A child's joy in life (candid) C&C welcome

[KimC]

I love when a family trusts me enough to just hang out with me and wait... this little guy just turned two.

My goal was to show the joyful, sweet personality of this child..

#1


#2

[DEAN01]

And you achieved your goal beautifully, Kim!

[Dave Humphries]

Success Kim, success.

[NorthernFocus]

Those are a couple of nice ones, Kim. I really like the first one. Well done.

[Urbanflyer]

Nicely done--great light!

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[Dave A]

Wonderful images, well done.

Dave

[William W]

Both are good.

Artistically I prefer #2 because there is more connectivity, but that's by the by, because #1 does make me wonder what the heck he's intrigued by . . . perhaps he's shouting at a big fat bull and demanding the bull go away: little kids have little fear.

***

Two points you might consider,

1. Technical choices of the Camera to be made before we shoot: considering the general lighting scenario; the likelihood of that lighting changing; and the Subject’s scenario (including movements etc)

I glean these four points are close to accurate:

1. Appears slightly overcast day, light cloud cover with sun peaking through (evidenced by soft shadow) i.e. about EV = 13.
2. Assume you were using MATRIX Metering.
3. The choice of ISO was ISO3200
4. Aperture Priority was used and F/6.3 was selected.

My concern:

Referring to points 1 and 4 and thinking generally what the range of ISO we should select before we went out shooting:

With the lighting being at about EV = 12~14 (overcast to mild overcast) and the Aperture set between F/5.6 ~F/8 and the ISO at ISO3200 . . . then the Shutter Speeds will be in the range of approximately 1/4000th to 1/16,000th second.

The D810 has a fastest Shutter Speed 1/8000th second. (Can you hear that little man in my head shouting "DANGER!!! Crikey Bill, get a grip!!!")

To freeze a little boy running (at a Subject distance where the Subject is filling the frame) we need about 1/1000th, probably 1/800th would suffice – we could go to 1/2000th to be really safe, but IMO that’s overkill.

Based upon those assumptions, whilst the D810 handles ISO3200 really well, I think it was an inappropriate choice of ISO for two reasons:

a) with Aperture Priority selected and set at F/6.3, the Camera’s Meter could likely assess the shot requires faster than 1/8000th second (especially if the sun peaked through the clouds and the EV increased 1 Stop.

I don’t know what the D810 does in that situation but I expect it will make one of two choices, either it will disallow the shot - OR - it will allow the shot and allow the overexposure - either way each is a potential problem which can be avoided.

b) even if we want to be belts and braces safe with our Shutter Speed and allow it to sit around 1/2000th second, then we can do that easily using F/6.3 at ISO800. The D810 is much happier working at ISO800 with less noise and a tad more fiddle-room for any exposure mistakes.

*

2. Post Production:

The expression. Consider dodging areas of the face especially the eyes and cheeks.

Examples below, the original is on the left in both samples

The full frame A/B:



Close up view A/B shows it better -
PLEASE NOTE this close up view is NOT suggesting that Kim consider CROPPING the image. It is simply provided to show the detail of the DODGING on the Child's Face (Please refer to Posts #11; 21; 22; and 23)



WW

[selig1656]

Nicely captured and with the suggestions the simply eenhance the final pics .

[bnnrcn]

Very nice shots Kim

[DEAN01]

Respectfully disagree with Bill. The body language in these shots add to the understanding of the child's joy. While his face tells part of the story, his body language and the little airplane complete it IMHO.

[KimC]

Thank you Dean. BTW, I shot my k-9 police dog training class yesterday - conditions were harsh, but I should have some awesome action shots for you ;-)

And you achieved your goal beautifully, Kim!

[KimC]

Thank you Dave and Dan. I like the first as well Dan; being two, he's more about exploring life than looking at me :-)

Success Kim, success.

Those are a couple of nice ones, Kim. I really like the first one. Well done.

[KimC]

Thank you Judith.

Nicely done--great light!

[KimC]

Thank you John and Dave.

Nice captures.

Wonderful images, well done.

