down just a tad? I would like to see one thats about half way between the original and final posts.

Thanks,
Playe

ginger_55 · December 3, 2005

Hi, snappy, I thought about you over thanksgiving. I was with my family too, but they are closer and I didn't stay as long, though I still have a gazillion shots to work up. My youngest grandchild in now one, so he was a slightly different "picture" than yours. And I had many grandchildren there. (That means I have many shots to get worked up, and I have been working on more recent bird shots, and still have some to go there, too.)

OK, I really do like your shots. I am not the expert on skin color, Rutt is. I would really, sincerely suggest that you PM him. Just find one of his posts or search his name and send him a PM. He only really knows LAB which we, you and I, are not into like he is, if at all. But he knows skin tones. So do some others, but he is the one who comes to my mind.

I like your shots, especially the last two. I think, this is my guess re high key, I think it is supposed to have all the basic elements that a regular shot should have, usually, the darks should go to the dark end and the lights to the light end, just more of the light end, and that is what you have done. Perhaps the blanket should have some detail, I don't know about that...........with the blanket being so light it might be a bit of a distraction.

I love the look on the baby's face in the next to last shot, too. Really good capture!

I am sure the parents will be delighted! Parents are not particular on the technicals, usually, they are so happy with their baby, smile.

But your technicals are not lacking, there may be a few things I am not noticing, and I am not sure about the blanket, but mostly it is a nice sweet shot, and it has been appreciated here, too.

My son had all that hair, too. He did not lose it.

ginger (Your grandson is adorable!)

snapapple · December 3, 2005

PlayeTyme wrote:

Hi Snappy. I "Sweet Dreams" shot. Can you post another one that's toned down just a tad? I would like to see one thats about half way between the original and final posts.

Thanks,
Playe

Thanks Colleen, Playe and Ginger for your great input. I worked up another version of "Sweet Dreams" that's not quite as bright as the previous one. I noticed that the collar of his PJ's was blown out in the first one and as Ginger mentioned, the blanket was faded out to white at the edge. So I left all the color of the blanket in too. My original idea was to fade the whole picture out to white at the edge, but this new version is more like the original shot. I guess it would just be a matter of preference here. I kind of liked the idea of all white around the baby's face, making the face stand out and cutting out the blanket almost completely - more of a vignette. I could still do that, but I would leave the skin tones as dark as this version. Let me know what you think.
Thanks.

PlayeTyme · December 3, 2005

snapapple wrote:

Thanks Colleen, Playe and Ginger for your great input. I worked up another version of "Sweet Dreams" that's not quite as bright as the previous one. I noticed that the collar of his PJ's was blown out in the first one and as Ginger mentioned, the blanket was faded out to white at the edge. So I left all the color of the blanket in too. My original idea was to fade the whole picture out to white at the edge, but this new version is more like the original shot. I guess it would just be a matter of preference here. I kind of liked the idea of all white around the baby's face, making the face stand out and cutting out the blanket almost completely - more of a vignette. I could still do that, but I would leave the skin tones as dark as this version. Let me know what you think.
Thanks.

I like your choice of skin tone(s).

You captured a heavenly facial expression, and IMHO the soft fade would accent that concept. If you work up another version, please post. Great capture.

Thanks...

My grandson

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