I've Grown "Grainsaine"

elfving73

I've noticed a personal trend lately sneaking on to me - not snapping as many pics of my kids for example, as I did before. Why? Because I've almost grown sorta fastidious - if the pics aren't pin sharp, if the exposures aren't spot on, if the skin tones isn't dead on etc. I tend to look at the pics as "crap straight for the bin". The drawback with this attitude is that you tend to take less pictures, and every time you shoot there is so much things to deal with and take in account that you miss the "decisive moment" and the spontanious feel is lost. So, I tried something "new". If I only focus on capturing the moment and the atmosphere - and care less about exposure, noise, colors, sharpness, if I can live with pics slightly OOF - what would I turn up with? So I armed my 10D with my prime 50. Went for f1/8 at ISO 3200 and casually fired away this morning. This way I could "operate in the dark" without getting any attention from my kids. Of course, I could have pulled this of with ISO 800, but I was deliberately going for this look. Only cropped slightly, applied some toning and a frame.

How do ya feel about pics like this? C&C are welcome!

Regards / Matty

[It was rather dark! These was shot handheld at f/1.8 at ISO 3200 at approx 1/40s]

saurora

Your photos are always so terrific, Matty. This was an interesting experiment and observation you made about how we become so obsessed with perfection that we all but give up capturing the "moment". The quality of these photos evoke a feeling of a period of time when things were simpler, less glitzy. These take on an a certain documentary feel to them...there is a feeling that the subjects are totally unaware of the photographer. It's hard to explain what they do for me, but they capture the essence of the children and the moment and are not so commercial. Not sure I said what I feel here, but I really like these a lot. Makes me want to go shoot some really ISO shots for a change! I think they work really well with children. This one could be a drawing by Michaelangelo, it's so beautiful!

DoctorIt

Either you are very stealth, or that was a fascinating TV program!

Great attitude, and captures

kmh

These are wonderful! I especially like #3 and #5 -- and #5 is particularly wonderful. I love the grain and the tone -- if you don't mind me asking, how'd you do the toning? I know how hard it can be to get good pictures of your kids, especially together...I love your approach. I'm always frustrated with the grain in my pictures at 800 and 1600 (Rebel XT), but this gives me a new perspective (and inspiration!). Nice work and thank you for sharing.
-Kate

MyView

The last two are my favorite, but I can say that I absolute LOVE the second to last. It has a great "aww" factor to me. or is that "wow" factor. lol

Always look forward to seeing your work!

gluwater

I like the third one with the santa hat . This is a great change of pace from you. A lot of my favorite images of my friends are noisy and partially OOF but they captured a moment or emotion. Here is an example of a shot that I'm sure most people would have thrown out, but it is one of her favorite pictures. ISO 400 on a P/S.