A few of my girls

photogmomma · March 2, 2007

It's been a while... I am still editing the wedding I did last weekend, but took a few shots of my girls I wanted to share.

Ellie, my oldest, showing off her cheesy grin!

Sammie throwing a FIT because she does NOT want to share...

Distraught after being forced to share. Such a TOUGH life!

Thanks for peeking! As always, CC is always appreciated - and wanted!

System · March 2, 2007

Beautiful shots with dreamy B&W conversions. Lush. Were they shot with available light?

Andy · March 2, 2007

I was Sammy 42 years ago... big sister always wailing on my

Great stuff, momma!

photogmomma · March 2, 2007

Thanks, guys! I appreciate the comments!

Forgot the particulars:

Opened the shades in front of them, angled the horse just slightly and used only available light (north facing). Camera info: ISO 200, f/2.5, 1/320 exposure

Andy, hope your sister is better to you now.

Thanks so much!

Truth, thanks so much on the conversion. I bought Lightroom and am in LOVE with it. My results are SO much better than anything I could have gotten in PS. Much more consistant and better overall. Thanks again!

Skippy · March 2, 2007

photogmomma wrote:

It's been a while... I am still editing the wedding I did last weekend, but took a few shots of my girls I wanted to share.

Ellie, my oldest, showing off her cheesy grin!
Sammie throwing a FIT because she does NOT want to share...

Distraught after being forced to share. Such a TOUGH life!

Thanks for peeking! As always, CC is always appreciated - and wanted!

Ohhhhhhhh kid fight.... okay who won ???

Your children are gorgeous, nice sepia touch too

.... Skippy
.

El Kiwi · March 2, 2007

I agree - really nice shots. Lightroom does an awesome job of the conversions, doesn't it?

photogmomma · March 2, 2007

Skippy, neither won... In war, no one wins!

Sammie sat on the horse hogging it and Ellie was despondent!

!

Thanks so much!

Yes, El Kiwi, I just LOVE how you can do such interesting and great conversions with Lightroom! Thanks so much for your comments!

System · March 2, 2007

photogmomma wrote:

Truth, thanks so much on the conversion. I bought Lightroom and am in LOVE with it. My results are SO much better than anything I could have gotten in PS. Much more consistant and better overall. Thanks again!

Shhh...don't tell anyone but LR gives the best B&W conversions without all the 40 step deals.

photogmomma · March 2, 2007

truth wrote:

Shhh...don't tell anyone but LR gives the best B&W conversions without all the 40 step deals.

Cool. It's our secret... I won't say anything either!

JessicaT · March 3, 2007

absolutely beautiful...reminds me of me and my brother when we were younger :-)

Thiago Sigrist · March 3, 2007

This is beautiful, Andi!

Great use of available light, great B&W conversions, but most of all, great eye for capturing the moment!

For just one little example of things that work so well in your photos: the use of DOF on the second. Beautiful stuff!

Congrats on your photos and lovely kids!
Thanks for sharing!

-- thiago

gmonkeh · March 3, 2007

These are just great shots. I'll have to agree the conversion is just spot on, I love the look of it. I just picked up lightroom as well but I don't have the same grasp of it as CS2 yet. I guess I'll just have to keep playing with it.

care to share your mix for this brew?

Lex

photogmomma · March 3, 2007

Thanks, Thiago! I love playing with DOF.... It's a lot of fun - at the right times. (And I've screwed it up pretty badly, too!

!) thanks again!

Gmonkeh... What?!? Give away my secret?!? You have to be kidding!!!

Okay, okay, since you twisted my arm...

To do the B&W conversion, you need to have a photo that is exposed well (or have exposure adjusted correctly) as well as the color corrected in it. If the color is wrong (for example, way too warm), you can get different results. I always adjust my photos so that they look good in color before I do any conversion - I find that I get much better results that way, as odd as it sounds.

Then in the Develop module, I have a preset the does the following:

Greyscale conversion
Split toning with the following settings:
Hue:37, Saturation:10 for both highlights and shadows, balance at 0

I find that a warmer tone in a B&W works well with most of the photos I do. I only like a true sepia in certain instances, but love having something with a very slight tone most of the time. (I do have a few true B&W images, but generally they aren't people/children.) That's I think what makes this conversion stand out a bit.... (At least, that's what others have told me!)

