grandma and her grandkids - C&C please

ok, first off, i'm no pro photog (this wasn't a paid shoot, was just doing it for my family) and i can take criticism fairly well, so lay it on me.

i'm just starting to dabble in raw images, DPP, Adobe Camera RAW, Photoshop Elements 6, and i've been reading up in various books and other threads here on this forum to try and learn how to do things correctly.

i took the image with my 85mm f/1.8, and while it was earlier in the afternoon, took precautions to stay out of direct sunlight. images taken using tripod and remote trigger, f/8 aperture, 1/125sec.

i'm relatively happy with the pic, and the family is very happy with the pics straight out of the camera even, but i'm trying to do this as best and can and use it as a learning oppurtunity.

white balance was set in DPP, using the eyedropper to pic various "bright spots" on the image until i was happy with the results (i've since gotten a gray card). i've adjusted saturation levels, background saturation, sharpness somewhat, highlights, etc. most work was done in DPP, not much done in PSE6 at this point in time (again, still a work in progress).

my monitor is a cheap samsung 22", tuned with pantone huey. i'd like to get a dell 2209WA eventually, but haven't yet. when i view the pic, the black in the darker areas of the pants doesn't look quite right.... looks a bit blotchy/noisy. everything else looks fine, so i'm wondering if that's an issue with my cheap samsung monitor.

any other thoughts, feedback, criticisms? again, i'm looking to learn how to do this better, so any tips/tricks/links to sites that will help me learn how to do this better, i'd appreciate. thanks.

http://img402.imagesha​ck.us/img402/1817/gmak​ids.jpg

looked at the pic. You went to a lot of thought and did some good things. However, the first thing I noticed is gram doesn't have a body!!! EEEEKKKK! I can't imagine a bigger 'no-no' than producing a pic that looks like the girls are balancing g'ma's HEAD between them!

Maybe you could have brought out a chair, sat gram there and positioned the lovely grandkids around her?

dave

I agree ^ Even just sitting on the ground would have done the trick.

ok, fair enough. in my defense, that was just a candid shot that we did while waiting for my "always late" aunt to show up, lol. the actual point of the "shoot" was to get a group family pic, which i did, but while i was waiting, i offered to take pics of anyone who wanted their pic taken, and with whomever.... hadn't planned on doing that, so no chair. mom wanted a pic with the kids, so i just let her pose however she wanted. only other pics i have of her with the kids (and standing up) is this one.....

http://img691.imagesha​ck.us/img691/7876/img5​408h.jpg

mind you, the above is straight out of the camera. no PP done on it yet, no sprucing up the background colors, no white balance fixing, etc. so i did get at least ONE shot with grandma standing up (not including the group shot and the one with her two sons, me and her dorky other son).

lol


does the black in the dark area of the pants look normal to you (in the original pic)? is the "blotchiness" i see just an issue with my monitor?

ok, here's a quick update of the 2nd pic i posted, with everyone standing.......

smaller image file
http://img511.imagesha​ck.us/img511/3633/gggm​akids.jpg

if i'm on the right track, cool, let me know. if not, steer me a little please.

Yup. I agree fully on the first one. Grammies head balancing on their shoulders just doesn't look right.

The 2nd shot is much better. You do some skin smoothing?
In any case, I like the feel of the shot overall.

Grimlock wrote in post #8998629
You do some skin smoothing?

i was messing around with adobe camera raw (using PSE 6), and was working in the detail tab..... in the "noise reduction" area, the "luminance" slider was set to 0, so i zoomed in to 100% (on their faces) and started messing with the luminance slider in noise reduction.... wound up at 88 instead of the original zero setting.... the further i moved it, the smoother the colors in their faces became. dunno of that was the correct way to do things or not, but i liked the outcome. lol

I like the second shot but also think the first would work if it is sharp enough to withstand a serious crop. I would crop the second as well.

Skrim17 wrote in post #8998964
I like the second shot but also think the first would work if it is sharp enough to withstand a serious crop. I would crop the second as well.

crop the 2nd also, eh? dunno.... i personally kind of like how that one is framed up, with a bit of additional fall foliage up top for added color, so i may try cropping that one later, but for now i tried cropping the original pic a bit more, as well as some other quick adjustments (more color, luminance NR, etc)......

http://img694.imagesha​ck.us/img694/6605/gmak​idsv2.jpg

dipps wrote in post #8998423
ok, here's a quick update of the 2nd pic i posted, with everyone standing.......

smaller image file
http://img511.imagesha​ck.us/img511/3633/gggm​akids.jpg

if i'm on the right track, cool, let me know. if not, steer me a little please.

The very first image you posted was a bit abstract regarding the composition... I agree with the others there. But I really liked this edit of the second image. Great job!

thanks, i actually did wind up doing a closer crop of the 2nd one (of a saved tiff version), and i agree it probably looks a bit better. i doubt i'm doing everything the "proper way" or using all the correct techniques yet, but working at it.

the biggest thing i'm trying to understand yet is what i should be doing in adobe camera raw, versus what i should be doing in PS elements. so far in adobe camera raw, i:
- try to obtain a proper adjustment on white balance
- further temperature adjustment after WB fix, if necessary
- possible slight exposure adjustment
- "recovery" adjustment for background details
- possible "fill light" adjustment
- some "vibrancy" adjustment for additional background colors

rarely touch "blacks"
rarely touch "contrast"
rarely (if ever) touch "saturation"

on details tab, in noise reduction area
adjust "luminance" dramatically less "color noise", give smoother skin features

and that's about all i do in adobe camera raw. oftentimes i'll save a dng at this point. i then open in PS elements, do minor image rotation if necessary to straighten out the subject, crop with either a 4x6 or 8x10 framing restriction, then save as a tiff file, then safe as a jpeg file. if i want to resize the image to make it smaller, i usually use bicubic sharper resampling. so far i don't do much else in elements. i imagine there's plenty more for me to learn there.