[IanHoughton]

Was trying some more shots of the kids over the weekend and managed to catch the eldest without her normal pose (i.e sticking her tongue out !!)

Not very proficient at turning out a mono, but i like the effect of the blue eyes, but they seem to have lost some of their sparkle with resizing the image ...

[Rob Barron]

I love the face, she is gorgeous (but then you know that eh Ian? LOL)

The thing that doesn't work for me is her left cheek which completely disappears into the background, I can't see the edge of her face at all so it makes her look chubbier.

The eyes are ok but I have never gone a whole bunch onb selectives of eyes because they tend to look a bit freaky. This doesn't but the facial tones need to be stronger (eyelashes, brows, etc) to work really well IMHO.

But hey, she's a little cutie so who cares, just enjoy the wonderful picture of a lovely child

Cheers,
Rob

[skipper954]

What a great looking little kid with a winning smile.

I am not a fan of selective coloring either. In fact, I am not really a fan of children in mono because their skin is so smooth that in mono it comes out sort of featureless. Older people with blotches, warts and wrinkles are much more interesting in mono.

And in a beautiful little girl like this, a soft color shot would probably be wonderful, a wall hanger in fact.

I agree with Rob about her cheek, but maybe if it was in color, that blurry interface would not be a prominent.

If you have the color of this, I would love to see it to compare.

skip

[IanHoughton]

Thanks for the comments so far, I just thought this version was a bit flat.

[Victoria]

I have to agree with the guys on this one - I really like the coloured version better.

I've tried some selective colouring of eyes before but with very little success - they do tend to look a bit freaky as Rob said.

I think the photo is great as it is but if your looking for something different, have you tried a vintage look (not black and white but very subdued colours...kinda faded looking I guess you would say) and then maybe emphasizing the eyes by saturating the colour and sharpening them a little .....I don't know how this would look (just typing out loud really).

Anyway, the photo is a winner as it is! Great job and a gorgeous girl.

[Dabhand16]

Is this a bit better, Ian? Touch of levels and a curves tweak. Gorgeous little charmer

[Charlotte]

I like the composition Ian, + she sure does have a gorgeous face

I prefer the mono, but not keen on the selective colouring of the eyes.

The colour shot is good, except for the skin tones - red + blotchy with distracting vein detail. I get this with my little one as well (3 yrs old). What I do to avoid this is have a special set of settings I use just when I photograph her:

Soft focus filter
Colour mode on camera set to Ia (softer, less vibrant colours)
Tone compensation (contrast) adjusted to low contrast
Saturation set to medium-low

I'm sure your camera has different setting parameters, but you get the idea of how to soften skin tones in-camera

[IanHoughton]

Originally Posted by Charlotte

Soft focus filter
Colour mode on camera set to Ia (softer, less vibrant colours)
Tone compensation (contrast) adjusted to low contrast
Saturation set to medium-low

are these settings on the D50 (i have one as well)

How do you find the 50mm 1.8 on the D50, I was seriously thinking of getting one.

[IanHoughton]

Originally Posted by Dabhand16

Is this a bit better, Ian? Touch of levels and a curves tweak. Gorgeous little charmer

Thanks for the edit, I like it better than my attempt, the skin colours look more natural. Not 100% sold on the colour image yet though.

[Charlotte]

LOL Ian, I just saw that you have D50 as well, so there you go, try the settings as I've set out, they work for me

Yes, my last acquisition was the 50mm 1.8 ... LOVE IT! Fab for portraits as it = 75mm focal length on DSLR, which is ideal. It gives great colour, nice + sharp, fab for low light - you can take good pic's indoors without needing flash. I haven't bothered with a flash unit either. Get the 50mm 1.8

[Charlotte]

You'll find the settings in menu>shooting>optimize image>custom... play around with them + try different combinations to suit your pref's + shooting conditions (but you prolly knew where to find them).

The soft focus filter isn't part of the settings, it's a real filter (just in case you were busy searching for this fab-sounding setting on your D50 ) if you haven't got one, get one, it's fab for softening skin tones.

[Dabhand16]

Originally Posted by IanHoughton

Thanks for the edit, I like it better than my attempt, the skin colours look more natural. Not 100% sold on the colour image yet though.

You can please some of the people all of the time, and......



More difficult to get the left cheek and background seperated in mono, and I've run out of time....