Thread: my daughter--2 for CC

I've been planning on doing some new pics of Eva for awhile, around her birthday time (which is in a month), but was just going to wait for a perfect evening....and last night was, so we went to campus. I'd gotten her a new dress & headband just for pics and she has these new bejeweled sandals that I am in love with, so she wore those.

My most common focusing method is to focus on the subject and then recompose while holding focus;
**please tell me your preferred methods, because lately it seems I have some difficulty in that my camera seems to focus again after I recompose even though I am holding the button halfway after I focus on what I want. **


I just started going through these so I only have 2 so far. But these are 2 faves (mommy bias I am sure )

Please CC anything you notice. These were all with the 50mm f/1.8.

1. ISO 800 (was going in and out of shade at this point, changed ISO a lot), ss 1/1600, f/2.2

With that one here is what I did for editing: reduced red, slightly increased blue, increased midtones, slightly increased darks, removed a bruise, cropped, very slightly dodged eyes. Then resized & sharpened.



2. this was a bit underexposed in camera...ISO 400, ss 1/640, f/2.2

for that one I adjusted levels since it was a bit underexposed...then I only removed a tiny white thing off her mouth area, then resized & sharpened.

Both cute shots can't really give CC since I am on my laptop.

I'm betting that your focus "issues" are due to the wide open AP. Maybe, when you're recomposing, you're moving slightly out of the focal plane, causing it to go out of focus since the plane is so small? I have a hard time with toggling since the kids won't sit still for me most of the time, but maybe you could try that? Also, maybe you could try back button focus?

For focusing, I use the middle focal point, focus and recompose.

#1 - I love the glow around her head I would have liked to see her hold her knees a little bit closer to her body. Love her adorable smile!

#2 - I think that it's the lighting that I'm not liking on this one. For some reason I'm not liking where the shadows are landing. Do you have a little more room at the top? The bow is chopped just slightly.

I really love #1. The lighting is beautiful, and she looks so sweet on that wood bench with her knees up.

#2 has great light in her eyes, it just looks a bit dark to me.

Thanks Amanda, Stephanie, and Tracy.
Stephanie, I am in the same boat when it comes to toggling (NOT toggling, rather)...and I have read a little about BBF but haven't tried it yet, don't quite understand it/remember it fully yet. Will have to learn.

That #2 was the full photo (not cropped in PP) so you're right, a tip of the petal is cut off...I could probably expand the canvas slightly and re-create the tip.

Here is another one for CC:

Oh, I love that new one! Think you could fill in the bright spot between the trees a little? Wonderful!

The first time I tried BBF, I didn't like it. Then I decided to give it another go, and for some reason, I liked it much better. The back button will lock the focus, freeing up your shutter button to just take the picture. You can take them a little faster because of it, and not loose your focus. It took a bit of getting used to, but I like it. I had switched it back so my hubby could take a picture of me and the kids on Mother's Day, and forgot to switch it back though.

Amy, I love 1 and 3!!

The chopped flower on the headband doesn't bother me. Just, as you noted, is underexposed. If you could bring up exposure some it would be adorable!

And I also love her sandals and the location in #3 ... reminds me of my college campus (I think you work on a campus somewhere)...love it!

I BBF and then recompose, although my focus is missed sometimes. I'm sure it's just because of my always-moving kids What's toggling?

I really like 1 and 3! 3 is definitely my favorite though! And I actually think #2 might make a good b&w.

Ooh I didn't think of B&W for that, I'll try that. I do love the background colors though
But I thought the exposure looked similar to Stephanie's recent one where she was trying not to go too light--which is what I was trying to do here too (#2). Should I just bump up highlights more? or more midtones as well?

Yes I do work on a college campus which is beautifully landscaped. I did the graduating senior girl's photos here too

OK I went back into levels and took up the highlights a bit more and it seemed to improve it--is this better?

2nd edit


Next I'll try it in B&W since the suggestion was made....

EDIT: how did I do with a conversion?--