1 year portraits

[TSEE]

I took some portraits of my niece this past Saturday, she turned 1.
I was going fora sort of highkey effect on these, not sure I succeeded as well as I wanted, I might play with them some more but I thought they were cute.
We didn't do as many poses as normal but I still ended up taking close to 300 of her, so there's plenty there to choose from.
If ya'll give me a day or so I'll even find the info/settings for these - have to dig thru my CD's first to find the RAW files since the info disappeared with the JPG's. But this was the first time using a light meter to help me with the settings and it worked pretty well.
Used my Canon 20D and 28-135mm lens with hood (handheld, which was probably a bad idea), my continuous lights, white muslin (which I hate hate hate) and flower prop. Then in photoshop I fixed the white balance, added light and contrast, that's about it I think.
And sorry, this is a series since I can't choose my favorite.

Pictures removed: If you wish to see them, please PM me for a link.

[Kristy]

Oh these are so sweet Sue! :) Love them.. the only CC I can give really is to blur the background a bit.. I can see some wrinkles in the fabric.. it's an easy fix if you duplicate the original, and do gaussian blur, then erase the baby and the flower to reveal the original. :)

Great job! Can't wait to see more!!

[gparvan]

Nice pics. What do you hate about white muslin ?

[GyRob]

The simples't way to get rid of the shadowy bit on the left pic's 2/3 is to use the Doge tool .
Rob.

[TSEE]

Oh these are so sweet Sue! :) Love them.. the only CC I can give really is to blur the background a bit.. I can see some wrinkles in the fabric.. it's an easy fix if you duplicate the original, and do gaussian blur, then erase the baby and the flower to reveal the original. :)
Great job! Can't wait to see more!!

Thanks Kristy. :)
Yeah the background is a bit wrinkly...these are some of those I'll have to work extra on....I've been cloning them out. I'll try a G.blur on them and see how it looks. In the past it always looked so over done I think.
Thanks again.

Nice pics. What do you hate about white muslin ?

I HATE HATE HATE the wrinkles that come with it. I can't store it rolled up (esp not when I take it with me for these type portraits, if I stored it at home it wouldn't be a problem but I take this with me elsewhere and that's where the problem is) so when I go to use it, its got all these pesky wrinkles I have to "smooth" or blur out. Once I get the funds I'm getting me a backdrop support system and white paper roll. No more wrinkles. Now what I'm gonna do with the 3 white ones I've got (1 double white and 1 single) I dunno, I might "tie dye" them or something. I've wanted some "speckled" backdrops, I might to that with them.

The simples't way to get rid of the shadowy bit on the left pic's 2/3 is to use the Doge tool .
Rob.

Thanks, I'll give it a go.

[Kristy]

hey Sue,
Another thing you can do about the wrinkles is try to get more space between the subject and backdrop.. if you can widen the space the background should blur out if your aperature is wide enough... maybe that would help some??

Here's a quick edit with a blur of the background and bumping levels, curves a little contrast and USM..... Dodged the eyes a bit too...
and increased saturation some

Just to give you an idea of where you can go with this... on the blurred layer I bumped levels quite a bit more to brighten up the BG.

What do you think?? Too much?

[TSEE]

Yeah not happening when I go on location, these were done at my ILs, and I just don't have enough space to work there, so that's really not an option (and they didn't want to come up here to take the shots so I do what I can). The balloon shots were as far back as I could get and then having the lens at like 28-35mm. Just not happening, if she sat any closer to me there would be no full length shots at all.
I'm gonna try that next time when I do portraits at home tho, I have a whole livingroom to work with so space shouldn't be a problem. ;)
Thanks!

[Kristy]

Looking at my edit on the forum, it looks like too much saturation.. oh well.. you get the idea..

Yeah, it's hard shooting at other people's homes.. .you never have enough space and it's always a chore moving their furniture all around.

Anyway... Happy Friday!! :)

[EOS_JD]

These are really great compositions however I have a question....

Have you cut out the baby and pasted in to the backgropund on many of these? Looks like a few jaggies around a few of the images, particularly No 6 where the forehead has some extraction leftovers.....

Jim

[ajbalazic]

More great shots. Perfect framing.

[TSEE]

Here's a quick edit with a blur of the background and bumping levels, curves a little contrast and USM..... Dodged the eyes a bit too...
and increased saturation some

Just to give you an idea of where you can go with this... on the blurred layer I bumped levels quite a bit more to brighten up the BG.

What do you think?? Too much?

THanks for the edit Kristy.
The eyes were already dodged, personally they look a bit too shiny/bright now, but I could probably go a smidgen more with mine, I didn't want to overdo them, ya know?
I'll probably see if I can bump the saturation in mine a bit.
How much on levels did you go on the BG? It seemed when I did it it went way overboard, it looked fake?

[TSEE]

Looking at my edit on the forum, it looks like too much saturation.. oh well.. you get the idea..

Yeah, it's hard shooting at other people's homes.. .you never have enough space and it's always a chore moving their furniture all around.

Anyway... Happy Friday!! :)

Well once I get my paper backdrop I ain't going anywhere, I'm tie dying the muslins something else so they have to come to me from now on. I love my ILs to death but its a PITA to shoot there, they don't want to come up here but you can't tape up the backdrop just anywhere, and gosh watch the paint. Its no fun, from now on they come to me - this session left me so aggrivated that I don't want to do it again.
Happy Friday to you too. :)

[TSEE]

These are really great compositions however I have a question....

Have you cut out the baby and pasted in to the backgropund on many of these? Looks like a few jaggies around a few of the images, particularly No 6 where the forehead has some extraction leftovers.....

