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Happy Baby
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BetterPhoto Member |
Hello: Great photo! I'm still having some problems with exposure settings, and another question I have is how to make the children's eyes look like glass. I haven't been able to get that look yet. I am trying. I have a studio in our basement, with two strobes, Nikon D200, and reflectors. I also have Photoshop 7.0 and also Picasa. Thanks for you time. I look forward to hearing from you.
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Vik Orenstein |
Hi Rebekah, In regards to ISO, I would never leave mine on auto. We usually run into trouble when we let our equipment do the thinking for us! I almost always shoot in Aperture Priority on location, and set my aperture as wide as possible for my subject (widest for individual subjects and smaller for multiple subjects in order to keep everyone's eyes in focus). Then I increase my ISO just enough to allow me to shoot fast enough to freeze any action that's going on. For glass-like eyes, you first need to have the eyes in perfect focus in-camera. That means perfecting your focusing technique, and then the edit can really make them look sharp and lovely without too much work. I usually just apply Smart Sharpen in Photoshop CS3 (I don't know what sharpening options are available in Picasa and I don't think that PS 7 has Smart Sharpen, but I'm not sure). I sometimes brighten the eyes just a little bit. I always sharpen and brighten the EYES ONLY. For portraits, we want the rest of the image to stay soft. Hope this helps! ;-)
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Steven A. Serpa |
Good Morning Vik, Your statement: I almost always shoot in Aperture Priority on location, and set my aperture as wide as possible for my subject (widest for individual subjects and smaller for multiple subjects in order to keep everyone' s eyes in focus). Then I increase my ISO just enough to allow me to shoot fast enough to freeze any action that's going on.
Thanks you in advance and I look forward to hearing from you. Steve,
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- Amanda D. Austwick Contact Amanda D. Austwick Amanda D. Austwick's Gallery |
Hi Vik, the glass looking eyes must not have been from focus alone, the strobes must have helped. Am I correct?, Amanda
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Vik Orenstein |
hi, steve! by rasing the iso, I am able to shoot with a faster shutter speed because the sensor requires less light to make the image. so for instance, let's say I want to shoot at 1.8 and at iso 100 that makes my proper shutter speed 1/30th --not fast enough for me to reliably freeze action and avoid camera shake while chasing a two year old and hand holding --but if I increase my iso to 200 that gives me a ss of 1/60th, or better yet, 400 gives me 1/120th --much better odds for my not so steady hands and active subject! amanda --not, the strobes don't matter in this equaton. yes, you need big juicy gorgeous catchlights to make this look really STELLAR, but you can get those with available light, too. from a window, for instance.
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Steven A. Serpa |
hi,vik! After read,reading and rereading your explanation; it finally dorned on me! I knew this stuff all the time, well maybe not all of it, meaning: (100-200 = double 1/30-1/60 = double) meaning every time you double you double both ISO and shutter speed and it’s an increase by one stop; correct? what I didn’t know, assuming I’m correct, was how to put it all together and your explanation was so simple and straight forward it wiped out all confusion and for that I truly thank you. Now for the second half: The real funny thing and even still when I think about it I laugh out loud... the part running around chasing a two year old just cracks me up..... thanks again for your special help and the great laugh to boot... Steve.
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Vik Orenstein |
my pleasure! i'm tickled to have cracked you up --i live for the laughs, you know! ;-)
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- Amanda D. Austwick Contact Amanda D. Austwick Amanda D. Austwick's Gallery |
Thank you Vik, are catch lights the same as what I call box lights? Amanda
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Vik Orenstein |
i'm not sure what you mean by box lights, but i'm referring to the light reflections in the subjects eyeballs.
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- Amanda D. Austwick Contact Amanda D. Austwick Amanda D. Austwick's Gallery |
Thank you Vik, I know what reflectors are. Your tips have been very helpful.
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BethAnn Rogers-Bird |
Hi Vik, Could you please explain how you sharpen the eyes only? When I open smart sharpend in CS2 it bring up the entire picture. Thanks,
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Steven A. Serpa |
Hi Vik, I'm thinking about doing some kid photography for the holidays can you give me some pointers that I can get started with? (Your tip on ISO and Aperture was excellent.) It will be mostly for friends and family but who knows where it may lead. Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing from you. Happy Thanksgiving Steve
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Vik Orenstein |
as with anything in photoshop, bethann, there are 100 ways to do any one thing. but I recommend starting with your background layer and making 2 duplicate layers. then sharpen the middle layer only. then go up to the top layer, get your eraser tool, and erase down to the middle, sharpened layer over just the eyes. steve --thank you for your kind words! this question is so open ended i'm not sure how to begin to answer! can you narrow it down to certain specific technical or creative issues you're interested in addressing? thanks!
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BethAnn Rogers-Bird |
Thanks Vik! I will definetly give that a try. I hope my end result looks as good as yours Bethann
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Steven A. Serpa |
Hi Vik, More to the point, I'm interested in mostly basic issues like how do you get the child to look into the lens? Do you use some kind of toy or some thing? As far as age groups go say about 1 - 3 years old. Thanks in advance... Steve
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