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01-18-2012, 09:01 PM   #1
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My Grandaughter
Lens: Pentax 50mm 1.4 Camera: Pentax k10d Photo Location: Hospital ISO: 200 Shutter Speed: 1/60s Aperture: F1.4 

I shot this in the hospital room. It is a picture of my grandaughter, and I would appreciate your feedback on the photograph.
Thank you.




01-18-2012, 09:14 PM   #2
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How did you ever catch a newborn with her eyes open? Nice shot, I like it a lot.
01-18-2012, 09:20 PM   #3
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She was wide eyed right out of the gate. This was from her second day in the hospital. I waited until some of the redness and puffy eyes went away, so decided to go b&w to hide some of the color I couldn't correct.
Thank you.
01-18-2012, 09:32 PM   #4
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First off, congratulations!

I find babies are best captured in high key.
Another good tip I picked-up is to soften the image.
I know babies have incredibly soft skin, but since they're skin is so sensitivie, it's common for them to have color blemishes and various other variances in tone which can often get emphasized in processing.

The only other thing I can think of beyond that, is waiting for that reflex or cramp smile for the shot


Last edited by JohnBee; 01-19-2012 at 06:49 PM.
01-19-2012, 06:18 AM   #5
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Do you soften with a lens filter, or in photoshop? I will post the color pic for comparison when I get back to my desk.
01-19-2012, 08:16 AM   #6
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Here is the full color photo for comparison.


01-19-2012, 10:31 AM   #7
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Hospital lighting is horrid. On my monitor, she looks horribly jaundiced, and the blotchy skin is extremely noticeable. B&W does it for me!

I think she is soft enough. I could not resist punning aver reading 26 puns a "friend" sent me. The last was "A man sent 10 pens to firends in the hopes that at least one would cause a laugh. No pun in ten did."

01-19-2012, 12:39 PM   #8
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Thank you, and that's why I went with the black and white. I did shoot them raw, so I could go back and work on it some more.
01-19-2012, 01:14 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by xecutech Quote
Here is the full color photo for comparison.


Wow, after seeing the original, it becomes clearer just how much work was done to the image. - big difference!

On the topic of high key, here's an example of what I was trying to convey in my earlier post:


Granted this could also work in BW, though I've found that since clients seem to prefer toned images over the BW ones, its often better to commit to the color version and move out from there.

Hope this helps.
JohnB

PS. this is a quick and dirty edit, I was on my way out, so try to look beyond the gradients and shadow noise and keep in mind that a proper edit would include refinements such as cleaning-up the mouth area(bubbles), smoothing out gradients, balancing exposure(such as with the eys), and the out-of-focus smoothing/adjustments and so on, and so forth.

Last edited by JohnBee; 01-20-2012 at 05:54 PM.
01-19-2012, 06:44 PM   #10
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And a BW for good measure:

Had to clone-in a right eye for this one since the original was too dark to work with.

QuoteOriginally posted by xecutech Quote
Do you soften with a lens filter, or in photoshop? I will post the color pic for comparison when I get back to my desk.
I most often use Imagnomic Portraiture for skin softening because of its speed and versatility at cleaning-up blemishes. However, with babies, its quite common to run the image through another filter(ie. glamor) to get things right(I might pull back on the final softening pass to get it just right).

However before all this, I use to use Photoshop's gaussian blur. But I always found it to be a bit of a challenge to control with portraits and so I think it often comes down to what people are most comfortable with.

Having said that, if you're planning on doing lots of people pictures, then I'd highly recommend giving Imagenomic portraiture a try.

PS. I don't sell of work for Imagenomic btw. I just like that plugin.

QuoteOriginally posted by xecutech Quote
Thank you, and that's why I went with the black and white. I did shoot them raw, so I could go back and work on it some more.
Absolutely!
If you have the RAW file, you're golden.
I see no reason why you couldn't walk away with a studio grade portrait from this one.

Good luck and if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. I'd be more than happy to help wherever possible.

Last edited by JohnBee; 01-20-2012 at 05:58 PM.
01-19-2012, 08:15 PM   #11
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JohnBee, I am blown away with your work. That's outstanding!
Thank you for showing me that I have some new skills to learn. Maybe I should give you the raw file to work your magic?
01-19-2012, 08:30 PM - 1 Like   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by xecutech Quote
JohnBee, I am blown away with your work. That's outstanding!
Thank you for showing me that I have some new skills to learn. Maybe I should give you the raw file to work your magic?
Thanks for the kind words.

While I think it's always better to show someone how to do something(walkthrough etc), I can process the image as a gift for the arrival of your new Grandaughter.

Do you know how to upload a file to an FTP server?
If not, you might might able to send it to my email(sens in PM), if the file is under 30MB.
01-19-2012, 08:36 PM   #13
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Thank you JohnBee. I just realized that I don't have it in a raw format, but the file is like 2meg. I can ftp or email it to you.

I would be interested in learning to do this as well. I was going to search for some tips on how to do it, but if you have some links to a walk through, that would be great.

In return, if you ever need some help with web development, feel free to ask any questions and I will help out.
01-19-2012, 08:42 PM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by xecutech Quote
Thank you JohnBee. I just realized that I don't have it in a raw format, but the file is like 2meg. I can ftp or email it to you.

I would be interested in learning to do this as well. I was going to search for some tips on how to do it, but if you have some links to a walk through, that would be great.

In return, if you ever need some help with web development, feel free to ask any questions and I will help out.
Okay no problem.
I sent you my mail in a PM.

Once I have a final comp ready, I'll put together a walkthrough. However, would you mind if we shared the tutorial in the Post Processing forum for other members?

That would imply using your image(in screenshots only) not the actual file.
01-19-2012, 08:47 PM   #15
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Thank you, and I sent the email to you.

I have no problem with you using the image for a walkthrough. Be sure to let me know when you have it posted.

Thanks!
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