Junior Prom

jeffreaux2

What a hectic weekend!!! I FINALLY am able to share a few of the photos I took of my oldest daughter on her Jr Prom night. I wondered as I was about to snap the one of her sitting in the sink how many times I will be able to see that again. C&C welcome as always.

Jeff

All Images captured with Canon 400D and Various lenses.

Mitchell

Nice set. Number one is my favorite. Great angle and nice capture of the moment.

The last one could use a bit of fill for the eyes.

gmonkeh

I'm gonna get my butt kicked for this but........ hubba hubba

I don't have any kids yet but If I do ever have a daughter and she grows up to be a hotty, I might have to be forced to give up photography and start collecting guns instead.

jeffreaux2

Naaaaah....
I hear ya.......

My theory is that you raise your kids right, beginning at a very young age.....making sure they know right from wrong. Later on when they are teenagers they will think thet know it all, so you have to be sure they are prepared to make decisions. Both of my daughters are beautiful, and my son is handsom and I am proud of that. They are also very much on top of their schoolwork and my girls are both honors students. My son is on the presidents list at his college. None of them have ever gotten into or created any real trouble to speak of, and they have all been actively involved in our church. The dating thing is tough sometimes, but I think it is a good lesson in making and building relationships. I do draw the line sometimes, but also leave room for the freedom to make and learn from a few mistakes. I have been blessed with 3 ambitious and healthy kids and am proud.

Oh, and if your daughter winds up good looking or not, it is best to have the guns safely stored and hidden away when it comes time for dating.

jeffreaux2

gemonk
I like the recent portraits you did of your wife. Very good work. I have'nt quite gotten comfortable tilting the camera yet, but was inspired to try it by those photos.

aktse

I just love the first one....

binghott

she is truly beautiful and these pictures are wonderful! i would love the second one more if her face were facing the the camera a little bit more. the first picture is adorable. i enjoy the framing of the last picture, i just wish her eyes were a little brighter.

great job!

urbanaries

love the first and fourth. the first is an amazing pj-type image. what an awesome capture, and the processing does it justice. gorgeous [not-so-little] girl!

folks that have successfully raised teens in today's world to have a great sense of self and work ethic...kudos!!! it's a tough job you must be a proud papa.

jeffreaux2

Thank you
The first one is my first attempt at a duo-tone. I have done conversions of the one click type to sepia or B/W, but this was new for me. I converted to LAB color and threw out all but the lightness channel. Then I converted to greyscale, then did the duo tone, and finally back to RGB. I framed in camera with a 5X5 in mind, and tilted not only as an experiment, but also because I was using a 50mm F1.8 lens in a small room. The tilt allowed me to get her and the sink in the imaginary 5x5 frame. After it was all done I used a darker version and gradient mask to darken the photo in the bottom right corner to help lead the eye to her reflection. It sounds like a bit much, but only took a few minutes. I am pleased with the PP, but may play around with some other color combinations. BTW I REALLY like using that LAB lightness channel for B/W conversions.

...and wouldn't you know it she doesn't like that picture one bit!!!
Teenagers.......Good Grief!!!

jeffreaux2

Binghot
By brightening the eyes do you mean the area around the eye or the iris?

I did very little if any PP on that particular photo(the last). I played around with the RAW file earlier today with some different sharpening levels. It is a sharp photo to begin with, and after sharpening it was wicked sharp. However, I see so many photos that are oversharpened, I hesitate to over do it.

Let me know about the lightening, I got that same feedback from someone else, but am not sure exactly what you mean.
Thanks,

urbanaries

jeffreaux2 wrote:

The first one is my first attempt at a duo-tone. I have done conversions of the one click type to sepia or B/W, but this was new for me. I converted to LAB color and threw out all but the lightness channel. Then I converted to greyscale, then did the duo tone, and finally back to RGB. I framed in camera with a 5X5 in mind, and tilted not only as an experiment, but also because I was using a 50mm F1.8 lens in a small room. The tilt allowed me to get her and the sink in the imaginary 5x5 frame. After it was all done I used a darker version and gradient mask to darken the photo in the bottom right corner to help lead the eye to her reflection. It sounds like a bit much, but only took a few minutes. I am pleased with the PP, but may play around with some other color combinations. BTW I REALLY like using that LAB lightness channel for B/W conversions.

...and wouldn't you know it she doesn't like that picture one bit!!!
Teenagers.......Good Grief!!!

You really have that first duotone down, at least IMO. I am too darn lazy to do such extensive editing anymore (just too many shots to process, plus its hard to maintain consistency that way.) But I keep hearing such awesome things about LAB...

anyway, nice work, and you should be pleased w/ the PP. I don't know about binghott, but that last shot is so close to perfect, it could def benefit from a subtle masking of the round (iris) portion of the eyes, and then a little levels/curves adjustment. I'd be happy to give it a whirl.

jeffreaux2

Go ahead, make my day...
Just please list your steps. I'm willing to learn. Masking is definately my weak point.

As far as inconsistancy with time consuming edits......if you have a process you like you can always record the steps as an action and render the next 1000 pictures in one click. It is definately easy and consistant from that standpoint.

urbanaries

This is my attempt.

I used the quick mask brush to select both eyes, feathered and inversed the selection. Turn the guides off, then zoom back out all the way (helps keep the edits believeable). then brightened up all sliders a tad in Levels, and applied an unsharp mask. See what you think.

77862937.jpg

urbanaries

original for comparison....
77862937O.jpg

binghott

i liked that picture a lot before urbanaries got a hold of it, but now i absolutely love it. the eyes are now brighter and draw more attention to them without looking fake. nice job urbanaries!

yippeee!

jeffreaux2

I like
I can see where the eyes sharpenened up and although they don't really look brighter to be they are definitely more vibrant.

Thank you!

jeffreaux2

Urbanaries
I sent a private message.