Shooting B&W

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

is a whole new ball game, right?
I had my 2-1/2 yr old grand daughter overnight and took this of her this morning sitting on the step eating her morning tea. I decided on black and white because she dressed herself and it really would have hurt you eyes to see the colours involved. She's into hats at the moment too I love the way she's sitting, like she's been hard at work and come in for her morning cuppa with the worries of the world on her shoulders.

Is the background too busy along with the multi patterns of her clothing?
The settings were a fluke, trial and error as I'm learning. How are they?.......ETA- oops I forgot to mention that I applied an action to the shot that gave it a "carame"l tinge.
Thanks for any comments.



Exif data
Camera Sony DSLR-A350
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire

[EmyB]

What a great pose. I personally really like the "caramel" tone and the whole photo seems to have lovely soft lighting.

I DO find the background too busy, but that's often hard to avoid with candid kids shots. (I know too well myself!). They don't sit still very long.

[AntonioP]

the pose od subject is great i don't like the convertion of B&W, because is not a realy b&w but more of sepia. I have a calibrated monitor and i see it more yellow then b&W.

the expression of the subject is sad but also very cute in her eyes i can see a story that makes me thinking why is she sad.

nice very nice

[FlyingKiwiGirl]

Originally Posted by EmyB

What a great pose. I personally really like the "caramel" tone and the whole photo seems to have lovely soft lighting.

I DO find the background too busy, but that's often hard to avoid with candid kids shots. (I know too well myself!). They don't sit still very long.

You're right there, she is on the move the whole time and even though I have my camera with us most days I look after her(she even reminds me to take it when we visit the park) she very rarely poses for me. I have to catch her unawares. It's a challenge for sure. Thanks for your comments, much appreciated.

Originally Posted by AntonioP

the pose od subject is great i don't like the convertion of B&W, because is not a realy b&w but more of sepia. I have a calibrated monitor and i see it more yellow then b&W.

the expression of the subject is sad but also very cute in her eyes i can see a story that makes me thinking why is she sad.

nice very nice

Thanks Antonio, I must get my monitor calibrated, it would make life a whole lot easier. I've had a few disappointments lately when I've seen printed versions of some of my shots. How does the actual shot look now; SOOC with a little sharpening-

[ccting]

Eye line: To the right, usually need a bit more space to balance out the line. But, i think she is looking or staring at anything, therefore this line could be ignored.

Body Line: To slightly left, diagnonal..

Circle: The curly lines (circles) focusing on her head..

Portrait expression: sad

Strong vertical line: on her hat leading eye to her eyes..

Portrait gesture: Thinking of something sad: mouth and hand...

Focal length: What is the mm?

Curly hair: Leading eyes to mouth from her eyes

Horizontal line: Almost middle ? rule of third horizontally? eyes at 2/3, hand at 1/3 great.. vertically does not need to follow rule of third as she is symmetrical same, but the eye line causes unbalance. Focusing her eyes direct to camera may lose the gesture.. .. (i am blur..)

2/3 portrait length?: Cut after the knee? left leg cut off a bit?

1 ear is missing ...

lighting: Avoid dark shade below the chur / neck. Shot high or lighting. Or move your camera to your right, then you can have 1 more ear, and she does not have dark shadow neck.

Bright corners: Vigneting the corner so it can't compete with your main subject.

Filling the frame: The leg part does not contribute to the gesture and emotion of the image. Why not cut the subject till a bit above her angle, but be careful do not cut her hands which are full of gesture.

Pattern and lines: great pattern of her clothes and hat making it suitable for B&W.
Try?
a) How if you rotate clockwise the picture so that the girl diagonally from left bottom to right top , and the line of the floor also diagnonally to right edge bottom. If you do so, cut a bit of her hat so that no lines cut her into half.
b) adding constrast? making lines, shapes more appealing?

For black and white,
a) Turning to black and white, is there anything obvious that color picture cannot show?
b) Black and white concentrates on lines, shapes, pattern.. they must be obvious.



Just my opinion, from a very very junior learner of camera + phototaking. Ignore if not valid..

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by ccting

Eye line: To the right, usually need a bit more space to balance out the line. But, i think she is looking or staring at anything, therefore this line could be ignored.

