Matthew in a different light

christulk

Hello all,

Well I am finally playing with the rest of you. After starting on PS7, I am now on CS2 which means RAW. I bought some lights from the local hardware store, fitted some 'daylight' globes in, bought some black fabric and moved the car out of the garage. Voila! home 'studio'.

These are some of my practice shots. I have slightly adjusted the WB and would like some feedback on the lighting, in fact go to town on the shots (except that I know about the annoying light patch in the top left corner of 2, and the thread of cotton on Matthew's arm in 3.) The focus in 2 is a bit off - why can't kids sit still? (In Australia we aren't allowed to glue them to the spot )

My 2.5 yr old was my test dummy.

1.

~Jan~

Oh, he's sweet! My only critique would be to close the aperture up a bit on #2 so the other eye is in focus. This is the EXACT problem I have when taking a similar shot. I love that blurred background but I'm not always great at getting everything else in focus!

urbanaries

Awesome use of your garage! (if I had one this would surely be my use for it, too!)

The shots are adorable and I think you have lit your subject very well for "hot" lights, I have trouble getting enough light on their own myself. #3 specifically looks very even and well-exposed, on my monitor. Only thing I can see is you don't have catchlights in his right eye, but they're there in the left.

I agree with Jan about the focus, your DOF needs to be longer. When you don't have control of the background, you want to leverage a wide aperture to blur the background and isolate your subject.

When you do have control (eg a backdrop), use the smallest aperture possible. If you are shooting wider because of shutter speed, add more light.

CUTE little boy! (well, your whole family is gorgeous, if memory serves!)

christulk

Lynne and Jan,

Thanks for your feedback. The point about the DOF is a good point. I appreciate your comments.

Oh and I agree, he is adorable...especially when he is asleep