Jim

Oh crapola...no I didn't cut and paste it, I however selected the backdrop and did levels on it, I'm never happy with the ways I do layers, need more practice. I do see what you mean tho, I'll have to go fix that. Thanks for the heads up, so much for looking at these huh? That's what I get for doing 136 of them.
I'll go correct it right now....ok fixed it on a couple...I'll work on the rest next week, I'm so sick of looking at those right now its not even funny. Thanks for the heads up tho!

[TSEE]

More great shots. Perfect framing.

Thanks.

[EOS_JD]

Oh crapola...no I didn't cut and paste it, I however selected the backdrop and did levels on it, I'm never happy with the ways I do layers, need more practice. I do see what you mean tho, I'll have to go fix that. Thanks for the heads up, so much for looking at these huh? That's what I get for doing 136 of them.
I'll go correct it right now....ok fixed it on a couple...I'll work on the rest next week, I'm so sick of looking at those right now its not even funny. Thanks for the heads up tho!

I know the feeleing very well. I'm starting to spend less time on editing after a shoot. To be honest most clients are still delighted!! We are all too critical of our own work but I think time is teaching me to live with it. Your images are great so don't worry about it :)

[Kristy]

THanks for the edit Kristy.
The eyes were already dodged, personally they look a bit too shiny/bright now, but I could probably go a smidgen more with mine, I didn't want to overdo them, ya know?
I'll probably see if I can bump the saturation in mine a bit.
How much on levels did you go on the BG? It seemed when I did it it went way overboard, it looked fake?

I thought I saved the layered version, but I didn't... I know that I bumped the highlights and the midtones... I think the difference is the gaussian blur... Blur it a LOT and then reduce the opacity to your liking... I think the blur helps to mix up the levels by bumping the highlights into the midtones, and making it overall more uniform.. does that make sense?

[nwa2]

Very nice baby pictures - I am sure the parents will be delighted regardless of your search for perfection.

I have been using my bedroom as a temp studio and I know what you mean about having to work with the space you have. I can manage to get about 4 feet between my subject and the backdrops I use, I also tend to use a mid range telephoto lens (about 80 - 90mm) which helps to shorten the DoF and keep the background blurred.

Neil

[freakeystyley34]

Lovely shots, #4 is my favourite pose of them all!

[TSEE]

I know the feeleing very well. I'm starting to spend less time on editing after a shoot. To be honest most clients are still delighted!! We are all too critical of our own work but I think time is teaching me to live with it. Your images are great so don't worry about it :)

I posted the basic images and showed them to some friends and they were impressed, one so much she's hunting clients for me. ;) LOL
But still I guess its only a good thing we're critical of ourselves, how else will you improve? If you think every shot was your greatest you'll never learn and improve. No, I'm gonna master that stupid thing if it so takes me months to learn it....I'll work some more on them next week and see if I get better results. Thanks for the compliment tho. :)

[TSEE]

I thought I saved the layered version, but I didn't... I know that I bumped the highlights and the midtones... I think the difference is the gaussian blur... Blur it a LOT and then reduce the opacity to your liking... I think the blur helps to mix up the levels by bumping the highlights into the midtones, and making it overall more uniform.. does that make sense?

Ok I'll try that....if I can't make it work I know where to find ya. ;)
Thanks Kristy!

[TSEE]

Very nice baby pictures - I am sure the parents will be delighted regardless of your search for perfection.

I have been using my bedroom as a temp studio and I know what you mean about having to work with the space you have. I can manage to get about 4 feet between my subject and the backdrops I use, I also tend to use a mid range telephoto lens (about 80 - 90mm) which helps to shorten the DoF and keep the background blurred.

Neil

Thanks Neil.
Yeah I think the parents are happy, they're not paying for my services so who would be unhappy with free pictures? Family favor, what can I say? I get to practice different sets and stuff with their girl and use it for advertisement later if I need it and they get free pix.
I think I'd actually do a bit better if I got to do the pix at MY house, these were taken at the ILs with no room to maneuver, I'm not doing that again.
Thanks...practice makes perfect right?

[TSEE]

Lovely shots, #4 is my favourite pose of them all!

Thanks! :)

[marie]

the shots and the baby are beautiful

I don't like to comment about something which may not be but I notice the child may have a lazy eye (#3) photo
it would be wise for the parents to get it checked out now at this stage
no harm done if it is just the way the baby is looking at the lens
:confused:


http://www.lazyeye.org/
http://www.lazyeye.org/#causes

[christyjo2]

adorable pics!

[TSEE]

the shots and the baby are beautiful

I don't like to comment about something which may not be but I notice the child may have a lazy eye (#3) photo
it would be wise for the parents to get it checked out now at this stage
no harm done if it is just the way the baby is looking at the lens
:confused:


http://www.lazyeye.org/
http://www.lazyeye.org/#causes
Thank you about the pictures.And I had someone else comment on that in a PM and as far as I know the doctors haven't said anything about her eyes looking funny in anyway. I've never noticed it in other pictures I have of her (taken at newborn, 3, 6, and 9 months) so it may just be how I took these shots?Thanks for the warning tho, I'll be sure to pass that along to my SIL.

[TSEE]

adorable pics!

Thank you!

[Lunajen]

I think these are precious!!!

Nice!

[MagicallyDelicious]

really cute!

[TamEric]

love the piccies really cute

[TSEE]

I think these are precious!!!
Nice!

really cute!

love the piccies really cute

Tripple thanks guys! :D