Portraits again

I practiced on Janey (of course) and a few other kids today. I got some good portraits/personality shots that I like. They were in afternoon window light against the back of my white chairs, and I think I put the white balance to the shade setting. Here they are:

Logan

50 mm 1/200 F2.2 200

William

50 mm 1/320 F2.2 200

Addy

50 mm 1/400 F2.2 400

My Janey

50 mm 1/320 F2.5 400

I actually put these in reverse order of taking them, in case you're wondering why I would have switched from ISO 200 to 400. It was really the other way around. But I'm SO happy with that picture of Janey!! Oh yay! I finally got that big Janey smile, and I didn't even have to crop or fix colors. Good times!

Bathtub Composition

Ok, so I've been having to do a lot of one-handed shooting lately (baby in the other arm), so things have not been so good. I'm planning on "going shooting" with Felicity tomorrow--does anyone have an assignment for us? Also, does anyone want to come to our labor day BBQ/photo shoot at 12:00? Let me know. Anywho . . .

So, today I thought I'd try to do some bathtub shots. Mostly, I used the flash, since there's no way to get natural light in my bathroom, and I'd read that bathtubs are actually great, because they reflect light all around. Now, my babypie lays on a bath sponge as she bathes, so there's always this yellow thing. There you go.

My problem today: Composition. What is up? I didn't take ONE shot that I liked without editing. I could SAY it was because I was worried about aperature, etc, but I was using a flash, so that's no excuse. WHY did I take such lame-o shots? Today I'm going to show you the before and after. You shall tell me what I am doing wrong, and also if my edits look any better! (Be honest please. How else will I learn?)

Here we go. (I'm not including info on these because we're about composition here--I may have just used auto. I don't know how to use the flash on manual effectively . . .)

What's up with this picture? I really have no idea what is floating around in the water above her--did it come off the sponge? Is it shadows of bubbles? Maybe. Anyway, this one could be blamed on the fact that I was trying to be "modest" for the shot. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that's it.

Here's the cropped shot. Better?

Ok, so this one wasn't SO bad, but it still wasn't great. I think another problem was that I didn't want to get too close with the flash, because of red eye and washing her out.

I cropped it tighter and cut out lots of the sponge-head.

For this one I tried to do without flash, just to see. I couldn't get the tone right. She looks yellowy as the sponge when I brighten it. So I decided to turn it BW in my edit. And why didn't I compose this shot better by getting closer? No flash to blame this time. Next time I'll use my 50mm lens and see if it turns out better.

Here's the BW shot. Of course it looks grainy, because I was on ISO 1600, and because I did a lot of editing to get the brightness right. (Still haven't gotten PS worked out on this computer, so I'm just using what I've got.)

Here's another one I turned BW--not very successfully (and erased the color file--lame). I could NOT figure out how to work this composition. What would you suggest.

On both of these, I knew they'd be grainy, but I felt like doing it for a sort of old fashioned feel. Kind of fun.

Anyway, there you have it. My bath shots.

Hammock take 2

I wanted to try the wood/rope background of the hammock on our deck again, this time with smoochy-roo, and Ethan wanted to join. I think I did keep the white balance at shade pretty much the whole time. Mostly I was working on composition for this.

First I thought the hammock might not be comfortable for the baby, so I used a blankie. But it did let me get a different angle than usual on her.

47 mm 1/200 F5.6 400
I also used a small tone adjustment

Then I put her straight on the ropes. I like how she grabbed right on and folded herself in.

47 mm 1/160 F5.6 400

She was pretty much hanging upright and holding herself on. The hammock was good for different positions--it holds well and is a little safer.

25 mm 1/200 F5.6 400

A more natural upright portrait, because she was hanging vertically. If I wanted, I could use my 50mm for this shot and really blur out those ropes.

47mm 1/160 F5.6 400
Tone adjustment.

This is just about the only way to get Ethan to safely hold the baby. I love his face! Also, apparently my boys are ALWAYS wearing these white undershirts. I need to change them every now and then . . . .

25 mm 1/320 F4.0 400

So, I still don't actually have Photoshop installed yet, so I just did a quick BW job on this. But I really do like how the ropes stand out. I also did a crop on this one.

25 mm 1/320 F4.0 400

Jake took the nest down from the rafters and we found a walnut casing in it. I played around with color saturation and it really made the nest stand out from the wood and brought out some reddish tones. I tried to change the focus meter, but I couldn't figure it out. Good thing I'm currently reading my manual!

18 mm 1/200 F3.5 400

That's it for today. School is starting soon, so I'll be able to get out and take some pictures away from my house! (gasp!)

White Balance and Texture

I grabbed the boys and their friends and made them play on the hammock today, but I only got about 6 shots altogether. However, it was all I needed, because today I was trying to play with texture (the hammock and deck), and also see how a different white balance would change things--per Matt's suggestion.