Dave

[KimC]

As always, THANK YOU for your detailed comments Bill!

He is one of the happiest children I know... and he's very inquisitive. He's all about exploration, running and jumping. His mom adores that first picture since "it's him".

Both are good.

Artistically I prefer #2 because there is more connectivity, but that's by the by, because #1 does make me wonder what the heck he's intrigued by . . . perhaps he's shouting at a big fat bull and demanding the bull go away: little kids have little fear.

Yes, you are correct as to the type of day it was... cloud cover was rather heavy and most of the time the sun was not out. Yes, you are totally correct as to #2-4.

I was disappointed in myself over the ISO (I do see the noise) -- ISO has been challenging for me since the get go. I did get better with it when shooting manual. I just started shooting aperture priority last week -- finally figured out a way to do it with my hand limitations. No excuse, I know. The good news is I went out yesterday to shoot some police dogs and I DID fix that issue.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts as to the shutter speed needed to stop the action. He was like shooting a puppy -- very quick :-)

Two points you might consider,

1. Technical choices of the Camera to be made before we shoot: considering the general lighting scenario; the likelihood of that lighting changing; and the Subject’s scenario (including movements etc)

I glean these four points are close to accurate:

1. Appears slightly overcast day, light cloud cover with sun peaking through (evidenced by soft shadow) i.e. about EV = 13.
2. Assume you were using MATRIX Metering.
3. The choice of ISO was ISO3200
4. Aperture Priority was used and F/6.3 was selected.

My concern:

Referring to points 1 and 4 and thinking generally what the range of ISO we should select before we went out shooting:

With the lighting being at about EV = 12~14 (overcast to mild overcast) and the Aperture set between F/5.6 ~F/8 and the ISO at ISO3200 . . . then the Shutter Speeds will be in the range of approximately 1/4000th to 1/16,000th second.

The D810 has a fastest Shutter Speed 1/8000th second. (Can you hear that little man in my head shouting "DANGER!!! Crikey Bill, get a grip!!!")

To freeze a little boy running (at a Subject distance where the Subject is filling the frame) we need about 1/1000th, probably 1/800th would suffice – we could go to 1/2000th to be really safe, but IMO that’s overkill.

Based upon those assumptions, whilst the D810 handles ISO3200 really well, I think it was an inappropriate choice of ISO for two reasons:

a) with Aperture Priority selected and set at F/6.3, the Camera’s Meter could likely assess the shot requires faster than 1/8000th second (especially if the sun peaked through the clouds and the EV increased 1 Stop.

I don’t know what the D810 does in that situation but I expect it will make one of two choices, either it will disallow the shot - OR - it will allow the shot and allow the overexposure - either way each is a potential problem which can be avoided.

b) even if we want to be belts and braces safe with our Shutter Speed and allow it to sit around 1/2000th second, then we can do that easily using F/6.3 at ISO800. The D810 is much happier working at ISO800 with less noise and a tad more fiddle-room for any exposure mistakes.

Thanks for sharing the example of dodging his face. I struggled a bit finding a happy medium -- he has extremely dark, deepest eyes, so I wanted him to look like himself. I have included one where I did a bit of dodging, trying to find that happy medium and it also has that connection you mentioned above.

2. Post Production:

The expression. Consider dodging areas of the face especially the eyes and cheeks.

WW

[KimC]

Thank you Raymond and yes I agree.

Nicely captured and with the suggestions the simply eenhance the final pics .

[KimC]

That's why I love photography, we all see and feel something different. :-)

Respectfully disagree with Bill. The body language in these shots add to the understanding of the child's joy. While his face tells part of the story, his body language and the little airplane complete it IMHO.

[DEAN01]

Very true, Kim. It would be very dull if we all saw the same thing.

[IzzieK]

Beautiful shots, both of them, completely different from one another. 'Reminds me of my little grandchild in her unguarded moments --kids are just as cute but unpredictable as to what they will do next or how you get them in your shot next. #1 is the most engaging of the two. Excellent shots! You've done very well here indeed.