Soft effect on nieces

[rammy]

They were visiting my parents for the weekend so I went up to see them.

I had been playing with nightshots the previous evening so camera was still on ISO 1600, oops!

PP: I used a noise extractor to get rid of the high noise content and then blurred slightly to give this soft effect. Hand filtered to get the sepia effect.

Do you think these work?

[Music to my eyes]

Yes, I think they work well.
They are intimate and endearing photos. I think they give the viewer a real sense of the kid behind the image. The photography doesn't get in the way of their personality...if that makes sense.

[lomond]

I think they work very well.

You did a great job with the noise and the soft focus effect works well also.
For me the sepia effect is spot on.

I think their parents will love these shots.

Regards,

[lisa1969]

I really like #1!! Nice captures!

[sixshot]

#1 is my fav.

[Big John]

Can you tell me what you did to reduce the noise? I am shopping for some noise reduction software, and being the cheapskate that I am I want to keep the cost down to around $50.00

I like #1 the best too!

[T.O.]

#1 works perfectly for me, it's almost a woman's expression that your niece has in this photo and composition is very good also...

thanx for sharing,
T.O.

[tupe]

#1 is something rare and beautiful. Great shot.

[Dimitry]

I really like the first one! :)

[rammy]

Thanks very much all for your comments. I'm glad these seem to work :)

"Music", thanks, that is what I was trying to capture.

Lomond, thanks. I was toying between BW and sepia, the sepia won.

Lisa1969, sixshot, TO, tupe and dimitry, #1 certainly works best because of the pose, do you think? #2 is the typical "childs" pose I think.

Big John, have a look at noiseware:
http://www.imagenomic.com/

I took continuous shots of Anya, here is the second shot from #1. I think this one is certainly an adult type of pose also (she is learning quick)...

[John Trogdon]

Number 1 and this last one are awesome shots. Great work!

[InskiP]

Yes, Anya knows how to work the camera already. Great captures.
What lens/settings did you use? And what do you mean
by hand filtered sepia effect?

[dkord]

I like the 2nd shot of #1 best. What focal length did you use?

[rammy]

Thanks for your comments John Trogdon, I'm pleased with the results.
InskiP, I added a Colour Layer and HSL Layer to control the the end result and not destroy the original pixels.

Here is EXIF. You can see the ISO 1600 which kinda forced me to make the soft effect. Shot with the 18-55 lens.

Make - Canon
Model - Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL
XResolution - 300.00/0.00
YResolution - 300.00/0.00
ResolutionUnit - Inch
ExifOffset - 90
ExposureTime - 1/800 seconds
FNumber - 7.10
ISOSpeedRatings - 1600
CompressedBitsPerPixel - 9 (bits/pixel)
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/800 seconds
ApertureValue - F 7.10
ExposureBiasValue - 0.00
MaxApertureValue - F 5.60
MeteringMode - Average
Flash - Not fired
FocalLength - 55 mm
ColorSpace - Uncalibrated
ExifImageWidth - 160
ExifImageHeight - 120
FocalPlaneXResolution - 3443.95
FocalPlaneYResolution - 3442.02
FocalPlaneResolutionUnit - Inch
SensingMethod - One-chip color area sensor
CustomRendered - Normal process
ExposureMode - Manual
WhiteBalance - Manual
SceneCaptureType - Standard

[BottomBracket]

These are awesome shots. Proof once again that the 18-55 lens is quite capable in good hands. Great work.

[InskiP]

Thanks for the info rammy. What is HSL, history state layer?
So, you added two layers over the original? This is better than just using the sepia action?
How do you then choose colors for toning images? Anyone? Also, I'm confused by the two aperature values, sorry, did you use 5.6?

Thanks again

[MCB]

Thanks for the info rammy. What is HSL, history state layer?
So, you added two layers over the original? This is better than just using the sepia action?


I can't speak for the original poster, but I think if you use a "sepia action" you're basically going to get a single, standard look. If you like that look, then the action is right for you. But if you do your post processing manually, you can get many, many different looks from the same image. You can get a sepia look several different way. Each will give you a different overall look, something different than your sepia action will give. So if you have the time and patience, its' really worth reading some tutorials and exploring what photoshop can do. If you don't have the time, or just have too many photos to process, the actions will do a good enough job.

(for example: step one in making a sepia image can be to convert to black and white. There are sevaral ways to do that. If you use the channel mixer, you have many possibilities for how that B&W will look. Then you have several ways to colorize it -including Hue/Saturation layer, gradient map, or just a layer with a solid color and its mode set to "color" instead of "normal". with all those combinations you can get a nearly endless range of subtle differences in how your sepia will look. But exploring all of those options can take a seemingly endless time :)

Personally, I like working in photoshop as much as I like taking pictures. So for me it's not a dull, time-wasting burdon to go into photoshop and spend a lot of time tweaking 5-10 layers to get exactlly the right effect. To me, it is worth the time for those special pictures (wife, baby, etc) to take the time and stack up as many layers as it takes to get things just right. There is as much creativity involved in post processing as composing the original photo. But if you want to use an action to save time, that works, too. For those not-so-special pictures that's a good way to go.

[MCB]

By the way, i love that first picture. I bet the parents will want a big print of that. :) Great work.

[djonto]

I too love the first shot and also the last. You've made a really good job of them all

[rammy]

Thanks BottomBracket, I too think the 18-55 is ok, but am looking to get 16-35L soon :-)

MCB, thanks very much for comments. I agree in that it really is upto the person as to what result they are looking for and how they want to acheive it as there is no "set formula" ;-)

Thanks very much djonto for comments

InskiP, I've replied to your PM.