Here was my first shot--just a test to see how it would look on auto WB:


Then I changed it just to the setting for shade--I tried cloudy too, but it was pretty much the same. Here's what I got:

I think the wood and the hammock make a great background, but it's hard to get the right angle on a shot. If they're in a better mood maybe I'll try again.

If I'd had my way it would have been more of a panorama with 4 little sets of feet having their own personality with just a little hammock above. Still, I like the fun swingy feel that Xavey's feet are giving it while Jeffy pushes. So much friendlier with two.

I wish the boys had given me a little more time to compose a shot. By the time I had the settings I wanted, it was all too late. So I didn't do much, but I do like the warmer shots better--especially to bring out the wood.

No specs today, because it's late and I was only looking at white balance.

50mm Retry

I thought I'd work on poopsie for a little while with my 50mm lens. I tried some different angles (even though they all sort of look the same) and had her sitting up this time (in a Bumbo chair--LOVE those!). I also tried making the f-stop a little smaller. Here are the results:

50mm 1/200 f2.8 400

50mm 1/125 f2.8 400

With the smaller f-stop I was able to get her whole face in focus on this one.
50mm 1/160 f2.8 400

A tragic tragedy. She flailed out of my focus just as the picture took. UGH! Any remedies for that with such a small d.o.f.?
50mm 1/160 f2.8 400

I wanted to show her sitting in her Bumbo, but I focused a little wrong here. One of her little hands is really sharp, but not her face.

50mm 1/160 f2.8 400

For FOCUS, the one below is better.

50mm 1/160 f2.8 400

Jeffy wouldn't cooperate here and baby's face is not great, but this IS the idea I was going for with the d.o.f. I wanted Jeffy a little blurry and the baby sharp.

50mm 1/160 f2.8 400

Actually, this one with Ethan is even more what I was going for, except of course for the faces and whatnot.

I thought I'd throw this one in just because I was fast enough to catch the end of this sneeze!

50mm 1/160 f2.8 400

It is so much easier to get pictures of smoochy when she isn't lying down! I'm confused about those. Jeri, what is the taking pictures of your baby book you told me about? I want ideas . . .

Action

Ok, so I was checking out some slow shutter speeds at the pool to see if I could get some good action shots. It's hard to tell what is camera shake and what is the kind of action I want, but the main thing was, it was really hard to get the shutter speed I wanted without making the aperture very small, and it was constantly changing. Gotta be quick on your toes! Also, it was hard to get the part I wanted to be in focus and just capture the spirit of the movement.

So, here's what I got. I don't love any of them. Somebody tell me what I'm doing wrong!

Here's Jeffy showing the divers how to do a triple twist from the safety of the grass.

18mm 1/80 F11 100

Hailey with her best tricks.

47 mm 1/40 F22 100

Sheely, showing serious diving form. Either I didn't have time to get the lighting right, or a cloud came over just in time. Either way, SOME of the picture should have been clearly focused.
47 mm 1/60 F22 100

Tufty at full speed. Actually, I like this one, but he's too close to the top of the frame.

55 mm 1/80 F13 100

Jeffy working through his fear of spraying water. I do like that he is somewhat statinary while the water shows motion.

55mm 1/80 F18 100

I wish I'd gone with a little faster shutter speed during the diving shots. I liked 1/80 the best for what I was going for. I guess it's all preference, but also a little control and I'm sure there are some rules I know nothing about. Anyway, there's my first try.

50mm lens

I got my new lens yesterday so I attacked my children again! Mostly Ethan, because he's my biggest challenge. You've got to CATCH him. No posing. So I often have low-light situations with him.

Today I had 9:00 a.m. light in my window. Getting the right lighting was GREAT with this lens! The problem was focus, of course. The d.o.f. is so small! But I got a few good ones and a few weird ones. Here they are:

This was the best I got. I love his expression.

50mm 1/125 F1.8 400

This one is blurry. Just the shutter speed is different, but I thought a faster speed was always better. He probably just moved out of my focus before I took it.

50mm 1/250 F1.8 400

This next one is crazy. One eye is in focus, the other, nope. Maybe I was too close to him? I needed to set a different metering setting? A smaller aperature?

50mm 1/125 F1.8 400

These next two are in focus, so I'm wondering why. Did I just focus on a more central area? My settings are a little different in the first one.

50mm 1/160 F2.0 400

50mm 1/125 F1.8 400

One last one for kicks. Jeffy did this pose for me and asked me to take it. HA! I actually quite like the composition.

50mm 1/320 F1.8 400

Sad that my children are always in their jammies when I take pictures. Later today I'm going to try shutter speed at the pool--if there is any movement from my children, that is!