To be a child and wake to the smells of pies baking on a cool November morning, tucked in bed with your soft, cuddly puppy…Thank God I can provide this to my little ones.
Happy Thanksgiving to all and may this be the beginning of a wondrous holiday season.
Thanksgiving Morning
Nikon D90 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8. 1/60s at f/2.8, ISO800. Another attempt at grain.
My baby girl early one morning.
Early One Morning
Nikon D90 with Sigma 24-70 at 65mm. 1/20s at f/4, ISO400, on tripod. In Lightroom, desaturated, boosted contrast and brightness, reduced clarity, used brush to soften her skin and to brighten and sharpen her eyes. Increased mid-range light to bring the skin out more. Split toning with a little blue in the shadows and a bit of sepia in the highlights. Mask sharpened and enhanced naturally occurring vignette . Taken near my big windows with cloudy, very blue light.
I had forgotten the pleasant sounds of children and puppies…
Instant Affection
No reason for this photo, just a snapshot. After a few minutes of pumpkin stabbing carving, the job was left to me.
Stabbing Away
Nikon D90 with Sigma 24-70. 1/100s at f/5.6, ISO200.
Technical difficulties are one thing but getting my son to put his arm around his sister is another. My daughter idolizes her older brother (knows how to irritate him, too) but my son is in a phase where all-things-girl are bad. Anyway, after much cajoling, I snapped the photo below. I know Halloween is still a week or two away but on that night, good photos are tough to get, so happy early trick or treat.
Early evening, the light is wonderful for portraits. Working on skin tones and smoothing them is a trick. I usually do it by getting the right color, softening the skin (with kids thats easy) and then bring up the light on the skin so that you get a bit of glow. The softer look needs to be offset by sharp, sharp eyes.
Together
Nikon D90 with Sigma 24-70 at 34mm. 1/25s at f/2.8, ISO200. In Lightroom, I adjusted white balance, light levels, increased vibrance and decreased clarity. Using the brush tool, sharpened and brightened the eyes. Adjusted red levels (for the Harry Potter scar and their lips), set mode to Portrait and adjusted, added a dark vignette and I was complete.
We went to a Halloween party on Friday night and my little sweetheart dressed up like a witch. She graciously consented to a few handheld shots before she returned to her her preparations. The makeup threw me a little but I suppose that is the way it is with dads.
My Little Witch
Nikon D90 with Sigma 24-70 at 70mm. 1/20s at f/4.5, ISO400. In Lightroom, adjusted white balance, decreased clarity, increased vibrance, increased mid-tone lighting, increased the red saturation and decreased red vibrance, changed to Portrait Mode.
Drama. How often do I see it created? Well, with little girls, quite often. However, last night I put into practice some of the skills I have been learning with light and still-lifes (lives?).
There are a number of mistakes in this portrait. It was evening, the sun had set so the light is twilight, beautifully blue. I used f/5.6 and probably should have stopped down to f/2. The resultant long exposure meant she had to stay still and, hehehehe…that is a challenge for her. I had my ISO at 160 which was too low and should have been at 400. So, all in all, it was a good exercise. I learned some things.
This photo was the best of the bunch.
Drama-less
Nikon D90 with Nikkor 50mm. 1/2s at f/5.6, ISO160, Portrait Mode. In Lightroom, major work with light levels. Desaturated but used split toning to bring the lovely blue back into the image. Reduced clarity and used heavy noise reduction which eliminated some of the grain caused by noise when I increased light levels. The noise reduction also helped create the softness in her face and skin, which of course is already pretty soft. This image is best not blown up very large!!
I’ve been working on high key portraits after my stint with flowers and a yellow squash. I will be keeping my secrets of squash shooting, though. hehehe…OK, so here is my darling daughter. She is not as photogenic as her brother but this was her favorite photo of the morning shoot.
I placed her near a large window. It was gray and overcast outside. The light was very blue, bright but diffused. I used a large, 52-inch circular white reflector on the other side. I think the difference in intensity was about 2:1 or 3:1 towards the bright window. I think the difference in brightness is key to making this work. I exposed for the darker side and took several photos at various shutter speeds so as not to blow out the highlights. I also shot this pretty much wide open so I had depth of field issues (I missed her eyes slightly but loved the look and the light).
In Lightroom, I balanced the light, reduced clarity and cropped the photo. I then worked on the eyes, to darken them and bring some color back to them. The bright light washed them out a little and when I darkened the eyes, I noticed the blue ring around the outside of the iris (it actually exists but I had not noticed). My daughter calls this her portrait with the eyes.
Next, I went to work on skin color. This looks great as a black and white but in color, you must restore the skin. I wanted to keep the soft, dreamlike feel and in fact, my daughter insisted that I do so. After balancing the light and color, I mask sharpened and added a bit of a dark vignette.
Nikon D90 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8. 1/125s at f/2, ISO 160, Portrait Mode.
Sometimes I forget about my 80-200 when we are not up to sports. But truly, I believe it is my best portrait lens. It is very sharp at f/4 but it also produces absolutely lovely backgrounds. I watch my background as much as my subject and after my son’s swim workout, he sat down with a lawn about 30 feet behind him. The result I am very happy with. It is a 3-day weekend here and the weather was beautiful yesterday. Spending the day at the pool is perfect for keeping out of harm’s way.
Nikon D90 with Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 at 155mm. 1/400s at f/4, ISO100, Portrait mode. In Lightroom, I reduced clarity and added vibrance. I took my highlights down a little to deal with the sun on his face. I used split toning to introduce some blue into the highlights along his nose and chin. I mask sharpened and was finished.
Last Sunday…the last day of summer break. I walked into his room, saw him stirring, saw the light and popped out to grab my camera. When i returned, he was awake and everything in the room was glowing with the soft morning light.
Nikon D90 with Nikkor 50mm f/1.8. 1/100s at f/4, ISO200, Standard Mode. In Lightroom, converted to Portrait Mode, added vibrance and reduced clarity. Increased Lights and decreased Highlights. All these steps added to the softness of the moment; then I sharpened and brightened the eyes.
I took 4 shots in Manual mode, this last one being the slowest shutter speed and it worked out well, I think. I have this as my desktop background and it brings a smile to my face whenever I see it.
