LightningPaul

23 Jan 2009 • 622 views
 
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photoblog image Toddler staring at You

Toddler staring at You

A little guy looking at the man with the camera.

This is taken on the playground. When this toddler became tired he rested for a few minutes. An ideal moment to shoot some very nice images.


TECH-INFO: I choose an aperture of f/5.6 because then the 12-24mm Dx Nikkor lens performs very well (much better than f/4.0) and it's great for portraits. At 24mm it is as good as a prime lens. Focusing on the eyes made them perfectly sharp.

During post processing I first did some cropping and altered the toning in DxO Optics Pro.
Afterwards, in Photoshop, I made the eyes and teeth a little bit lighter. I used a brightness/contrast adjustment layer: filled its mask with black using the paint bucket tool, turned the brightness to a pretty high value to make the effect very visible and then I revealed the eyes using the eraser tool brush. It's like erasing the black from the mask. Then I turned down the brightness to an appropriate value.
Using the selective color tool I made the lips a little bit more red. I used the same technique as with the eyes: made the mask black, erased the black parts covering the lips.
Finally I added a small rectangular vignette.

Toddler staring at You

A little guy looking at the man with the camera.

This is taken on the playground. When this toddler became tired he rested for a few minutes. An ideal moment to shoot some very nice images.


TECH-INFO: I choose an aperture of f/5.6 because then the 12-24mm Dx Nikkor lens performs very well (much better than f/4.0) and it's great for portraits. At 24mm it is as good as a prime lens. Focusing on the eyes made them perfectly sharp.

During post processing I first did some cropping and altered the toning in DxO Optics Pro.
Afterwards, in Photoshop, I made the eyes and teeth a little bit lighter. I used a brightness/contrast adjustment layer: filled its mask with black using the paint bucket tool, turned the brightness to a pretty high value to make the effect very visible and then I revealed the eyes using the eraser tool brush. It's like erasing the black from the mask. Then I turned down the brightness to an appropriate value.
Using the selective color tool I made the lips a little bit more red. I used the same technique as with the eyes: made the mask black, erased the black parts covering the lips.
Finally I added a small rectangular vignette.

comments (12)

  • 613photo
  • United States
  • 23 Jan 2009, 04:03
Not my style to touch up that much but it looks very good, Paul. Excellent work.

Around here there was a guy arrested for taking photos of kids at a playground not long ago. One of the moms freaked out. He spent the night in jail but was never charged.

So just be careful. Some people don't know innocent behavior when they see it.

Anyway it appears to me that you have toned the image ever so slightly, or perhaps it is just a pleasing color cast. If it was toning, good and subtle. If it was a cast, good choice to not correct for it.
LightningPaul: You are probably right, I think I did some toning in DxO Optics Pro but I don't remember exactly what. Probably pushed the vibrancy and turned down the saturation. I'll adjust the tech-info.
Regarding taking pictures of children: I have got (written) permission from the parents of this little guy smile
I'm always very careful when publishing portraits, especially with children. I always ask permission unless there is a public happening (like Carnaval or a Halloween parade) or when there is large amount of people in a public place (so it is not portrait anymore). If I (clearly) see that people don't want to be photographed then I stop and won't post it of course. Also I look what people are doing on the picture. Finally I don't publish there names. Can be necessary for them when they apply for a job; their new boss may doing some research using Google.
Nice capture... playing hide an dseek
LightningPaul: Thanks! You might be right smile
  • Albert
  • Barcelona
  • 23 Jan 2009, 10:36
Beautiful image, good composition and subsequent treatment, you have a spectacular photo gallery, I congratulate you.
Greetings
LightningPaul: Many thanks for visiting my photo gallery, I appreciate it a lot. You are always welcome.
  • Ilan
  • Israel
  • 23 Jan 2009, 14:11
It almost look like he is struggling to get through those bars smile
Great moment, real and genuine. He sure does look tired, and I can only envy the fact the he got tired from playing and not working.

*sign
LightningPaul: Indeed, he is playing like crazy. I wonder if he will be working as crazy in twenty years ;-)
  • paolo
  • Italy
  • 23 Jan 2009, 14:51
lovely, i like his sweet eyes.
LightningPaul: Thanks! His eyes are so sweet that I wanted to enhance them a bit. Now they may look like perfect.
Funny one and clever frame !
LightningPaul: Thanks! Also thanks to the playground which provided excellent framing material smile
An unusual portrait Paul, well executed
LightningPaul: Many thanks Bill.
Cute shot--he looks a bit wild and trapped almost. I wonder what it would look like in B&W--might put more emphasis on his expression? I'm not sure.
LightningPaul: I try to put most of my shots in B/W but somehow I prefer the color versions. I have to say that I altered the colors slightly in this image to give it a bit a desaturated feel. Thanks for your comment and visit.
A special moment .. A sense of mild bewilderment and anxiety is portrayed to me.
LightningPaul: Many thanks. I appreciate your written thoughts. You phrased it very well. And I learned a new English word smile
Excellent processing, thanks for sharing your workflow. Personally, for this I would use longer lens but your 24mm (36mm at FX) gives it special feel.
LightningPaul: Thanks for your comment and visit. If I would use a longer focal length then I would have stand back further (so bigger distance) to have the same crop. This would make the view more flat and give less depth. Personally I prefer the extra depth a lot, especially you can see some distance between the face and the wooden bars in the image. Though a flatter face is more flattering in general. On the other hand I was using my 12-24mm lens at that time smile If I was using a longer lens at that time then I would have ended up with an image with another perspective.
I appreciate your comment a lot. It makes me thinking more.
Nice shot with original point of view. Really a great work.
And thanks for your TECH-INFO always accurate.
LightningPaul: Thank you! I'm very happy you appreciate the tech-info.
Great subject, beautiful expression, superb treatment.
The eyes are a little bit to sharp, to my opinion, you could make them a bit brighter but less sharp, my 2 cents smile
SwissCharles
LightningPaul: Many thanks for your comment, I appreciate it. I understand it about the eyes, though personally I like them very sharp.

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camera NIKON D200
exposure mode aperture priority
shutterspeed 1/50s
aperture f/5.6
sensitivity ISO200
focal length 24.0mm
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