Lessons

Lesson Info

Post Processing: Baby Images

This is what I do after the fact I do my shooting, I'll come back home, off load onto the computer, and the first thing that I would do I'd normally would rename I'm not going to do any of that right now, I want to focus on finding the keeper's I'm going to find the keeper because a lot of people say, do you edit every single raw file on? The answer is absolutely not. I edit the keepers, so I want to go through here and search through the images and find the ones that I want to read it, and so we can do that and then reveal them to the parents and get their reactions and feelings on those images. So I'm moving back to here just to see what we have pretty happy with my settings right off the bat let's go through it, so what I like to do is I like to start my images that's not bad, and one thing I wanted to do was try to get rid of this green thing, but I didn't mind it over there were sharp here, he's in a shadow area that doesn't look bad at all, so that's one that I would consider doi...

ng between the two of them, do we like head up with the book? Is that curious george? No it's, a different monkey dr shoes didn't know I don't know I think I like this better than I like this but I think I like where he's sitting better on this one so for now I'm going to start them both and come back and see which one feels right that's that's just what's happening I don't like that look I don't like that look I like this one a little better that's not bad yes this is down here in the bottom corner could be a little distracting but it's not bad at all I like shots like this I love showing all of the toys on the floor and of course if we were in their home I'm sure it would look a little bit different and this is made up but this is pretty pretty similar to what we would see out there I love that everything is where well, I like where it's at I like the that thing I like that to moving through no no I like the one with the lips we gotta watch out for that light on the head c I talked about that before let's see if this is sharp or not oh, I should listen to the women in the room and see what's cute or not because when they go all that's probably a good that's probably a good idea on which emit that image to edit yes, this is almost like a microphone in the mouth but it's not that we didn't I don't think I get in all I don't like it myself and I cut his toe off see I see things like that I don't like cutting feed off like that I could live with something that I'll see that's going to be better this is not as cute that's like home what? But that's that's a half smile that's it that's it that's not good right? Because of his eyes are half closed not feeling that one I don't mind that there's some dimension going on in here but it's not it's not as good she was pulling the chute the socks off so I think I switch focus over to her I like that look we got some motion over here because that's showing that she just pulled the sock off but it's pretty cute oh that's cute to look and he's got the little smile on his face which one one to one to two to you all right it's like we're at the eye doctors do you like this right or do you like that? Like it doesn't matter I can't see with either they're right there say it doesn't just that yes I'm leaving ask well if it's in focus it's their little noisy but I like it a lot but also I wantto change this so you guys can see the group in phone number two years you can see the settings that I was using with the ones is huh? Oh, you know what? This doesn't look in focus, but as soon as I switched from this one to this one it's like bam it's like the eyes just popped out at you I'm going to go with that actually like this a lot I like that look that's like a stoic it's like I'm bill clinton, right? Because that's kind of like that presidential look is it just the way that the head is tilted up just slightly with white coming down on his face? And here was part of that question that we were asking where at three twenty eighth of a second he was swinging his arms how do we do there's a little bit of movement up here but maybe that's a good thing for this because he's swinging his arms you're getting a feel for it but he's still sharpened nice right there cutting off fingers that doesn't work for me back focusing obviously doesn't work for me but that happens seventy two, two hundred missed just missed I would like to have been around the front a little more here I'm just seeing what's in focus that that is there that I rotate let's see one two actually like this without the without sarah's finger in there oh, can we make sure that they're not watching this in the green room, please? They're not awesome. I just thought of that because I want to I want to see what happens. I'm number one that's actually what we think mmm expression expression I wish I had all of him in there. Not in focus actually like this. Oh, I like that better. You know, I like this better look at the look at how their work you see the book you see this light in his face that's being popped back in their off the book itself because the book is reflective, they won't talk about one of those impromptu, uh, reflectors the book acted as a reflector right there and pop that light back into his face. Uh, yeah, we'll go with that. You know, I didn't spend a lot of time on the on the the feet shots. Which one, ladies? Neither this one. Yeah. All right, well, that's good. I was switching. I think I may have gone back in the single, but it looks like it's focused on his lips on that one and then that one is sharper. I like those better, but but I can't do it if he's ah that's not sharp, I can't do it, but they may like it. I did talk about that I don't like it because it's not tax sharp but they may fall in love with something like that and even if they did blow this up I don't think most people would notice the difference that's no excuse for it not being right but they may like it so so I'm just keeping them in mind that this could be a better shot for them not for me but for them and I'll probably go with one of these just because I got it that that's that's the difference that's what tax sharp would look like all right so there's there's a big difference there I'll go with one of these just to go with one of them I like this no no no I don't know we'll try one of these because I like sarah's look that's a good look to from both parents ah that's probably better isn't it between this and this we have the