Three of my one-year-old

[ionian]

I'm still working on my baby pics - my little one turns one this week, so thought I'd take a few shots. I have plenty of others from the same series, but these are probably the sharpest, and most suitable for a photography forum! I'm interested in comments on PP especially (they've all had some treatment in LR, but no PS) and anything you feel might help generally.

All taken on a d7100 with 50mm 1.8d lens. The b+w image used a bounced fill flash.

1)


2)


3)

[rpcrowe]

I am sure that you will look back on these images with nostalgia and pleasure when you are getting ready for your daughter to get married...

In the B&W image, using some type of reflector (Demb Flash Diffuser or even an index card taped to the rear of the flash tube) would have directed some of the light of the bounced flash into the child's eyes...

I wonder if you did any PP sharpening on these images. #3, exceptionally seems like it might benefit from sharpening.

[ionian]

Thanks Richard - useful info about the eyes in the second image, I'm very new with flash and despite reading lots there's no substitute for getting out there and seeing what the results are.

I need to do more reading about sharpening; whilst I know what each slider does, the results aren't always apparent to me. I should stop being lazy and hook the laptop up to my bigger monitor I guess.

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[rpcrowe]

I most often do much of my PP using NIK Software but, I used Photoshop CS6 for this one.

I dodged out the shadows around the eyes - the reflector might have opened the eyes themselves and added catchlights.

I globally sharpened the image using the CS6 Unsharp Mask

[Manfred M]

Simon - keep on shooting; they grow up all too quickly and if she is anything like my daughters, they became "allergic" to me and my camera very early on in life.

Image 1 - would have been a lot better had the grass been shorter. The one right in front of her face is not doing much for the shot.

Image 2 - Bounce flash buys you nothing in an outdoor shot. You need a surface to bounce the light from; otherwise the bounced light heads up into the sky and adds nothing to the image. For bounce light to work, you need something to bounce it off of. Use a direct flash (on-camera or off camera) to brighten up the eyes.

Are you using a Speedlight or the built-in camera flash? If you are using built-in flash, then your options are a bit limited, but, with a Speedlight, there are many more options. Regardless of the type of flash, for fill light iTTL-BL (Bl = Balanced Light) is really meant for fill flash, so I would set that mode on my camera, That way the computer in your camera controls the flash; although, depending on the light, you might want to look at flash exposure compensation to tweak the light (this is getting fairly advanced, so you might want to park this until you are more comfortable with flash photography).

Image 3 (and image 2) Are both soft. I don't know how you are focusing, but your shots are definitely soft. The general rule for portraiture is that the eyes, or at least the eye closest to the camera must be sharp. If you are using one of the automated autofocus modes, this might be causing the problem. I use a single point focus approach for portraits (I don't know the D7100, but this is likely set via a button and control wheel). Focus on the eye, press the shutter release half way down and reframe the shot; I find this approach to be the most reliable for portraits. It takes a bit of practice.

The alternative is to stop down a bit to give yourself a bit more depth of field (I can't that information out of the posted metadata, so I'm guessing you are shooting close to wide open) as one way of compensating.

I also would not be using a 50mm lens for portraiture. It is marginally in the range (75mm FF (full-frame equivalent)); I tend to shoot at over 100mm FF equivalent for any portraits as the images just look better.

When it comes to sharpening; make sure that you look at your image magnified to 100% on your screen, otherwise you will miss the subtle details of what moving the sliders is doing for you.

[ionian]

Thanks for the feedback.

Richard - I can see that dodging around the eyes has improved things considerably, but noted (+Manfred) about a more direct flash for better eye capture in this instance.

Manfred - thanks for your detailed comments, very helpful.

I like that grass in front of her face, I think it looks playful, like she's hiding from the camera!