After I do that, I fix the exposure and usually have to bring it up slightly. Not always (and I don't think I did in these photos), but I fix exposure so that the brights aren't blown, but are still bright and have detail.

Then I run my preset (not Lightrooms!) for Tone Curve - medium:

Highlights: +27
Lights: +17
Darks: -1
Shadows: -17

Those are straight out of the preset I made, but I will often tweak them slightly. You have to watch it, though, as the highlights going higher may cause some of the brights to blow out.

You'll notice that I do my warm B&W conversion and my Tone Curve separately. Different photos require a different tone curve so it doesn't make sense to put them all together.... I do section and just click on the presets that I want to use! (I have made about 5 or 6...)

A few places to check out downloadable presets are:
http://lightroompresets.com/#
http://inside-lightroom.co.uk/ (This one has more information)

I haven't tried any of these (although I've downloaded them), but they may help you out!

HTH!

I do have these presets and I would be happy to email out - if you'd like them (or anyone), please PM me with your email. But I *highly* suggest doing them yourself a few times and creating your own - you'll learn more that way and end up with better conversions if you understand the process!

Oh, and thanks again for the kinds words!

photogmomma · March 3, 2007

Oh, and some Lightroom videos that helped me understand it a LOT better....

http://www.whibalhost.com/_Tutorials/Photoshop_LR/01/

gmonkeh · March 3, 2007

lol thanks photogmomma, I actually took some time to play around with LR last night. I do like it and there's some features that I like, I'm thinking of implementing it into my workflow, I'm still a CS2 kind of guy though.

System · March 3, 2007

gmonkeh wrote:

lol thanks photogmomma, I actually took some time to play around with LR last night. I do like it and there's some features that I like, I'm thinking of implementing it into my workflow, I'm still a CS2 kind of guy though.

LR works with CS2, it just makes your life easier. It's much mroe powerful than CameraRAW and really cuts down the Photoshop time. When you're done "developing" in LR you simply export the file(s) and they open in PS. Could not be any simpler.

gmonkeh · March 3, 2007

I'm pretty sure that was what I said......

DavidS · March 3, 2007

Nice shots. I like the gamut of emotions you have captured.

urbanaries · March 3, 2007

Hey Andi...you know i'm your biggest fan...

love this series, ellie sure has grown up since the pics from last fall! wow. Looks like sisterly love is still a wee ways off! The one of Sammie putting her head down is great. That bummed out posture is adorable.

As usual, love your style and conversions.

good to see you back!

lynne

PS thanks for the preset info for 1.0....I was having some difficulty adjusting from Beta 4 to the release in this area...mucho gusto!

photogmomma · March 6, 2007

Thanks so much, DavidS!

Lynne, I'm one of YOUR biggest fans, too! So the compliment means a lot from you!

Thank you!

Actually, the girls usually get along, but Sammie is getting some new teeth or growing or something and has been a bit more ornery than usual. Ugh!

So glad you liked my presets! I've tweaked the warm b&W (it seems to have changed since the beta) and that's what you see here. Holler if you'd like it! I don't mind!

Gmonkeh, here is my usual flow - if it helps! Not sure if you're doing this professionally or not, but this flow works really well for me!

Do photoshoot
Download photos
Backup
Move to new directory of backed up images
Import into Lightroom
In the Library module, go turn on Lights Out mode and go through each image giving them 1, 4 or 5 stars. 1=delete, 4=good, 5=awesome. (Sometimes I give 3's for shoots I need a photo I'm not happy with, but they then go to 4 or 1 depending...)
Color correct, crop, convert to B&W in Lightroom. Remove spots.
Select 3-5% of photos to fully edit in PS to show what's possible - skin softening, if necessary, background cleanup, more intense stamping, etc
Upload all images selected - about 30-50 for a standard photoshoot (weddings are different)
Customer purchases
Use proof days to fully edit in PS, if necessary
Release
Collect $$!

I definitely will always use PS, but I rarely do any color correction or cropping in there now. I find I get MUCH more consistant results with LR. Much better!

Anyway, thought I'd share my flow with you just in case it helps you figure out yours! Good luck!