laughing really I mean this is just what I do I'll sit here and I'll take a look and I'll and I'll play this all out I'm not feeling those as much we talked about the eyes and I don't have the isar and focus like look we actually cut that tag sharp which pretty good that the cups not in focus but I don't know that it's that good of an image it just it doesn't pop to me it doesn't yell and scream and say winning I was going for this. I cut off his fingers. I'm going to keep it just for keeping it that sharp. We actually like this even we've got that would be burgers, I believe. But that is what it is. And then we get to those low light situations. Talk about having to change on the fly. First thing I did is he went behind the sofa and I knew I had to do a couple of things. I also had to go up shutter speed. Had to probably come down a little bit from three. Twenty, and then I was at three, two or three. Five. I knew I had to get to two point eight. I just had to make these quick changes just from field. I couldn't worry about anything else. I had to do it. So that's what? I made that change. I don't know that this is in focus. It's not, I think it's focused down here on the dinosaur. This was when I had the seventy two hundred and I called for trevor tio. Bring me that other lens and hopefully I got at least one of them. Good, I think that's in there? Uh, that one's better yeah, that one's good, okay, any questions, russ out there while we're doing this? Let's say we have been b who says have any of your clients ever complained about grain in your images? We've talked about what we care about of your clients ever complained well, let's see what happens when they come in here and if they say anything about that last shot that is him behind the sofa, I doubt it most of times no, I haven't heard anything, so those look noisy, those old grainy, no it's pretty rare I think we're the ones that worry about it more than anything, and when it comes into situations like this it's it's, the image that matters it's the subject it's their family and that's what they love to see. So as long as it's not off the wall terrible, I don't think they're going to have a problem with it at all. All right, speaking of the family dc photography actually, this image is a perfect example do care about the parents being cropped out in your shots like with her head missing that that wasn't my focus here. I like the fact that they I want the parents in there for some of them, and I think that the interaction is what it's at where it's at I did make sure that I got sarah in there for some in the background, but in a situation like this I wanted to focus on focus on him reading that's what I was going out that he's reading or just looking at pictures you know that's the stuff that I was looking for on that so let's go through and start editing yeah and while you're doing that demi is wondering whether you're still at it these the same ways you edit your other images with the pumped up bhumi contrast or whether you'll go with a softer look because it's a child it depends really it depends on what feels right and that and then I do say boom if I ng I do go boom with a lot of my images but it all depends on the situation and what what the image calls for we'll see because I don't know where it's going it really it's a matter of just seeing it I can't tell you that it's going to look better this way or the other on dh that's just how I do it let's let's do it and there are probably better pictures than this throughout the chute aren't there or do you like this one? Thanks guys it's just it's cool when you get so basically I called it down to twenty seven out of one hundred forty shots it's not terrible, we shoot a lot more than when we then when we did have film so I don't know whether I'm going black and white or color yet ah I don't know I think I'm going to play with the black and white the colors pretty muted college very muted and I say that but then I probably go like this and then see what happens I I just think for shots like this it's more classic in time timeless to go with the black and white and let's see what we come up with if you're not feeling it just let me know you're not feeling it I would love more light in this face but he was looking down that's to booming I wouldn't ever do that don't don't don't worry what do you guys think off the back color black and white just offered the first look that you saw I like it in color that that thing in the right corner is less dominant yeah and this is this is hard it's it's it's like opinions right? Everybody has at least seven of them so they like to throw them out there I I think for this one I don't know that the black and white did it justice because of the way that the face was I think we just lose too much of the detail underneath so that's what I'm looking at so I'm not going to spend too much time here because I would definitely want to have time to get the parents in but I think they'll be in love with a shot like this maybe we'll try this one black and white just because of the way that he's looking and then sometimes the boom doesn't work and the curve doesn't work all the time hmm let's see so this is less contrast contrast t ross I haven't gone too far with it and and I like what's going on I like what we did with the settings here I like what we did with light not much I don't even need to use the shadows in this case I don't like what it's doing and we don't have a lot of highlights to worry about and we believe that a zero so we're not really going too far. We talked about the auto white balance before people ask about that with the raw file the white balance is pretty darn good I think that the camera did a great job in this situation picking that up so I'm gonna I'm gonna do that going to stick with that um let's keep on getting through here this I think is going this is this is gonna work there. Yes this is working by the way. One time you know what a great gift is for a friend that at a bridal shower sorry baby shower one of the best gifts as I gave a million dollars gift certificate for my photo services for one photo shoot to the child they had to use it before they turned eighteen but it's only one time, but it's worth a million dollars. In my opinion, why are you guys laughing? You don't think it was funny or do I need to explain it more? But how? Look that did that. Just pop. Yeah, I think this one works in black and white because there's more light in this face. And then there we