My little hat girl

[zenotri]

Chloe loves wearing hats! Lucky for her, she looks great in them:

http://www.pbase.com/zenotri/image/72315258.jpg

CC welcome :)

[d200]

Fantastic image - I love everything about this image from framing, to b&w, exposure and of course most importantly the mood you have captured.

[Atlas]

Great shot Vickie.

B&W rules for portraits :)

[Janedoe67]

I love this shot :) Everything works. I am not able to darken my girl too much as she is at an age where it can make her look more mature than what she is, which is not on.

[littlealbert]

What a beautiful portrait :)

[Axel]

Sorry Vickie, no CC available, a beautiful portrait :)

[zenotri]

Thank you All:)

I really do like this shot, but like to ask for CC as often get things pointed out that I hadn't noticed, especially when the photos are of things you are very close to. I think you can miss details that you would otherwise notice if you did not see the subject every day.

JaneDoe, I am curious about your comments re "darken my girl"? What do you mean by this? Are you talking literally by editing or figuratively? I do know what you mean about the age thing though, I think that time is fast approaching for us.

[Janedoe67]

Ahhhh like the pic of my snow princess in portraits. It is as taken with just tungsten lighting and a long exposure, for an assignment. For my pleasure, I did start to fiddle with the contrast levels some, to darken and highlight, but it was really creating the impression she was much older than what she was. She is only 10 and a half and I was blown away that she could so easily look around 16. I was speaking totally in terms of that photo that I was playing with and I don't know if it is my girls complexion, or her age that is creating that - do I go for the older look - or keep her sweet and innocent? I fiddle with some others and it was the same thing. I really like a lot of contrast in black and whites, like you have here, but with her, it really does seem to take her into leap years of teenhood :S I guess basically, I was saying that I love the traditional contrast you have here and am whimsical about creating that with my girl, but she does seem to be broaching that precipice BOOHOO!

[Rodeo Oz]

Ohhh just great looks fantastic... hope I can do as well...

[SSSchwing]

Ahhhh like the pic of my snow princess in portraits. It is as taken with just tungsten lighting and a long exposure, for an assignment. For my pleasure, I did start to fiddle with the contrast levels some, to darken and highlight, but it was really creating the impression she was much older than what she was. She is only 10 and a half and I was blown away that she could so easily look around 16. I was speaking totally in terms of that photo that I was playing with and I don't know if it is my girls complexion, or her age that is creating that - do I go for the older look - or keep her sweet and innocent? I fiddle with some others and it was the same thing. I really like a lot of contrast in black and whites, like you have here, but with her, it really does seem to take her into leap years of teenhood :S I guess basically, I was saying that I love the traditional contrast you have here and am whimsical about creating that with my girl, but she does seem to be broaching that precipice BOOHOO!


Hmm, does this explain the pointed comment "I like it just the way it is" LOL

Its an interesting topic really. I'm a guy (shh, don't tell anyone) and don't have kids, but I have neice's etc. You make a valid point, although I think your point comes 80% from being mum and 20% from every where else. No mums want their little girls to grow up :) Which I can understand. I'm very protective of even my mates little girls.

To me, your predicament (sp) is what photography is all about. The ability to take a photo and make it what you want. Old, young, bright, dark, sexy or timid.

I'm rambling, so I will shh now (we need an OT section for this stuff).

Vickie - personally, I enjoy your shots of your little girl. Her face is very emotive.

Are these posed shots or more candid?

[Janedoe67]

Yeah it does actually Schwing, because the comment about the contrast added about 6 years to her age, which was not what the shot is about.

It IS about being a mum, but also being a responsible photographer with a minor. Mine was staged, which she loved playing model. That is also fine and as she matches her age etc etc, we can go that way.

What IS bothering me here was that my flippant personal comment about my daughter in pics, has perhaps come across as a criticism about the photo in this thread, which was not my intention at all. So I apologise for that if my typing came across that way.

This shot here, is really beautiful in every way and my comment was regarding adding contrast to my girl - nothing more.

[zenotri]

My question to Janedoe was purely out of curiosity. I certainly took no offence, but since I think we have similar concerns about photographing our girls as they grow up, I was interested in her thoughts/experiences, personal as well as technical.

It is hard as a Mum to know what is appropriate to post & what is not. I think so long as we stay true to representing them as they are and not as they will be, we are doing the right thing. My daughter also loves to dress up & pose (LOL, well most of the time).

In all honesty I usually delete the posed pics, because they often do not represent who she is & I will post the shots I sneak in between her posing...that way we are both happy. She gets to pose & I get the shots I want...and she is none the wiser ;).

The reason I asked about the contrast is that Chloe has a lot of natural contrast in her skin tones, so I don't usually have to do too much by way of adjusting levels etc. B&W on her usually looks better, but I guess colour retains her innocence/youth a little more?

Here is the colour:
http://www.pbase.com/image/72315151.jpg

I still like the B&W better, but I think they both have merits.

[Janedoe67]

Oh both are gorgeous! but the b&w really created the 'mood'. She is such a cutie :)

[d200]

The question of the ethics of posting pictures of kids I will leave alone, other than to say that I love the wonderful photos posted, and hope that doesn't stop. I don't have children, but work as a kid's doctor. Despite seeing lots of kids every day, I love the photos of children in their natural environment with their natural emotions and visual persona captured by those close to them. The closeness of the photogropher and child often shows in the photos posted by Zenotri, Janedoe, snowygirl and rebecca to name a few.


For my pleasure, I did start to fiddle with the contrast levels some, to darken and highlight, but it was really creating the impression she was much older than what she was.

This is not a critique of any of your photos, but an attempt to help with the above comment.

slight difference in contrast will start to look like wrinkles or adolescent pores if you are using the wrong tools, because you are stretching the luminosity differences apart rather than pushing them all up together.

Sometimes (still still stuck in film days) I will spot meter off the face + add 1 stop to smooth out portraits.

If photoshopping with levels, try using the midtones slider and be very delicate with the highlight/shadow slider.

The ideal tool for this kind of work is the curves tool. select some points on the face representing the brighter and darker details (using ctrl button while clicking the points on the photo), and use the arrow key to move all of these points up or down, but don't allow the relationship to one another (ie the difference in height) to stretch. Be gentle whenever working with curves.

[Janedoe67]

Funny you say that, as I was always using the curves in b&w conversion until I read the thread on conversion, and was using the channel mixer instead, then layers.

I will have a fiddle - thanks for the advice :)