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happy baby

© Vik Orenstein

happy baby

Uploaded: March 13, 2007 15:35:20

Description

in studio; two strobes; manual mode

Comments

October 15, 2007

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. #762298

Vik Orenstein October 17, 2007

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! ;-) #4939448

Steven A. Serpa November 07, 2007

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.


I'm a little confused on the ISO part of your explaination; could you please explain further.

Thanks you in advance and I look forward to hearing from you.

Steve, #5038958

Amanda D. Austwick level-classic November 07, 2007

Hi Vik, the glass looking eyes must not have been from focus alone, the strobes must have helped. Am I correct?,
Amanda #5041577

Vik Orenstein November 12, 2007

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. #5062509

Steven A. Serpa November 12, 2007

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:
I'm in touch with the shaky hands thing so I went out and purchased some IS lenses for my Canon, but I digress.

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.
#5065107

Vik Orenstein November 12, 2007

my pleasure! i'm tickled to have cracked you up --i live for the laughs, you know! ;-) #5065155

Amanda D. Austwick level-classic November 12, 2007

Thank you Vik, are catch lights the same as what I call box lights?
Amanda #5065881

Vik Orenstein November 13, 2007

i'm not sure what you mean by box lights, but i'm referring to the light reflections in the subjects eyeballs. #5067792

Amanda D. Austwick level-classic November 13, 2007

Thank you Vik, I know what reflectors are. Your tips have been very helpful. #5068326

BethAnn Rogers-Bird November 19, 2007

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,
BethAnn #5099258

Steven A. Serpa November 20, 2007

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 #5100937

Vik Orenstein November 20, 2007

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! #5101684

BethAnn Rogers-Bird November 20, 2007

Thanks Vik! I will definetly give that a try. I hope my end result looks as good as yours

Bethann #5101972

Steven A. Serpa November 20, 2007

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 #5103423


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