Thanksgiving Week #1

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.

 

 

A New Puppy

I had  forgotten the pleasant sounds of children and puppies…

 

Instant Affection

 

 

Pumpkin Carving

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.

 

 

 

Unwilling Togetherness

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.

My Little Witch

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.

Yellow Squash

KCJewel, who I just realized is from Kansas City, wanted to see my yellow squash.  This morning I went to another of my favorite blogs and saw this beautiful photo of garlic.  So, here is my photo of a yellow squash.

Nikon D90 with Sigma 24-70 at 36mm.  1/3s at f/13, ISO200, Normal Mode.  I used a black reflector to impart some shadow.  I used a white reflector to add some light.  In Lightroom, I adjusted light levels and white balance, increased contrast and clarity, sharpened and cropped.

Still Life

Daisies.  I’ve not paid much attention to this domestic little flower.  When I photographed these, I wasn’t feeling it.  I didn’t click with them but afterwards, in post processing, something struck me about them.  I enjoyed them very much.  They are a loud flower; happy and bright.  They want to be the center of attention and dominate a floral conversation.  They strike me as slightly nosy but not ill-intentioned like some violets are.

Nikon D90 with Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 at 31mm.  1/10s at f/4, ISO100, Landscape mode.  In Lightroom, increased clarity and vibrance.  Increased lights, decreased highlights and darkened shadows.  I adjusted the calibration for Landscape mode and added a vignette.

Sweetness

She picked out the dress.  She wore highheels (which she swears she will never do again…hehehehe).  But she is still my baby girl.

Nikon D90 with Sigma 24-70 at 70mm.  1/60s at f/5, ISO200, Portrait Mode.  SB600 speedlight with Lightsphere 2 diffuser (white).  In Lightroom, cropped, reduced clarity, added vibrance and mask sharpened.

Some Like to Pose

This is Teddy.  He is pampered but he likes to pose for the camera and I am not one to pass up a ham.  I liked this little dog very much.

Nikon d90 with Sigma 24-70 at 70mm.  1/40s at f/5, ISO200, Portrait Mode.  In Lightroom, I added clarity to bring out the fur and I increased contrast and brightness in the eyes.  Not much also, really, he may not have been colorful in the fur but he was in personality.

Nine

My son turned 9 on Thursday.  It is kind of hard to believe but we had a good time.  We gave him a Nintendo DSi as opposed to the Nintendo DS that he has.  On the DSi, you can take photos and he has been taking photos with me.  He is thrilled with it.

I photographed him this morning in a rare moment when I could keep him still.  I am always amazed at the phenomenal amount of energy he has.  Posed near a window with a reflector on the opposite side.

Nikon D90 with Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 at 56mm and Photoflex 52-inch reflector.  Manual exposure, 1/13s at f/4, ISO200, Portrait Mode.  In Lightroom, cropped, brush-sharpened eyes, adjusted light levels, increased vibrance, decreased clarity and contrast.  Used noise reduction to soften.