I should explain that I had a white sheet hanging to the right of the image, about a meter away, that I was using to bounce a flash off. Whilst a beginner, I wasn't trying to bounce a flash of the clouds! The idea was to create some shadow and interest on her face as it was a cloudy day (so my description of it as fill flash was wrong), but looking at the eyes I can see that the light was coming from far too oblique an angle, to the detriment of the picture. I am indeed using a speedlight, which I acquired very recently. My experience of direct flash (from on-board flash) has been poor in the past, so I've been trying not to use it, but I shall try and spot (and corrrect) these things whlst shooting next time.

Focus - I was using the single point focus on her eye as you mentioned. She holds still for no one, so I was moving the point around as needed and using the AF-A setting (so if she moved, the camera would compensate). However, I wonder two things:
was the AF-A mode sensitive enough for any small movements she made? I was shooting close to wide open, so my depth of field would have been small.
Is the camera focus off? I have read that some people have found the d7100 requires adjustment, but I put that down to bad operation on the part of the user. Still I will check today with a flat and still subject!

I should say that I have other images that are softer than these from the shoot, so it's clearly something I need to address and I'm grateful for your help.

With regards to lenses, noted about acquiring a longer portrait lens for the future. My kit lens will go to 140, so might be worth considering using in the meantime - however, it's no way near as fast.

Sharpening - I think from further reading that I've been over-masking the image, so just the very edges are getting any treatment. Again, I'll have a play later on.

So much to learn! I hope that I am able to look back on these images in years to come with fond memories, and not cringe at the errors from a photography perspective...

[IzzieK]

Now that Manfred had already mentioned the technicalities of the shot, I can only say your baby is beautiful and good luck in making her your model...Just don't be in a hurry to have her walking yet...

[bnnrcn]

Beautiful baby IMO there is a slight green color cast in #1 and the color of the baby's eyes look green although they look blue in #3.

[Manfred M]

Thanks for the additional information, Simon.

Try using AF-C (continuous) mode; as this is the best mode for a subject moving towards and away from a camera. I suspect that your camera has some other fairly high tech facial recognition technology that might work better too.

As for the sheet; I use reflectors for a fair bit of my portraiture and in the situation you were shooting in, I might have tried a piece if white core-plast or foam core plastic at close to ground level to bounce light back at her eyes. On the other hand, that could be rather tricky as you are presenting a young girl with something else to try to explore. White, rather than a silver, reflector pushes out a nice soft light and can easily be much better than flash.

I've read a lot of users suggesting that their camera focus is off, but I've never encountered it and honestly suspect the problem is using the wrong autofocus mode / points rather than a real front focus / back focus issue. I would look at technique before I started blaming the technology.

Sharpening is all about enhancing the areas where light and dark areas of the image meet, so it's not just the edges that show the effect but any areas where this situation occurs. I'm a Photoshop user and 99% of my sharpening is via the unsharp mask method.

[ionian]

Thanks for the additional information, Simon.

Try using AF-C (continuous) mode; as this is the best mode for a subject moving towards and away from a camera. I suspect that your camera has some other fairly high tech facial recognition technology that might work better too.

As for the sheet; I use reflectors for a fair bit of my portraiture and in the situation you were shooting in, I might have tried a piece if white core-plast or foam core plastic at close to ground level to bounce light back at her eyes. On the other hand, that could be rather tricky as you are presenting a young girl with something else to try to explore. White, rather than a silver, reflector pushes out a nice soft light and can easily be much better than flash.

I've read a lot of users suggesting that their camera focus is off, but I've never encountered it and honestly suspect the problem is using the wrong autofocus mode / points rather than a real front focus / back focus issue. I would look at technique before I started blaming the technology.

Sharpening is all about enhancing the areas where light and dark areas of the image meet, so it's not just the edges that show the effect but any areas where this situation occurs. I'm a Photoshop user and 99% of my sharpening is via the unsharp mask method.

Thanks again - yes, I'm sure my focusing errors are user error! A combination of still learning what the camera can do and poor decisions with settings, no doubt.

I'll watch some vids on Photoshop sharpening, and keep thinking about where I want the light. Better things to come I hope!