moments with my son from February

Elaine

I thought I'd share some candids of my son from February. I haven't had the chance to do any shooting of anyone else, so this is it!
(If you check the Dailies, you may have seen some of these already!)


#1 - Chocolate mouth


#2 - listening to Daddy


#3 - running through the woods


#4 - playing outside


#5 - rolling down hill

urbanaries

Wow Elaine. I always knew you'd put that new gear to good use, because with your previous system you were always SO GOOD at seeking out and using good light. And this set proves it!

#1 is cute, whodathunk chocolate covered boys face would make a cute photo? D

#2 is one of my faves, man, those catchlights are to die for! that must be some window, and you caught him at the right time of day and the right angle. Beautiful lifestyle shot. (is this the 85mm?)

#3 is jawdropping. You do so well at capturing woodsy locales. I always envision in my mind that misty tree effect, but either I don't know what is the best kind of light for that effect, and/or I don't know the proper way to PP it. You obviously don't have that problem! I just love the ultra wide angle on this one, lovely. If I were to print it I might crop a tad off the right and bottom to throw him more in the bottom right, but that's just a thought.

4 is an adorable expression! I think had his shirt been solid it would be even better, but it's pretty darn good as is.

5 ...again, your outdoor lighting is spectacular. Is this natural light? Overcast? Your shots are so inspiring, and makes me look forward to the landscape greening up around here!!!

shatch

Great series of photos. All wall hangers! Well done!

cmason

#3



Print BIG!

Elaine

urbanaries wrote:

Wow Elaine. I always knew you'd put that new gear to good use, because with your previous system you were always SO GOOD at seeking out and using good light. And this set proves it!

#1 is cute, whodathunk chocolate covered boys face would make a cute photo? D

#2 is one of my faves, man, those catchlights are to die for! that must be some window, and you caught him at the right time of day and the right angle. Beautiful lifestyle shot. (is this the 85mm?)

#3 is jawdropping. You do so well at capturing woodsy locales. I always envision in my mind that misty tree effect, but either I don't know what is the best kind of light for that effect, and/or I don't know the proper way to PP it. You obviously don't have that problem! I just love the ultra wide angle on this one, lovely. If I were to print it I might crop a tad off the right and bottom to throw him more in the bottom right, but that's just a thought.

4 is an adorable expression! I think had his shirt been solid it would be even better, but it's pretty darn good as is.

5 ...again, your outdoor lighting is spectacular. Is this natural light? Overcast? Your shots are so inspiring, and makes me look forward to the landscape greening up around here!!!

Oh, Lynne! You're so good for the ego! Finding light is still something that intimidates me big time. I think I'm getting better at it and it's happening so slowly I just don't realize it!

Hah! Chocolate on a boy's face...something tells me it's been done before. And yours were awesome!

#2 was shot with the 17-55. I loved the catchlights too!

I'm so glad you like #3! I almost forgot to post it in the first place. I actually just replaced it with a slightly tighter crop...good call. Well, I cropped a bit off the bottom...not sure why I didn't chop more to begin with. My trouble with cropping the right side is I run into a bunch of trees and then it feels like the right side is really heavy visually, if that makes sense. I think I like the little bit of light over there slightly more than moving him to the right in the frame. I think...

Yep, solid shirt would have been better. But these were all unplanned, so...you get what you can get sometimes, right?

The last one is all natural light taken at 5:15 pm, so the sun was already behind some tall trees that were behind me and there was mostly blue sky above. I took a ridiculous amount of shots (using my rapid fire) to try and get a good one of him rolling and this was the only one worth keeping, but it was just what I was after.

Thanks so much for your kind comments!!!

Elaine

shatch wrote:

Great series of photos. All wall hangers! Well done!

Thank you SO much!!

Elaine

cmason wrote:

#3



Print BIG!

Thank you very much! I appreciate you stopping by!

Cuties02q

I love #2 & #3 just stunning!!!

ChrisJ

I love the personality shown in #1. But like others, #3 is my favorite; what a great memory! I'm looking forward to when my sons can roll down hills, too.

Swartzy

Yeaaaaa Elaine!
Ummm....btw...I think your son is now officially photographed as much as my grandchild These are really very nice! I absolutely LOVE #2...that's a wall hanger!