go. And I still like the sarah's in the image just cut off, but we know who it is. Yeah, but that image is that is an image is nice. I'm not going to sit here and try to add more light into his into his right eye. A lot of people would go in there and start toning that. But I'm not doing that, it's not something that I like to do. And yeah, I'm not one hundred percent contrast here. This is where it started. This is where it ended. I like that image. So I'm going to actually get rid of this one and then go to this for time purposes just so that we can make sure that we, uh, get them in here. I got to decide. Oh, I love this. Come on, come on, like, yeah, that's, that's what I like. Because this is what I love seeing this is what's in my mind when I'm shooting with this wide angle lens is to get the entire situation in the entire scene going on in here and yes, some of the highlights or a little blown out but that's ok it's a little too bhumi right now I think for once flatten it up just a little bit and I don't wanna go too far with the exposure because I want to lose that in the face so he could move the highlights just a slight bit and I think I'm going to go with that I don't like this one getting rid of it now and this happens you pick those of those first ones but as you go through you start to realize that certain shots are just so much better that I don't want to see them and I put up a post today that's it sometimes you have to well I don't even remember what my post said today but it was more along the lines of don't showcase bad work and I know you don't really always know what bad work is but if you have questions about the quality about the sharpness the focus unless it totally grabs you and you stand by that image don't post it if you think it's bad don't do it that's all I have to say about that and look there is in the background here no, I'm going I'm going to do this, I don't even think I'm going to go any higher with that like that just a little bit like that just a little bit clarity a tench or pinch and we'll call it right there. I was talking about cutting the carpet earlier I didn't like that, but here the line is very straight so I don't hate it that much. All right, time purposes we're gonna continue to move and also I'm going toe this would tell a cool story right socks off wax on wax off there we go, trevor, you get that reference karate kid? Correct? Yes alright, yes clicked there's a sock on sock off. So actually, I'm gonna end up keeping both of them because I think as part of a story, if I was to tell this, I would like it better with the sock on in the sock off. I don't know that I like the color versa, but it's hard to say somebody yell at me real quick. What do you think? I love the color? Anybody else in the color for these air? Good? What if I told you I like the black and white that sucks? Well, they're your photos, it is my photo, but I think I'll stick with this because I think it does look better and what I can do here is being that this image is very similar in just taking a little bit of the yellow out of it because it was a little too much for me. I'm going to be able to sink that this image actually the next three come over here so like them using the command tool hit sink ah, that at a how about we just check all because I didn't really change too much and it's going to go ahead and sink those because I didn't make many changes, right? You talk about having presets, I don't use presets. The only preset basically is based off of an image that is similar to the other one and I'll sink it and then I'll go in and I'll tweak each one individually so that looks good. This looks good. And what was this when tickling the toes? I think as a trip dick hanging on the wall that's cool one here one here, one here that looks good. Get those metal prints. Hang them up and they're going to be there for a long time. You're right. These do look better in color, by the way boom boom, boom! Nice this is this is an okay shot, is it just ok, or is it or is it better than okay, I say ok it's just ok there were skipping it go with the gut instinct I thought it was just ok this I love the light on on on him and don't know now actually the color maybe better here just a little too yellow so we're gonna pull the yellow out a little bit russ everybody's understanding that this is the exact process that I go through at home right and it's just fly on the wall stuff you get to see it happening just a little brighter may not be the best shot but it's still a nice shot this I still like this I love that pose I love that look too hot on his head to out on his head too far that's too far maybe I may have to get funky with this one here the highlights slightly I'm not a big fan of doing this with the highlight because look what happens to his face it gets way too great out for my liking I'm going to stick with this and I'm going to go with it we'll see what the parents have to say I'm looking at the eyes here but that is my main focus is the glow in the eyes what lens I have on at a seventy to two hundred ah vertical tighter would have been better but we saw how much he was moving around right so if you're gonna wait for moving around aspect it's it it may be harder to get that tighter shot but I actually like the stairs in the background I like this in the foreground on the bottom right corner it's drawing us into the center of the frame which is uh maxwell and then sarah's in the background so we kind of have three different things of dimension drawing us in right to that subject in the middle I'm going to see if the shadows will open up down below and it did see how it see how it opened up down below a little bit I don't go extreme with that I just think that looks to fake look what happened to sarah on that actually yeah look what happened so we're gonna do that right about there that feels good and actually going to go a little flatter but then I contradict myself by going all the way with the contrast but I like it it just goes it pops for me I don't like this one is much I'm gonna get rid of it I don't think this is as strong as some of the other ones that we already have because of the profile I'm getting rid of it doing the uh this isn't as good either but I'm just going to keep it because maybe they like his dancing because it's kind of like disco fever here this is gonna be color I'm of snap color black and white color black and white there's just something about the color that doesn't draw me to it, but I'm