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DPChallenge Forums >> Individual Photograph Discussion >> Missed my mark here - help.
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11/16/2007 09:41:45 PM · #1
One more from today (a few others are in my "Baby Girl" folder in my portfolio), and it's one that I feel sadly missed it's mark. It was a spur of the moment attempt at a particular pose that I wanted to try (baby feet in mom's hands), but we were dodging 2 5-yr olds, a 4-yr old, a 3-yr old and an 11-month old while trying to do this. *lol* Not the serene and calm setting I'd have liked.

Anyhow - sat mom on a stool next to my west-facing living-room window a little before noon today, draped a navy-blue shirt over her lap, and had her hold her daughter's feet.

I have :
converted from RAW
selected background, desaturated and darkened
selected the dress, used levels to ditch the drab look, and removed colour to get rid of a blue cast on the edge.
used hue/sat layers to convert to B&W
duplicate layer applied in "screen" mode at 60%
applied a vignette

Anyhow - this is the resized and web-saved version of what I came up with.

[thumb]613933[/thumb]
11/16/2007 10:25:38 PM · #2
I tried a similar type of shot with my son a while ago, and i also missed the mark.

The lighting was disapointing, and I also had to desat just to get rid of horrible colours. PP helped a little, but I was still disappointed. In the end, I decided the lighting was too flat.

If I reshot, I would...
1) Get a true black background. Having to remove a not-quite-black background reduces the dynamic range in the whole photo.
2) Get a nicer soft but directional light. A window is OK, but make sure it's bright enough to expose the shot properly, and make sure there is no other light in the room, no other windows. Even partially close the curtains halfway or more and go closer to the window, so there is a small bright source of soft light. If you can do this really well, you may even want to introduce a reflector to fill the shadows, and give you 2 light sources to work with.
3) I'd say put the light a little more front on for this pose, so that the back foot is not lost in the shadow.
4) Work on posing. If you've seen shots you really like, study them, and try to copy the pose. It's just hands and feet, but I feel yours is a jumble of digits, whereas the shots you really like probably have artistically arranged the subject into a nice composition.

Well, just a few ideas. Maybe you can find time without the other kids around to get this shot again? It certainly has good promise.

11/20/2007 09:16:05 PM · #3
First off - your son is gorgeous. And tiny, he can't be more than a few weeks old there can he ?

1. Yes - solid black background would have been great.

2. Why no other room light ? No other windows to worry about.

3. More front light - maybe a touch of a flash set to -2 or -3 ?

4. It's the first try for me for this - so posing is a huge thing. I agree, mine looks like an octopus of fingers and toes more than the artistic feet & hands shot I wanted.

5. Lack of other kids - sadly, not likely to happen.

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