I have a vision

[Grandpaw]

Took this one of my grandson also,playing in the leaves. This was taken with my Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens, Jeff

[Frog]

Love it!
You might want to adjust for flesh tones or mayb e not, too.

[Grandpaw]

Love it!
You might want to adjust for flesh tones or mayb e not, too.

Thanks Frog! I haven't used my 50mm much so far but I think it might see a lot more action in the future. It is amazing to me that sometimes it is the simplest of ideas for a picture that gives the best results. By the way he is fairly light complected. I just knew that someone would suggest that the flowers and the greenery should have been left out but I thought it added to the picture. Thanks again, Jeff

[retroactiv]

Great idea, I did this also with my oldest son. I see we both had the same problem with lighting, yours seem to be a tad bit on the dark side, I think with a slight bit of PP making it a little brighter and you'd be there. If you wouldn't mind I'd like to post my son's leaf pictures on here also to show you what I did (you did much better since it looks like your grandson sit still).

[Grandpaw]

Great idea, I did this also with my oldest son. I see we both had the same problem with lighting, yours seem to be a tad bit on the dark side, I think with a slight bit of PP making it a little brighter and you'd be there. If you wouldn't mind I'd like to post my son's leaf pictures on here also to show you what I did (you did much better since it looks like your grandson sit still).

Your more than welcome to post the pictures here, just don't make mine look too bad. By the way this is my youngest grandson and he turned one year old november the 12th, Jeff

[retroactiv]

Here are my two. Let me know what you think

[caleb]

those are great shots chris, i don't like seeing the horizon in the first one though

[retroactiv]

In the top one, I tried to get him to face the other way with the sun in his face, the problem is explaining to a 3 year old why you want him to do it that way when it's in his eyes. so I turned him. The shadows aren't what I wanted but you live with what your subject, in this case my son will give you

[starriderrick]

Thanks Frog! I haven't used my 50mm much so far but I think it might see a lot more action in the future. It is amazing to me that sometimes it is the simplest of ideas for a picture that gives the best results. By the way he is fairly light complected. I just knew that someone would suggest that the flowers and the greenery should have been left out but I thought it added to the picture. Thanks again, Jeff

You have effectively captured the wonderful mood as captured.He is light complected.Splendid work as is...Just my thoughts. :thumbsup:

Rick

[Grandpaw]

Rick, thanks for your kind comments!

Chris I like them both but prefer the second one, Jeff

[retroactiv]

Rick, thanks for your kind comments!

Chris I like them both but prefer the second one, Jeff

I do also think the second is the best, I also wish I had a pile of leaves like you had.

[SmartWombat]

Jeff, both of the pictures you posted are lovely.
But technically there's something odd going on in the whites of his sleeves and socks.
Don't laugh, I think it's the washing powder !
My guess is that the clothes may be washed in one of those "whiter than white" brands, that uses blue UV fluorescing additive to make the whites look brighter to the eye.
You get scattered UV on a sunny day, even in the shadows, and that may be why the sleeves and socks look blue-white. Because it's in shadows they look lighter than they should be.

[Grandpaw]

Jeff, both of the pictures you posted are lovely.
But technically there's something odd going on in the whites of his sleeves and socks.
Don't laugh, I think it's the washing powder !
My guess is that the clothes may be washed in one of those "whiter than white" brands, that uses blue UV fluorescing additive to make the whites look brighter to the eye.
You get scattered UV on a sunny day, even in the shadows, and that may be why the sleeves and socks look blue-white. Because it's in shadows they look lighter than they should be.

Paul, you did spot a problem I was having with my pictures that day. They all came out like that and the problem is an operator problem. I was trying to use fill flash and evidently much more practice is needed for me to make this work. I had the camera's white balance on direct sunlight and aperture priority. If you know what the camera should have been set on feel free to enlighten me so I can correct the problem. As of yet, I haven't figured it out. This was the first time trying the fill flash during the day. Thanks for any help or suggestions you or anyone else has to offer, Jeff

[shootme]

Great shots, I like the off-horizon, but prefer #2. S

[SmartWombat]

I was trying to use fill flash
I had the camera's white balance on direct sunlight and aperture priority.

You have a little problem then, because of the light from the flash not matching the light from the rest of the scene. Flash light matches daylight, which is (on a good day) from a blue sky.
I wonder if you can mask out the white and adjust that in a separate layer in PS.

Strange though, because the bluish white (almost over exposed) is at an angle that would be reflecting an off-camera flash - unless there's something odd about the fabric.

Direct sunlight I think assumes daylight direct sunlight, this looks more like evening sunlight, getting on for the golden hour. Add to that the colour of the leaves and I think a warming filter on the flash not the lens might have helped.

I have a pack of stage lighting filter sample swatches of around 50 different colour gels. They were prefect fit for my old cheap flash back when I used the Zenit-E.
Unfortunately they are a little bit too small to fit the 580EX.
You can still get them in the UK - found these people http://www.formatt.co.uk/lighting-ge.../products.aspx by googling "lighting gel"
I wonder if there is a US version of this: http://flashgels.co.uk/shop/index.ph...=index&cPath=1

[GB1]

The colors a little off (pinkish), but he sure looks like he's destined to stand in front of a crowd some day Great composition. Somewhat soft but you may be able to fix that with increased contrast and sharpening.

Glad you caught the moment - definitely the most important thing.

[Ron Kruger]

I've found flash fill to be helpful only in direct and strong sunlight. Then it doesn't overpower the natural light and bleach the sceen. What I do for scenes like this is set my camera on spot metering, so that my main subject is perfectly exposed.
Interesting comments about the UV brighteners. Makes sense.