going I'm going to go with it for the time being for time purposes. Um um let's get to the next one, what's the next one. After that, we've got that I like this. I think I like this because of the lack of color in his face. There we go and see what happens here. Let's, bring it in a little bit to this. This is probably an unorthodox style of editing, but this is the style that I've lived with and continue to dio pick up tips here and there, but like they say, with everything everybody can edit and process in their own way. There's no right or wrong way to do these things. The foot shot is not that good. I wish I could spend more time on it. I'm just going to get rid of it right here. This was the one I didn't having focused on getting rid of the one after it, because it's not as good as this one, and I'm just going to go with this and again as ah, I'm sure somebody in the room would ask, are you tryingto hide something with this image, no it's just color works better by the way I'm not trying to hide anything by turning it black and white because it's not going black and white it's info it's not fully and focus I don't think the parents whatever under would ever realized that which is perfectly fine because it it it's hard to tell unless you sit here and you go like this and even when you do go like that his lips you can see that his lips are in focus that's just me being very hyper aware of that but I'm going to put it through anyway because I think it's a pretty good shot we have a couple more here to dio I don't think this is that good got all these distracting wires in the background gone okay I'll do this one real quick just watch what happens to the eyes that's too far don't watch that yet there we go there we go we still have detail in his face and this works you guys like this one I actually ok it's not the best in the world but it but it's a family shot see that's what I had to think about I'm thinking it may not be the best in the world but everybody's having fun and laughing that's why it has to stay in because of that and it has to be a color I don't think the black and white doesn't justice especially with that fisher price thing I love that thing we said and break out simon so as you're going, we've got a couple people who maybe new right now didn't watch yesterday. Would you mind just as you're working talk a little bit more about your perspective on cropping and you know, whether you do it, whether you don't etcetera, yeah, if you're just tuning in, no, I don't crop uh, head shots from the top I know my have stopped like criminals know crop cops that's my rap song, I have one do have it you can download the free mp three it's called the front is photo song it's explicit we I don't crop, I don't think this image needs to be cropped if you wanted to nit pick and say yes, yeah, maybe we could do a little bit over there, but it doesn't need it. You've seen all these images you saw how I worked, I've tried to fill the frame as much as possible. I talked about where I would maybe do things a little tighter, but I don't think any of them need to be cropped right here, I'm looking and visually doing this in the camera for the people that are just tuning in to hear why quality a lot of people fear the low light and fear the I s o because they crop a lot, and then the exposure could be off and when the exposure is off and you bring it back, and then you add cropping, you're literally enlarging the pixels you're enlarging the noise in the grain because the further and you do the larger that thing looks like the reason I don't crop and what one of the reasons is back in high school, when I got into the dark room, the teacher raised the enlarger up because I took a baseball picture of a kid sliding into second base, raised the enlarger up, lost a ton of light and said, what are the what is all this stuff? He goes that's the noise, that's grain, so he didn't say it was noise. It was just green because it wasn't digital yet and he's like this is why you want a crop in the camera, not in the dark room, so I attribute that back to my high school teacher who got it from somebody else when he was learning back in college. But cropping the camera not in the dark room doesn't mean go into the editing settings and crop in the camera. Now it just means fill the frame so you don't have to do that later makes sense that better us all right, so I think these two because they're pretty similar. Oh I'm gonna go with black and white on this one and they were then we have two more three more and then we're going to bring the family and sound good got it I don't like this one guys I just don't like it so you have a question well yeah but I'll just let you finish editing and I love excuse I don't like this I just don't like the framing I don't like I cut his hands off I just don't like it that one I'm not showing because I know that these are a little better I love this out of focus thing in the right hand side it's not a distraction in my mind I think that that makes you focus in on maxwell's eyes here now we're going to decide whether we do color or black and white pretty darn quick here I wasn't asking guys okay now I hear you but they're this way look if you want clarity this way it's going to soften it up it actually doesn't look that bad if you do that and actually let's let's go for it just a little bit because baby skin is so soft but don't get stuck in that thing where people buy filters that soften the hell out of kids skin their babies right what do they say about babies or it's a soft as a baby's butt or something their skin is clean so stick with it don't go in and start adding stuff like that. They're make that pop a little bit, go like that get to this last one really low light situation ten thousand dollars so one one twenty fifth of a second of two point eight, not a lot of light behind a couch is there and we're gonna we're gonna ask them to rate their favorite image. Let's see what strong medium we'll go with the medium. For the time being, I want to still hold the fact that he's in the shadow. I don't want to be overly bright because we know that he's in that shadow where you can see it on the ground. So I pulled back just a little bit to keep to keep the tones more natural. Not so much making it too bright just because I can, so I'm only look at that point, two five up on that stop, get the black levels in here, boom love the shadows in the face, white just a little bit. We're gonna go with that, and we're gonna call it a day.