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1st serious try at a Portrait.

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timd35

timd35

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Hi All,

New to the forum along with my 10D. Been using an Elan 7E for a couple of years taking pictures of my kids sports. Trying to learn C1LE, PS7, Color Management, and 10D in the last 4 weeks.

Hows my first serious try at a portrait?

Thanks
Tim



10D, 28-135 IS, C1LE, PS7
 
Yosemite Sam2 said:
Hi All,

New to the forum along with my 10D. Been using an Elan 7E for a
couple of years taking pictures of my kids sports. Trying to learn
C1LE, PS7, Color Management, and 10D in the last 4 weeks.

Hows my first serious try at a portrait?
Click to expand...
You've caught it on the nose. Excellent expression, the eyeline leading unconventionally out of the frame works, and very good use of depth of field -- there's just enough there to suggest the horses without having them intrude in the picture. I've always liked this type of informal portrait much more than posed studio portraits (with a few exceptions).

Your B/W conversion looks a bit flat, though: I'd try some more channel mixing, levels clipping, and/or curves control to add some oomph to it.

Care to share the circumstances where you shot this, and how?

Petteri
--
Portfolio: [ http://www.seittipaja.fi/index/ ]
Pontification: [ http://www.seittipaja.fi/ ]
 
Thanks Petteri,

I was at my parents and my son and I were up early this morning. Looked like some good light, so I situated my son so the horses were behind him. I had taken several shots and this was one of the last shots. His mind was off of me taking pictures and was listening to my parents, who had just walked out.

I used my 10D with 28-135 IS mounted on an old slik tripod.

I will play around with PS7 some and see if I can give it some oomph!

Thanks Again
Tim
Petteri Sulonen said:
Yosemite Sam2 said:
Hi All,

New to the forum along with my 10D. Been using an Elan 7E for a
couple of years taking pictures of my kids sports. Trying to learn
C1LE, PS7, Color Management, and 10D in the last 4 weeks.

Hows my first serious try at a portrait?
Click to expand...
You've caught it on the nose. Excellent expression, the eyeline
leading unconventionally out of the frame works, and very good use
of depth of field -- there's just enough there to suggest the
horses without having them intrude in the picture. I've always
liked this type of informal portrait much more than posed studio
portraits (with a few exceptions).

Your B/W conversion looks a bit flat, though: I'd try some more
channel mixing, levels clipping, and/or curves control to add some
oomph to it.

Care to share the circumstances where you shot this, and how?

Petteri
--
Portfolio: [ http://www.seittipaja.fi/index/ ]
Pontification: [ http://www.seittipaja.fi/ ]
Click to expand...
 
Yosemite Sam2 said:
Thanks Petteri,

I was at my parents and my son and I were up early this morning.
Looked like some good light, so I situated my son so the horses
were behind him. I had taken several shots and this was one of the
last shots. His mind was off of me taking pictures and was
listening to my parents, who had just walked out.
Click to expand...
That accounts for the expression: it's very natural, relaxed, and unposed. Again, very nice job!
timd35 said:
I used my 10D with 28-135 IS mounted on an old slik tripod.
Click to expand...
Question: why the tripod? It looks like the light was good, and what with the close to wide-open aperture and IS, I wouldn't think you'd need to worry about camera shake... and I'd have thought shooting hand-held would give more freedom with camera angles. Was it to keep the background where you wanted it so you could concentrate on the expression?

Petteri
--
Portfolio: [ http://www.seittipaja.fi/index/ ]
Pontification: [ http://www.seittipaja.fi/ ]
 
Petteri Sulonen said:
Question: why the tripod? It looks like the light was good, and
what with the close to wide-open aperture and IS, I wouldn't think
you'd need to worry about camera shake... and I'd have thought
shooting hand-held would give more freedom with camera angles. Was
it to keep the background where you wanted it so you could
concentrate on the expression?
Click to expand...
It was early and a slightly overcast morning, no harsh lighting or shadows. I wanted to shoot with ISO 100 and at least F6.3, which left the shutter at 1/40. I wanted it as sharp as I could get it, hence the tripod. I was just trying to get the best picture I could.

Thanks
Tim
 
Yosemite Sam2 said:
Hi All,

New to the forum along with my 10D. Been using an Elan 7E for a
couple of years taking pictures of my kids sports. Trying to learn
C1LE, PS7, Color Management, and 10D in the last 4 weeks.

Hows my first serious try at a portrait?