Elaine

Thank you very much, Stephenie!

Chris - Thanks for your comments! We are fortunate to have these woods directly behind our house, so we'll have lots of memories captured amongst these trees, I hope.

Swartzy - Thank you for the kind words! I don't know if it's possible for my little guy to be photograhed as much as your grand little guy...but I'm tryin'!

jeffreaux2

Very nice selection of photos Elaine.

As you know, I have made it a point to stretch myself with fill flash, but I still often find myself coming back to natural light. Natural light is so hard to beat. The shadows, tones, and subtleties are hard to improve on.

1-I am not crazy about the conversion. It seems as if the shadows have lost their detail. I do however like the expression.

2- Seems a tad red in the shadows, but I like the warmth, and you got the eyes perfectly. Awesome!!!

3- Makes me wish my life were that simple again. I'm jealous!!! I agree with whomever said it needs to be printed and framed....LARGE.

4- This is my favorite of the bunch. I'll take the stripes because the expression is perfect. Very nice!!!

5- Another well timed shot. The colors really pop even though it appears you had rather drab skies. I don't particularly like going out on days like that, but the softbox effect from the sky shows well in Naturally lit photographs.

My prediction is that if you keep photographing this young man he will someday have the best senior portfolio ever. Very nice work Elaine.

It appears as if you and Canon are playing nice with one another. As you know, I use a camera that can now be purchased very inexpensively. I saw an ad this week for an XTi for under $500. I have lately had some frustrations handed me that I half blame on the limitations of my camera. The other half of the blame falls on me for not being able to overcome those limitations. Long story short- I am thinking about forgoing my earlier plan to experiment with off camera light and instead invest in a better camera body. This is a tough decision for me because I look at accessories as gold, and cameras as....well...pretty much disposable. Anyway...I have not decided yet which way to go. I was thinking 30D, but your photographs are definately making me think better of the 40D.

Thanks for sharing these.

Hyllmark92

It lookes like your son loves the camera:D
Love the chocolate one(and everyone else, btw;)

Elaine

Thanks, Jeff!

I'm not crazy about my BW conversion either. OK...but not crazy.

Yeah, I think the shadows were a bit red...the sunlight was bouncing off an oak table that we were all sitting at, so I'm pretty sure that contributed. I decided I liked the warmth, too.

RE camera...I am so happy with my 40D!!! I can completely relate to feeling like you've reached the "end" of your camera and feeling frustrated and limited. BTDT. And I understand what you mean about camera bodies being "disposable" and accessories being what helps you step up your game. However, I can not tell you how great it is to have a really responsive and fun to use camera behind some great glass! I don't think you'd regret getting the 40D...nosiree!

Elaine

Hyllmark92 wrote:

It lookes like your son loves the camera:D
Love the chocolate one(and everyone else, btw;)

Thank you for looking and commenting!

jeffreaux2

Thanks, Jeff!


Yeah, I think the shadows were a bit red...the sunlight was bouncing off an oak table that we were all sitting at, so I'm pretty sure that contributed. I decided I liked the warmth, too.

I personally don't panic when my subjects pick up a color cast from their surroundings. It is often fruitless to try and correct, and....it is perfectly natural anyhow. I realized this one day at a red light. I was watching my daughter as a school bus pulled up next to us. A golden glow came over her. Outdoor settings often cast a green tint to skin. I will get rid of it if it is easy, but don't really obsess with it. I have also seen many cases where clothing reflects colors onto faces. Again, our eyes see this all the time without really taking notice....so.....what the heck.

muyguapo

#1 and #2 are great.

Llywellyn

I'm not a kid person, so I tend to shy away from commenting on photos featuring children as my bias will show through. But I have to say, #2 is just stunning. The light and catchlights are simply amazing. Wonderful, wonderful capture.

Elaine

muyguapo wrote:

#1 and #2 are great.

Thanks for commenting!

Elaine

Llywellyn wrote:

I'm not a kid person, so I tend to shy away from commenting on photos featuring children as my bias will show through. But I have to say, #2 is just stunning. The light and catchlights are simply amazing. Wonderful, wonderful capture.

I'm honored that you would move out of your zone to comment on one of my kid pics! Really, I appreciate it so much!