cousins

Elaine

Another from our Oregon coast vacation with family from Alaska...

I have a few others with all of them facing forward, but I so love these expressions. That's my little guy with his hands in the air!

heatherfeather

Oooh I love this!
I want to go there! It looks so beautiful! Great job!

Briggie

Again, lovely, Elaine. maybe just a question, that i shouldn't even ask, but here goes... do you post your photos straight out of the camera, or do you tweak them a bit in photo shop, cause you colours are really phenomenal!!...btw, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to! But, if its just your camera, i want to get me one!!

as always...totally enjoying your posts!!
Brige

DRabbit

This is a great shot... I like seeing their expressions and interaction with each other and you. You captured a nice memory!

Scott_Quier

I have to with the above re: the expressions and interactions which are just phenominal!. Even more than that though is the light. Wow that light is soo soft and wonderful. Very nice capture!

frg

Ditto......

~Jan~

Wow, awesome shot. What time of day was that--evening? The light is so nice!

Elaine

Thanks, all!! Yes, the light was great and helped to make this shot, for sure. It was taken near sunset...about 8:30 pm (just before the family silhouette shot I shared before). It was near the end of a perfect day!

Brige, I'm flattered that you would even ask ME a question like that! I'm the type of person who does at least a tiny bit of post processing before sharing my pics with the world, even if it's just a little bit of unsharp mask. I work with Photoshop Elements 5.0 and I have Lightroom, but I haven't had time to sit down and figure it out yet, although I'm anxious to learn. I've always liked the colors my Minolta 5D has produced, but since Minolta is no longer, I can't recommend rushing out to buy one!
This pic has had very little done to it. The light was so wonderful that not much needed to be done. I think I tweaked levels just a smidge, gave it a subtle vignette and a very small bit of USM. I can't remember if I had my polarizer on or not. I kept it on most of the day since I was shooting in bright sunlight with blue skies and near the water. The polarizer can help to make colors more rich. When you're shooting outside, changing WB to cloudy can also help give a warm punch to your colors...it may be nice in certain situations.
Normally, I find that getting the exposure right, either in camera or with some help in post, and making sure the contrast looks good, helps the colors to fall into place. Occasionally, I boost saturation a very little bit, unless I'm going for something hotter, then I boost it just a little more! I posted a shot recently that urbanaries pointed out needed some saturation, and she was completely right. I'm not sure what happened with that one, but it has made me more aware of that issue.
Anyway, sorry this got so long! I hope that answered your question!

urbanaries

Hey elaine, my ears were burning!

This shot is an example of how great light can turn a simple snapshot into a work of art. Simply stunning!!! Beautiful work.

Elaine

urbanaries wrote:

Hey elaine, my ears were burning!

This shot is an example of how great light can turn a simple snapshot into a work of art. Simply stunning!!! Beautiful work.

Thanks, Lynne! I'm learning more and more that the light is what makes a shot special. We always hear "it's all about the light," but light like this really makes me see why!

Briggie

Elaine wrote:

Thanks, all!! Yes, the light was great and helped to make this shot, for sure. It was taken near sunset...about 8:30 pm (just before the family silhouette shot I shared before). It was near the end of a perfect day!

Brige, I'm flattered that you would even ask ME a question like that! I'm the type of person who does at least a tiny bit of post processing before sharing my pics with the world, even if it's just a little bit of unsharp mask. I work with Photoshop Elements 5.0 and I have Lightroom, but I haven't had time to sit down and figure it out yet, although I'm anxious to learn. I've always liked the colors my Minolta 5D has produced, but since Minolta is no longer, I can't recommend rushing out to buy one!
This pic has had very little done to it. The light was so wonderful that not much needed to be done. I think I tweaked levels just a smidge, gave it a subtle vignette and a very small bit of USM. I can't remember if I had my polarizer on or not. I kept it on most of the day since I was shooting in bright sunlight with blue skies and near the water. The polarizer can help to make colors more rich. When you're shooting outside, changing WB to cloudy can also help give a warm punch to your colors...it may be nice in certain situations.
Normally, I find that getting the exposure right, either in camera or with some help in post, and making sure the contrast looks good, helps the colors to fall into place. Occasionally, I boost saturation a very little bit, unless I'm going for something hotter, then I boost it just a little more! I posted a shot recently that urbanaries pointed out needed some saturation, and she was completely right. I'm not sure what happened with that one, but it has made me more aware of that issue.
Anyway, sorry this got so long! I hope that answered your question!

thanks for that, Elaine!! And you SO deserve to be asked this type of question! I've had a chance to see your smugmug galleries, and i must say, you have a fantastic eye, colour and composition alike! Especially love the series of your son in the woods sitting on the wooden chair! Awesome!!

