Day 2

Toby's turn today. My poor photo neglected child. We would have taken more photos of Hannah in her first 2 days than we have of poor Toby in his first 2 months.

Photo 1.
Not that he was that keen on having photos done. Hmmm. I was having some issues with the lack of light in the room - I needed to allow as much as possible in, so it was a bit harsher than I would have liked.

Editing was just slightly increasing the contrast, and slightly decreasing the saturation.

Outcome 1

Photo 2.
This one he was a tad more willing to be involved in.

I ended up grabbing his cradle mattress, which has a white sheet over it, and using that to reflect some light back. The only issue was that I only have 2 hands.

Other than the same processing as the first shot, I also cleaned up a couple of spots, and the birthmark on his back.

Outcome 2

Photo 3.
Well. My plan for this shot was cute little frog legs tucked up in the corner of the photo... but Toby was not co-operating. But the aim is to try.

This was the best of a bad bunch. At least he is not flashing anything, even if he does have blurred feet.

Same post processing as the first.

Outcome 3

Day 1

Here we go again. More good intentions.

So. The plan is, a photo a day. Or more, a subject a day. Or many photo's/subjects a day. Really depends on my mood, and what comes out of the camera. On a really bad day (ratty kids, bad weather, or whatever) I might have to resort to re-editing old photos... but I would prefer not to.

I have been too long without putting effort into my photography, and I really need to get back into the swing of things!

Todays subject - FEET! Why? Because Hannah would not look at me, or stay focused on anything long enough for me to get a photo of her face. Toby was fast asleep inside, in a poorly lit room, and I was not willing to disturb him. And I figured that I should start out with something that involved at least one of the kids! So I decided I wanted to get at least a couple of different foot shots.

Photo 1.
This one was taken on the back step. She was sitting still, drinking a drink, so I took the chance. On the RAW file, I increased the exposure slightly (for some reason my camera seems to leave photos rather dark when left to decide on its own), then I increased the contrast and reduced the saturation.

In Photoshop, I darkened the edges of the shot (new technique I am playing with) and tweaked the curves a little.

Outcome 1

Photo 2.
This one I made her pose for (in as much as you can convince a 2yo to pose!)

Basically identical processing to the last one. I really like the use of the darkening (buggered if I know what the technique is called!) as it draws the focus away from the poorly focussed area in the foreground, and compliments the existing shadow in front of the step to really highlight the area under the feet.

Outcome 2

Photo 3.
This one was taken standing at the edge of the path. Again, deliberate positioning, and again almost identical editing.

The lack of focus in the bottom of the photo is a bit annoying. I am wishing I was a bit more careful with my DoF... but there was not much time to fiddle with settings. I got one shot in before she ran off again.

I am really happy with the lighting in this shot (actually in all of them). That is the one thing that I have never really got the hang of properly, and I want to start to pay attention to. In the past I focussed (no pun intended) on the composition, and if the lighting worked, then yay.

Outcome 3