Cotton Candy

[iacas]

Please be as brutal as you'd like. This was shot with only a single desk light with my 50f/1.4 at 1.4 and ISO 1600, I believe, with the 5D. Post-processing included some curves adjustments, a white balance, cloning out a white napkin in the lower-left, and a very minor crop (mostly from the top) - so the composition is almost right out of the camera.

I submitted this image to the Radiant Vista, but obviously don't know if it'll ever appear in that series. Rip it to shreds - I can take whatever you dish out, since it's just an opinion. In some ways this is just a snap shot, but in other ways I'm personally very pleased with how it came out.

[Swift]

Very cute!

The background is a bit noisy, needs blurring. Bring out the eyes with some sharpening.
Sharpening the face would do some good as well...
Lovely otherwise .

[photoshopthis]

ISO @ 1600 is way too high lots of noise bring it down to 100 or 200!!!

I'd also crop it a bit more and clonethe background to be one color and a bit of sharpening

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Swift1

The background is a bit noisy, needs blurring. Bring out the eyes with some sharpening. Sharpening the face would do some good as well...

The DoF is under 2 inches on a shot like this. One eye's as sharp as you can get (and the other isn't).

Originally Posted by photoshopthis

ISO @ 1600 is way too high lots of noise bring it down to 100 or 200!!!

No offense intended here, but did you read what I wrote? We were watching a movie and only a single 60W sofa lamp light behind and above the kiddo was lighting the scene.

The JPEG has EXIF data in it: f/1.4, ISO 1600, for 1/30 second. At ISO 100, gee, I'm looking at quarter-second exposure time. C'mon... Of course it's got a little noise.

I realize I said "rip it to shreds," but I didn't assume that meant you could be as unrealistic as you'd like.

[photoshopthis]

Then why didn't you use a flash And your calling me unrealistic. A Flash could have helped alot more the that 60W light.

Sorry you asked for an opinion, if you weren't looking for honesty there is so noting I can do about that.

[Phil Light]

Originally Posted by iacas

...In some ways this is just a snap shot, but in other ways I'm personally very pleased with how it came out.

You should be! Great shot! It may not be perfect from a technical standpoint but what a great capture!!! You should be proud of this shot. If I had a shot like this of my daughter, I'd frame it.

Noise? Noise? Are you kidding me? Shoot this with a [I'm not going to name a model here to avoid a flame war] and see how good the noise compares at 1600 on a 5D.

[photoshopthis]

My only comment here is "it's not the camera that takes the shot it's the person behind that camera"

Don't get me wrong I think you took a nice snap shoot of your daughter but i think it could have been improved it you shot it with flash and less noise is all! My camera don't go any higher then 400 ISO reason being that one extra f stop I get is so not work it!!!

[iacas]

Originally Posted by photoshopthis

Then why didn't you use a flash And your calling me unrealistic. A Flash could have helped alot more the that 60W light.

It's "you're" and I didn't use a flash because it would have ruined the shot. I like to shoot natural light to accurately capture the mood, and using a flash on a dark evening would not have captured the scene accurately. We were watching a movie. I wanted the picture to look like we were watching a movie, not like I was flashing my kid's face (or bouncing it off the ceiling). You aren't going to get the look I got with a flash, and it's silly to think you would.

Originally Posted by photoshopthis

Sorry you asked for an opinion, if you weren't looking for honesty there is so noting I can do about that.

I suppose it's true that you get what you pay for.

Originally Posted by Phil Light

You should be! Great shot! It may not be perfect from a technical standpoint but what a great capture!!! You should be proud of this shot. If I had a shot like this of my daughter, I'd frame it.

Noise? Noise? Are you kidding me? Shoot this with a [I'm not going to name a model here to avoid a flame war] and see how good the noise compares at 1600 on a 5D.

Indeed, I find the level of noise at 1600 just fine. I dare say that with almost any other camera this shot simply would not have been possible.

Originally Posted by photoshopthis

My only comment here is "it's not the camera that takes the shot it's the person behind that camera"

Don't get me wrong I think you took a nice snap shoot of your daughter but i think it could have been improved it you shot it with flash and less noise is all! My camera don't go any higher then 400 ISO reason being that one extra f stop I get is so not work it!!!

You've made several comments here. Your camera - which I owned (and I still have a 400D) - is simply not capable of making this shot at 1600. The noise would be out of control. Perhaps that's why you suggested a flash and why you don't go "any higher then 400 ISO" (it's "than").

I have no idea what you mean by the "one extra f stop [you] get is so not work [sic] it." ISO 1600 is two f-stops higher than 400. At ISO 400, this should would have been 1/8 of a second.

I'm not trying to be adversarial, and I can take valid criticism with the best of 'em. I suppose, then, I'm simply saying that your criticisms really aren't valid. A flash and ISO 100 is out of this world silly, in my opinion.

[Phil Light]

I just had a conversation today with some other photographers at a gymnastics meet about this. I also used to be afraid to take the ISO above 400... that is, until I had the 5D. I'm not bashing other cameras, but this is where the 5D excels. Once you use one, you understand.

[Holly]

IDK, I shoot 1600 all the time with my camera and there is very little noise.

the shot is cute.

[strmrdr]

print it at 8x10 and hang it on the wall.
Thats what I'd do if it was my kid.
nice pic

[iacas]

Originally Posted by strmrdr

print it at 8x10 and hang it on the wall.
Thats what I'd do if it was my kid.
nice pic

Overdue update: I printed a series of 4x3s and the three shots now hang in my kid's bathroom. She loves 'em.

[poloman]

I think it is a great shot! I don't think it is terribly noisy and it looks like you used a flash. Though a flash would have given you more favorable parameters, it may have started a lifetime of eye closing and ducking every time you get out the camera.

[B3SEO]

I don't detect hardly any noise either. It's a great shot of a little girl.

I wouldn't go above ISO 400 with a Rebel XT 350D either. But a 5D? No problem