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Morbid

Morbid

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Ian
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I wanted to get a shot of Ellie (my eldest) to get printed for the wall, while she was home from Uni. I also managed one or two of them together despite Finley being a little uncooperative. A couple below.

IMG_6303 by -Ian J Bradshaw-

IMG_6284 by -Ian J Bradshaw-

Shoot through umbrella for key, with a bare speedlight as a kicker (high and angled down). Background about 7' away from them. Reflector used for the second one.

Thanks for looking, and as always C&C welcome.
 
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Nice Ian, good separation. Maybe just me but the light on your daughters' hair could do with being ..toned down slightly. But a good one for the wall :)
 
Well done fella. These are cool. Agree with the hair light comment above. Spot on in the edit.
Ellie goes away to Uni comes back a short while later only to find Dad's turned into David Bailey :) There again she wouldnt know whom he was !

Gaz
 
Nailed it, lovely images and good use of your lights.

Very well done.

Mickey.
 
photogwannabe said:
I like how you toned down the light on her hair but it seems to me as though somehow the light on her face increased. May just be my old eyes. Facial tones of original with toned down hair light of second would be perfect.
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Thanks for the comments PW. When I reprocessed the shot, I put a levels adjustment in to adjust the white point. This made the original look a little flat in comparison so I kept it. Maybe it's a little bright, maybe it's personal preference, but I'll have another look at it. This may not be the one that ends up being printed (Ellie is choosing) so I'll spend more time on the final image getting it right.
 
Oh yes that's ever so much better...but I prefer the skin tone in the first. Sorry to be a pain. If it's not being printed leave it though. Still a lovely photo :)
 
Naka said:
Oh yes that's ever so much better...but I prefer the skin tone in the first. Sorry to be a pain. If it's not being printed leave it though. Still a lovely photo :)
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Thanks Naka, definitely going to re-do this one (should be a quick fix as I can just mask one on to the other in a new layer).

I always listen to what people think and that's two votes for messing up the skin tones in the edit!
 
photogwannabe said:
I like how you toned down the light on her hair but it seems to me as though somehow the light on her face increased. May just be my old eyes. Facial tones of original with toned down hair light of second would be perfect.
Click to expand...

Naka said:
Oh yes that's ever so much better...but I prefer the skin tone in the first. Sorry to be a pain. If it's not being printed leave it though. Still a lovely photo :)
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Thanks both for the critique, it's always very helpful to me to hear what others think. I've done two further edits, the first to sort out the skin tone, and the second one has the eyes from the second edit above to give them a bit of local definition. Any thoughts? I'm still waiting to hear from Ellie, but this is probably my favourite from the shoot, so worth getting it right, if I've managed that in the edits.

IMG_6284e2 by Ian Bradshaw, on Flickr

IMG_6284e3 by Ian Bradshaw, on Flickr
 
Morbid said:
Thanks Kris, I'm a wondering what I need to do next now, have been thinking this since taking shots of Finley earlier. Maybe I've peaked??!!
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That's the eternal photographic problem: trying to be creative! What you have achieved so far with only speedlights is fantastic. You'll be aware of their limitations so maybe the next phase could be outside, but you'll need the weather to sort itself out first.
 
photogwannabe said:
You're welcome! I'm just hoping that my granddaughter will be as willing to pose for me in the next 15 years. (She's just two and a bit now but such a little cutie even if I do say so myself.)
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You have a willing model for now then? What she'll be like later no one can tell. Have you taken some already?
 
Livin The Dream said:
That's the eternal photographic problem: trying to be creative! What you have achieved so far with only speedlights is fantastic. You'll be aware of their limitations so maybe the next phase could be outside, but you'll need the weather to sort itself out first.
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You're right about that, trying to be creative and find something different to try. Natural light, well that's a lot less faffing about and that's what I've used since I was in my teens. Fill flash was last summers experimenting, maybe using a reflector once that arrives and the weather is a little more suitable too will be next.

Maybe a softbox will be the thing to try for next winter? Just wondering what the benefits will be really. Still planning the meet up with Graham so I can try his kit, so that will answer that I suppose. Maybe hard light, maybe different PP, I guess something will come to me. While taking the shots earlier I just thought they are just the same as I took last weekend. Took a few of him with his grandparent's new puppy yesterday and it just made me think, these are the ones that we'll look back on as they are memories. Studio type shots don't give you that.
 
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photogwannabe said:
Thanks, Ian. I have a few of her on my flickr. The first one in the feed is the latest one of her. I'll just put up the link as I don't want to intrude into your thread.
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She's adorable, you have some pretty cool shots on Flickr too. Post one up, there's not many people posting recently, it would be nice to have more people continuing images.
 
Excellent Ian!!!
I'm sure you'll find another way to capture such lovely images, you haven't peaked yet :)
My flash and reflector arrived this weekend. Bring on half term, hopefully I can get some nice photos.
 