It hadn't occurred to me to set "cloudy" on an other than cloudy day! I'll have to try that. I use a polarizer too, but not particularly please with my use of it, since i like to shoot portrait alot, and am forever forgetting to adjust the polarizer! As far as post, i have yet to get PS Elements, and am currently using the edit tools provided in iPhoto on my Mac. But it doesn't give you an option to adjust levels really, the way PS does. Its all by eye, and what looks pleasing. Maybe i should calibrate my monitor... anyway... thanks for the info, and i really look forward to browsing your next posts!! Have a great summer!
Brige

jeffreaux2

The light is awesome, but I think that this composition is the real winner. In my mind I am looking at the photo and taking elements away to imagine it without them. Without the sandcastle for instance it would be less than it is. Without the rock to the left to balance the sandcastle......without the land jutting out in the BG.....without the reflections in the puddle at their feet. With out any one of these elements the photo would just be less....and ......if you had been afraid to bend rules, you may have chosen to throw ALL of those elements out of focus, or chosen a completely different angle to exclude them. You should give yourself at least as much credit as the light for this one. Superb environmental portrait and family keepsake for years to come!!! Awesome.

jeffreaux2

Briggie wrote:

It hadn't occurred to me to set "cloudy" on an other than cloudy day! I'll have to try that.

I read an interesting book by Bryan Peterson awhile back. He is well known for the excellent one titled Understanding Exposure. The one I was reading is Understanding Digital Photography. In this he highly reccomended setting the camera on cloudy WB and using it rather than auto for the default. Of course this wouldn't cut it for indoors, but outdoors it seems to work just fine. Another suggestion I have experimented with is setting exposure compensation to -1/3 to lessen the chance of blowing highlights. This saved an entire photoshoot for me, or at least cut my PP down to a fraction of what it would have been and my camera retains/controls highlights very well. When outdoors I use the cloudy wb almost exclusively. Otherwise I set a custom one using a piece of white cardstock.

Elaine

Thanks, Brige and Jeff! You have both given me such kinds words. I am so glad you have enjoyed the picture(s) and took the time to tell me! I truly appreciate it!

Seneca

Oh man if only the child that is looking away would've looked at the camera. I can see this as a great Christmas card picture. Nonetheless I love it.

photogmomma

Just beautiful! Thanks for your explanation on your colors - they are always phenomenal, not just in this shot....

Your son is hilarious!

Elaine

Seneca wrote:

Oh man if only the child that is looking away would've looked at the camera. I can see this as a great Christmas card picture. Nonetheless I love it.

Thanks, Seneca! I took a whole series of shots and I do have quite a few with all four facing forward, but even though one boy is turned around, there was something special about this one for me, especially since he's turned towards the kids and not looking out to sea or something. Thanks for the nice comments!

Elaine

photogmomma wrote:

Just beautiful! Thanks for your explanation on your colors - they are always phenomenal, not just in this shot....

Your son is hilarious!

Thanks, Andi! Yes, my son was being quite the ham! My first reaction was to tell him to put his hands down, but it was just so funny and happy that we let it go for awhile. Then we asked him to put his arms down so he wasn't blocking the other kids.

Briggie

jeffreaux2 wrote:

I read an interesting book by Bryan Peterson awhile back. He is well known for the excellent one titled Understanding Exposure. The one I was reading is Understanding Digital Photography. In this he highly reccomended setting the camera on cloudy WB and using it rather than auto for the default. Of course this wouldn't cut it for indoors, but outdoors it seems to work just fine. Another suggestion I have experimented with is setting exposure compensation to -1/3 to lessen the chance of blowing highlights. This saved an entire photoshoot for me, or at least cut my PP down to a fraction of what it would have been and my camera retains/controls highlights very well. When outdoors I use the cloudy wb almost exclusively. Otherwise I set a custom one using a piece of white cardstock.

thanks for the info!! I'll put that on my reading list, and will try the cloudy w/b next time i'm out! I'm a bit of a noob, so setting the WB with a white card might be a little out of my range, but maybe not, after i've read the book ;-)

Cheers!!
Brige