Nephews

red_zone · November 27, 2012

I had a great Thanksgiving with my in-laws, and took the opportunity to photograph my nephews. Nothing set up, per se, but I had the camera out all the time and tried for shots where I could get them.
I'd appreciate C&C on everything, especially tips on how to set up a 'shoot' and then get family members, toddlers, and infants to actually cooperate.

I took a bunch, but here are my favorites
Nephew #1:

removed.

Nephew #2:
removed.

removed.

My gear is a D5000 with 18-200 f3.5-6 lens, a tripod, and a remote trigger. These were all handheld. I'm working on it! Need a flash for sure. I use Picasa to do my editing (free, easy, powerful enough for the basics). Meanwhile I do the best I can and try not to use the on-camera flash (the lens casts a shadow on the picture at 18-25mm). High ISO gets really noisy on my camera, unfortunately.

Qarik · November 29, 2012

Jake,

cute kids!

1st of all just about every shot has some focus issues, either camera shake or maybe even over cropping. This maybe partly due to your lens. The 18-200 you have to be careful and stop it down some to get best results. Do you have a 50mm lens? Get one..this is a cheap way to get much better IQ in your shots

2ndly you should try to get the kids to actually look at the camera..it's hard I know, but it instantly adds "connection" to the viewer. Often if the composition is interesting enough you don't need eye contact but I would encourage it.

Lastly, your processing. It needs work. your images lack contrast overall and WB is all over the place as well a some exposure issues which could be improved. Get some real processing software and invest some time in it.

VayCayMom · November 30, 2012

Tips I recently used... get one other person at least to be your coordinator... have it planned out in your head where and how each should be posed.. start with the grown ups.. lay down the camera and show each adult exactly what to do it the spot you want them in... lastly bring in the little kids.

I recently bought a bike horn, the kind with a black bulb to squeeze for a loud annoying noise. I have used it several ways. When desperate I once gave it to a 3 or 4 yr old... well he did stop crying, but the horn was worse. BEST ever use was to slip it down the back of my waistband at the end of a session, down to the 6 yr old's solo shots. Then I honked it without any expression. Did it again, she had no idea where it was coming from,. I confessed that had farted... BEST laugh out loud EVER !!

Even babies will look at a noise like that but not forever, use it wisely. And or have a silly partner help out by standing behind you and doing whatever works. Good luck, for me this can be harder than knowing how to use the camera !

red_zone · November 30, 2012

Thanks for the feedback. Funny, I seem to see the focus issues more now than when I first loaded these onto my computer. A second look at these makes me second guess putting them up here in the first place. Left are the 'clear'-er ones.

Quarik - I've been shooting relatively wide-open, and 1/10th or less... I think my focus issues are mostly camera shake. Possibly even on the outdoor ones, as they are zoomed quite a bit. I didn't crop them down more than 30%.
If I step down to f8 or smaller, I thought I'd need to bump the ISO to keep shutter speed fast... and if my focus problems are really camera shake I need to be even faster. How do you adjust for this? A flash or more light would be the obvious solution... but any other ways? I am convinced I need to change the way I'm taking pictures.

I guess I don't have a 'workflow' currently, but how do I make sure I have a consistent white balance? The camera I leave on auto wb in almost all situations.

Unfortunately your suggestions for a 50mm lens (I've been looking at them wishfully) and real editing software are going to have to wait a while. The 18-200 was a recent birthday present, and I can't really swing another lens... If I can convince my wife we need to sell the 18-55 and 55-200 that this lens replaces, that might be enough!

Trudy - thanks! I think I'll co-opt my mother-in-law to help arrange the adults, it's hard in their house to find a clean background with good light. I'll keep the noisemaker in mind for the little ones! They didn't respond much at all to my calling their names.

Qarik · November 30, 2012

okay the 18-55 is going to be a better lens in terms of IQ over the 18-200mm. Stick with that for family stuff. That will immediately make things better. (Sell the 55-200 if you can find a buyer) The 18-55 is a fairly decent lens. The D5000 I believe has the same sensor as the D90 so it is fine to iso 1600.

From your description, it sounds like the main issue is your shutter speed. 1/10 is waaaay to slow and will guarantee camera shake..especially if you are shooting at the longer end of the 18-200mm. The general rule of thumb is that your shutter speed should be 1/zoom. So if you are shooting at 50mm then you min shutter speed should never drop below 1/50s. At 200m you should shoot at 1/200s. If you you want to set it and forget..keep it at 1/100s at all times. The just change your iso as the light changes.

When I say stop down..I mean just a touch..if you are at 3.5 go to 4.

Lastly, if you truly want better focus on people shots (and this is a bit more advanced technique) switch your AF to single point mode and focus on your subject eye or bridge of the nose. It really doesn't matter if any other part of the body or face is out of focus..if the eyes are in focus that is really all that matters 95% of the time. This is a pain in the ass when you 1st do this but it will increase your keeper rate for sure. I do this about 90% of the time when shooting people.

red_zone · November 30, 2012

Thanks very much for your suggestions. Nephew #1's second birthday party is coming up in a few weeks, I'm going to try again for some better portraits. It kills me how many pictures I end up throwing away... I suppose I DO sort of "spray and pray"... time to slow down, set things up, and check for focus before wasting the opportunity for good photos.

your comments made me curious about what settings I actually used on the photos:

1/1000, f5.6, ISO 400, 200mm
Bright sun. Increased fill light for detail on left side of face. This is probably where the lack of contrast originated.

1/1000, f5.6, ISO 500, 200mm
Same "processing" - increase fill, I think I bumped shadows in this one.

1/30, f4.5, ISO 1250, 42mm

The blurry ones I took down I looked at the data for those too:
1/20 @ 95mm, 1/10 @ 40mm, 1/45 @ 29mm, and 1/20 @ 15mm... so... maybe I need to work on settings to reduce camera shake AND making sure the little red dot is on what I want to take a picture of!

Qarik · November 30, 2012

red_zone wrote: »

Thanks very much for your suggestions. Nephew #1's second birthday party is coming up in a few weeks, I'm going to try again for some better portraits. It kills me how many pictures I end up throwing away... I suppose I DO sort of "spray and pray"... time to slow down, set things up, and check for focus before wasting the opportunity for good photos.

your comments made me curious about what settings I actually used on the photos:

1/1000, f5.6, ISO 400, 200mm
Bright sun. Increased fill light for detail on left side of face. This is probably where the lack of contrast originated.

1/1000, f5.6, ISO 500, 200mm
Same "processing" - increase fill, I think I bumped shadows in this one.

1/30, f4.5, ISO 1250, 42mm

The blurry ones I took down I looked at the data for those too:
1/20 @ 95mm, 1/10 @ 40mm, 1/45 @ 29mm, and 1/20 @ 15mm... so... maybe I need to work on settings to reduce camera shake AND making sure the little red dot is on what I want to take a picture of!

Yeah, so I figured the outside one you are okay on SS as there is plenty of light. The fill light is what is causing the lack of contrast. You could try and bump the contrast after you increase fill. Add some sharpening too (if your tool has it). It may well be that the softness is just a matter of your lens. The 1st one..how much did you crop btw?

For inside shots you may just hot your camera/lens limits on aperture and ISO and the only way around that is to add more light.

Do this..find a victim, find a window that does not have ANY direct sunlight (if it has white shades pull them down). Wait till cloudy day for best effect. Use this as a light source and take some portraits.

Nephews

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