Morbid said:
Maybe a softbox will be the thing to try for next winter? Just wondering what the benefits will be really. Still planning the meet up with Graham so I can try his kit, so that will answer that I suppose. Maybe hard light, maybe different PP, I guess something will come to me. While taking the shots earlier I just thought they are just the same as I took last weekend. Took a few of him with his grandparent's new puppy yesterday and it just made me think, these are the ones that we'll look back on as they are memories. Studio type shots don't give you that.
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A softbox will only give you a little more control and a slightly softer light source. You seem to be doing ok without them. Great to have but... would possibly give you a little more flexibility. I wouldn't bother getting a softbox for your speedlight, wait until you can buy a decent monoblock head with a good softbox, they work better together.

You're right about the memory shots. They might not be as clinical but they tend to be the cherished pictures later on.
 
Naka said:
Excellent Ian!!!
I'm sure you'll find another way to capture such lovely images, you haven't peaked yet :)
My flash and reflector arrived this weekend. Bring on half term, hopefully I can get some nice photos.
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Thanks for the kind words. I look forward to seeing how you get on. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions.
 
Livin The Dream said:
A softbox will only give you a little more control and a slightly softer light source. You seem to be doing ok without them. Great to have but... would possibly give you a little more flexibility. I wouldn't bother getting a softbox for your speedlight, wait until you can buy a decent monoblock head with a good softbox, they work better together.

You're right about the memory shots. They might not be as clinical but they tend to be the cherished pictures later on.
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Sound advice I think Kris, will wait until funds allow the next step up. I have limited space and storage space too so the current set up is fine, it all fits on top of some cupboards to allow the pushchair, trike, etc back in the room.

Going to get more of him playing with his toys, I'm conscious Finley should be the one playing when we have time together not me (not that the shoots take more than half an hour, but with work we don't get as much time as i would like).
 
juggler said:
Suggestions:
1. Other people
2. Something other than a plain background
3. Product stuff
4. Street photography

have fun!
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Thanks for the suggestions Simon...

1. I'm going to be trying to drum up some (very much part-time) business this year. If I can get a shoot every month of so, that would be enough to add some variety for me and provide a little extra income. I have three or four people at work who are interested in shots of their kids. With help from people on here recently, yourself included, and a significant amount of practice, I feel confident enough now to pursue this with more vigour than I perhaps did last year. I need to add recent images to my website (and cull quite a few) and get out and talk to people (we live near a local arts centre/cafe place where lots of families visit, so plenty of possible clients within ten minutes walk);
2. Mmm...do you mean adding in PP, buying some backgrounds, or getting outside (which will be nice once the weather improves)?;
3. I did do a a bit of this for Lorna who has a jewelery blog, but it's not something I've done much of recently - might be worth experimenting with some items around the house, thanks for the idea;
4. I can see why people do it, and Blakester's 100 Strangers Project and your own one at the nature reserve are interesting to look through, but at the moment it's not really my cup of tea (this might change) and in the thought of doing this in my local town.. well...I'll just say if I lived in Camden or Kensington it might have more appeal (and free time is limited so not much chance for days into London despite only being an hour away by train).
 
Morbid said:
Thanks for the suggestions Simon...

2. Mmm...do you mean adding in PP, buying some backgrounds, or getting outside (which will be nice once the weather improves)?
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Not really any of those. I just meant using the environment you happen to be in, whether inside or outside, but with added lights/reflectors as you see fit. Just something to give a hint of context rather than a blank wall, e.g (and these are oldies now, please excuse the dodgy PP)




Anyway - it was just a suggestion, and learning to balance ambient and flash is a useful skill (fwiw the second didn't use any lighting kit; it might have benefitted from some).
 
juggler said:
Not really any of those. I just meant using the environment you happen to be in, whether inside or outside, but with added lights/reflectors as you see fit. Just something to give a hint of context rather than a blank wall, e.g (and these are oldies now, please excuse the dodgy PP)




Anyway - it was just a suggestion, and learning to balance ambient and flash is a useful skill (fwiw the second didn't use any lighting kit; it might have benefitted from some).
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I appreciated the suggestion Simon, just wasn't sure what you meant.

You mean like this?...

IMG_3987 by Ian Bradshaw, on Flickr

And this?...

IMG_3350e by Ian Bradshaw, on Flickr

Or this?...

IMG_1279 by Ian Bradshaw, on Flickr
 
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juggler said:
Exactly! Well, if you've done that already then you can discard suggestion #2 :)
Though I'm guessing only the last one used flash; either that or it's dead subtle in the others.
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Thanks Simon, I was at 300mm for the first one so just natural light, bounced flash in the second one, direct on camera flash in the last one (as you'd worked out anyway).
 
Just wanted to add that I did get the shot of Ellie (and Lorna from another thread) printed. Got aluminium prints done of both to go with one we already had of me and Finley.

IMG_7274 by -Ian J Bradshaw-

As for doing other things I've now got a film in my old Dynax, and a 1950's Canon rangefinder has been ordered from eBay so going back to basics! If it works I'll post some shots up.
 
Morbid said:
Just wanted to add that I did get the shot of Ellie (and Lorna from another thread) printed. Got aluminium prints done of both to go with one we already had of me and Finley.

IMG_7274 by -Ian J Bradshaw-

As for doing other things I've now got a film in my old Dynax, and a 1950's Canon rangefinder has been ordered from eBay so going back to basics! If it works I'll post some shots up.
Click to expand...


The prints look good, nice to see photos actually making it off the digital devices and becoming real.

Something I should really do myself.
 
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