another Christmas picture

Elaine

Well...today I took some shots of a 9 month old. My son is 5 and I've forgotten how wiggly that age is! Anyway, here is one of the shots I liked best. I had to use flash because the natural light wasn't enough to compensate for child movement. Once again, I'm looking for feedback, especially regarding color and skin tones, etc...

Thanks!

saurora

I think you did a great job with flash! It's not harsh at all....she's adorable! :saurora

Ted Szukalski

The skin tone was a bit reddish but otherwise a very good effort. Again, very natural reaction but than again very young children are like that

Elaine

Ted Szukalski wrote:

The skin tone was a bit reddish but otherwise a very good effort. Again, very natural reaction but than again very young children are like that

Thanks, Ted! I was thinking the same thing. Can you tell me what you did to tone down the red?

Ted Szukalski

Elaine, I've used a commercial plugin Nik Color Fx - Pro Contrast.

However, the simples way in Photoshop is to do Image/Adjustments/Variations
You can adjust granularity of change and than play with different colour mixes until you are happy. Very simple to use and the feedback is instant.

Elaine wrote:

Thanks, Ted! I was thinking the same thing. Can you tell me what you did to tone down the red?

kmh

Beautiful picture! You did a great job with your flash -- how did you do it? I think you said you only have an on-camera flash? -Kate

Elaine

Thanks for the help, Ted!

Kate...yes, I only have my on-camera flash. I took Ted's advice and shot manual (yea for me!)...not sure I did everything exactly right, but I learned that underexposing is probably better than overexposing. I used ISO 200, 1/60 sec, f/3.5, and turned my flash all the way down to -2. I probably should have turned the flash back up some, as it was underexposed, but using levels brightened it up nicely. I was just glad it didn't come out with that harsh, flat, flashed look. Thanks for asking!

Elaine

Nandita

Wow. Wonderful shot. Your other shot is beautiful too but this must've been more challenging.

I agree that you could tone down the red. But I'd also add a warming filter to bring back the glow you captured with your son.

Good job. I'm taking pictures of a 1-yr-old tomorrow and you've inspired me.

Elaine

Nandita wrote:

Wow. Wonderful shot. Your other shot is beautiful too but this must've been more challenging.

I agree that you could tone down the red. But I'd also add a warming filter to bring back the glow you captured with your son.

Good job. I'm taking pictures of a 1-yr-old tomorrow and you've inspired me.

Thank you very much! You're right...this shot was more challenging! Good luck with your 1-year old.

Elaine

OK...I think I've toned down the red...what do you think? Is it toned down enough? I'm also including a couple other favorites from the shoot.
Thanks for all the feedback!!










This last one we were letting her take a break and just play around, but I grabbed my camera and snapped this. The background is my rug and I'm not sure if I should do something with it...desaturate it or black it out? Any thoughts? Is it distracting??

Owen

Distracting? Not in the least.