Thanks
Tim



10D, 28-135 IS, C1LE, PS7
Click to expand...
 
Hi Tim,

Love the composition! Normally I like a shallow dof for portraits, but this one might have suited itself to see the horses a little bit better. It would have really put it in context. The b/w treatment is very nice. Looking forward to seeing your second "serious" try! :-)

BTW: What was your b/w conversion method?

Jim
Yosemite Sam2 said:
Hi All,

New to the forum along with my 10D. Been using an Elan 7E for a
couple of years taking pictures of my kids sports. Trying to learn
C1LE, PS7, Color Management, and 10D in the last 4 weeks.

Hows my first serious try at a portrait?

Thanks
Tim



10D, 28-135 IS, C1LE, PS7
Click to expand...
--
Jim Fuglestad

Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase. -Percy W. Harris
Our existence is determined by the truths we tell.
Why simply live and let live? Live and help live.
http://www.pbase.com/jfuglestad/galleries
 
No text
 
....but very well done regardless. Good work!

--
Jamie W.
Kindness. Compassion. Understanding. Respect. Courtesy.
I try to live up to these words. Do you?
Film? What do you mean, film?

 
Shutter said:
Hi Tim,

Love the composition! Normally I like a shallow dof for portraits,
but this one might have suited itself to see the horses a little
bit better. It would have really put it in context. The b/w
treatment is very nice. Looking forward to seeing your second
"serious" try! :-)
Click to expand...
I also did some shots with F8, but looking back I probably could have bumped it up a little more. This shot was at F6.3. I did want the horses to be identifiable, but not pull you away from my son.
Shutter. said:
BTW: What was your b/w conversion method?
Click to expand...
Image; Adjustments; Channel Mixer, then selected Monochrome. Created a new adjustment layer for Curves and tweaked a little. I am sure there are probably better ways of doing it, but I am still learning PS7
Shutter. said:
Jim
Yosemite Sam2 said:
Hi All,

New to the forum along with my 10D. Been using an Elan 7E for a
couple of years taking pictures of my kids sports. Trying to learn
C1LE, PS7, Color Management, and 10D in the last 4 weeks.

Hows my first serious try at a portrait?

Thanks
Tim



10D, 28-135 IS, C1LE, PS7
Click to expand...
--
Jim Fuglestad
Skill in photography is acquired by practice and not by purchase.
-Percy W. Harris
Our existence is determined by the truths we tell.
Why simply live and let live? Live and help live.
http://www.pbase.com/jfuglestad/galleries
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Jamie,

I am not sure what you mean by high-key?

Thanks
Tim
Jamie W said:
....but very well done regardless. Good work!

--
Jamie W.
Kindness. Compassion. Understanding. Respect. Courtesy.
I try to live up to these words. Do you?
Film? What do you mean, film?

Click to expand...
 
I would have either...

(a) Lowered the highlights and gone for bolder contrast; or

(b) Left it in color, perhaps shifting the gamma to make it deeper/richer.

I like the composition and the expression of the lad, but it is somewhat high-key for a B&W portrait. Just speaking from my own narrow tastes, though. Again, nice, and thanks for sharing.

Joe
Yosemite Sam2 said:
Hi All,

New to the forum along with my 10D. Been using an Elan 7E for a
couple of years taking pictures of my kids sports. Trying to learn
C1LE, PS7, Color Management, and 10D in the last 4 weeks.

Hows my first serious try at a portrait?

Thanks
Tim



10D, 28-135 IS, C1LE, PS7
Click to expand...
 
Thanks Joe,

Some things for me to ponder and think about as I shoot, but when you say high-key, could you explain that to me. I guess some pictures fit the mold for B/W and others don't?

Thanks Again
Tim
Joe Reilly said:
(a) Lowered the highlights and gone for bolder contrast; or

(b) Left it in color, perhaps shifting the gamma to make it
deeper/richer.

I like the composition and the expression of the lad, but it is
somewhat high-key for a B&W portrait. Just speaking from my own
narrow tastes, though. Again, nice, and thanks for sharing.

Joe
Yosemite Sam2 said:
Hi All,

New to the forum along with my 10D. Been using an Elan 7E for a
couple of years taking pictures of my kids sports. Trying to learn
C1LE, PS7, Color Management, and 10D in the last 4 weeks.

Hows my first serious try at a portrait?

Thanks
Tim



10D, 28-135 IS, C1LE, PS7
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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