Thread: JMK: CC on a couple of snaps

I'm really trying to get better with my "kid" shots -- finding that using the one-time focus (whatever it's properly called, can't think right now, but the opposite of continuous focus) is working a little better. I put a couple up for CC last week for skin tone too, as that's a real weakness for me. Can I guess some CC on these snaps from yesterday, focus, comp, skin tone, anything you want?

f/3.2 and SS 1/250, ISO 200, focal length 23.6m


f/3.2 and SS 1/400, ISO 200, focal length 8.0mm


TFL!!

Tracy,

i'm at work so I can't really comment on color, but here are my thoughts on the rest ...

1. The composition doesn't really work for me here. I can't really tell what he's doing and I'm not sure what the deal is with that long blade of grass (or whatever that is). From what I can tell, exposure looks really good though. Not too much shadow, no obvious blown spots (except for maybe the top of his hand). what were your settings? His hand and face and jacket all seem to be in focus, so I'm guessing you weren't wide open. I think you could improve this shot with a more shallow DOF (open up your aperture more) and then deciding whether to focus on his face and expression or his hand and whatever he's doing. As it is, the two things compete for attention and I'm not sure where to focus, ya know?

2. This one is really sweet. You caught a wonderful expression here and even got some catch lights! Focus looks nice and I like the composition as well. I'm far from calibrated here, but color also looks pretty good. I would expct some color casts with all of that red and orange and I don't really see any here. Great separation from the background as well. this one is a winner in my book.

TFS!

GiGi

Gosh, you have some cute kids Focus looks great on both of these, so you're on the right track in terms of that. I'd kinda have to agree with GiGi on the first one. Maybe if we saw his whole body, the comp would be better? Love the expression in the second one. Great catchlights!

I won't comment on color, because I don't want to lead you in the wrong direction. I have a terrible time spotting colors.

Love #2, Tracy!!

The first one doesn't do much for me. I think if you'd have pulled back and we'd been able to see his whole body in the frame, it may have worked better. I'm not sure! But he sure is cute!

Great job!

Yep, I agree with all the opinions of the first one. Tracy, his eyes are so beautiful!

The second one is also good...the red barrel thing is slightly distracting though...my eyes keep going back to it because I can't figure out what it is!

I love how crisp these both are...what was your ap for each?

Sorry I forgot to post settings earlier. Both were shot in manual.

• For Micah: f/3.2 and SS 1/250, ISO 200, focal length 23.6m
• For Nora: f/3.2 and SS 1/400, ISO 200, focal length 8.0mm

Funny Mommy goggles -- I thought the first one was cute, but I guess it's a 100% mommy thing. I just see that expression on his face so often, and of course I know what he was trying to do (balance a half of a nutshell on a blade of grass), so that didn't distract me. I can see what you all mean about the composition though. He moves soooo quickly and will usually run when he sees the camera, that I sometimes have only a millisecond to think about comp in this type of situation -- which I know you all understand!

Kaci, the red barrel is the top of a fire hydrant. I would've included more of it and it would've been obvious, except Micah put his hand on the side of the hydrant at the moment I shot, and my cloning skills aren't that good.

GiGi... DOF, yes, definitely would be better with a shallower DOF in both cases. Trouble is, with my P&S, f/2.7 is as low as it goes and I could've had it there but it got on f/3.2 when I had it zoomed for a bit... but regardless, as you can see, f/3.2 with a P&S isn't quite the same as f/3.2 with a DSLR. (It makes it even more embarrassing that my shots are sometimes soft with this kind of DOF!!!)

I think perhaps the size of the aperture is correlated to the size of the sensor and maybe that's why it's this way? I can only get decent DOF if I shoot in Super-Macro, which obviously I can't do with the kids, or if I'm way back and way zoomed in. In this case, I couldn't do that because I would've been standing in the middle of a road. But it so frustrates me to see such awesome DOF on photos here and be totally unable to do that. Even with full zoom my DOF is never as good as what I see here.

Having said that, I totally need to keep that in mind when shooting, and get as FAR back as I possibly can, or this will be the result. (And in both of these photos, I actually edited the backgrounds to blur them out a little!) Because especially with the first shot, I totally agree it would be so much stronger were his face OR his hand in focus, and not both.

Thanks so much for the feedback, everyone!