Body Line: To slightly left, diagnonal..

Circle: The curly lines (circles) focusing on her head..

Portrait expression: sad

Strong vertical line: on her hat leading eye to her eyes..

Portrait gesture: Thinking of something sad: mouth and hand...

Focal length: What is the mm?

Curly hair: Leading eyes to mouth from her eyes

Horizontal line: Almost middle ? rule of third horizontally? eyes at 2/3, hand at 1/3 great.. vertically does not need to follow rule of third as she is symmetrical same, but the eye line causes unbalance. Focusing her eyes direct to camera may lose the gesture.. .. (i am blur..)

2/3 portrait length?: Cut after the knee? left leg cut off a bit?

1 ear is missing ...

lighting: Avoid dark shade below the chur / neck. Shot high or lighting. Or move your camera to your right, then you can have 1 more ear, and she does not have dark shadow neck.

Bright corners: Vigneting the corner so it can't compete with your main subject.

Filling the frame: The leg part does not contribute to the gesture and emotion of the image. Why not cut the subject till a bit above her angle, but be careful do not cut her hands which are full of gesture.

Pattern and lines: great pattern of her clothes and hat making it suitable for B&W.
Try?
a) How if you rotate clockwise the picture so that the girl diagonally from left bottom to right top , and the line of the floor also diagnonally to right edge bottom. If you do so, cut a bit of her hat so that no lines cut her into half.
b) adding constrast? making lines, shapes more appealing?

For black and white,
a) Turning to black and white, is there anything obvious that color picture cannot show?
b) Black and white concentrates on lines, shapes, pattern.. they must be obvious.



Just my opinion, from a very very junior learner of camera + phototaking. Ignore if not valid..

WOW!..that's a lot of data! You may never take another picture again if you have to think about all that before you grab the shot! Now, concerning your image FKG, I see by your EXIF data below that you may have had some better control over the busy background by using that 50mm lens set with a wider aperture and lowering your ISO accordingly. That would have blurred your background more.

Exif data
Camera Sony DSLR-A350
Exposure 0.013 sec (1/80)
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 50 mm
ISO Speed 800

Also, shooting the image with the camera set to black and white is not the best way to get the most out of your black and white images. Usually better to shoot in color to have control over your color channels when converting in post

[ccting]

[QUOTE=autofocus;1323576]WOW!..that's a lot of data! You may never take another picture again if you have to think about all that before you grab the shot!

That's why Michael Freeman (Photographer's eye) suggests a "Predictive" process to understand, then predict what is the following event that likely to happen, then quickly have proper camera settings and shooting position and get ready to shoot. ... However, this needs experienced photographer and lots of practice.. .. I try to learn this process, but .. I guess I will never get it. ;D

[ccting]

[QUOTE=autofocus;1323576]WOW!..that's a lot of data! You may never take another picture again if you have to think about all that before you grab the shot!

That's why Michael Freeman (Photographer's eye) suggests a "Predictive" process to understand, then predict what is the following event that likely to happen, then quickly have proper camera settings, composition and shooting position and get ready to shoot when the target move into the frame ... However, this needs experienced photographer who know the event well, and lots of practice .. .. I try to learn this process, but .. I guess I will never get it. ;D. Well, get ready with the composition, you might have her there, with same gesture tomorrow.. ;D

[autofocus]

[QUOTE=ccting;1323639]

Originally Posted by autofocus

WOW!..that's a lot of data! You may never take another picture again if you have to think about all that before you grab the shot!

That's why Michael Freeman (Photographer's eye) suggests a "Predictive" process to understand, then predict what is the following event that likely to happen, then quickly have proper camera settings and shooting position and get ready to shoot. ... However, this needs experienced photographer and lots of practice.. .. I try to learn this process, but .. I guess I will never get it. ;D

Honestly, I think you, as a beginner, are far better off with just learning some of the basics of the camera settings, when to use them, and why, and also some of the more basic elements of good composition. If you try to take on too much when starting out, it'll only create way too much confusion, and you'll probably miss dozens of key shots as you struggle with all the elements you (and he, the author) noted. Believe me, there will be enough things for you to learn and master before you go this deep into it.

[statichash]

I really like this photo. My monitor is calibrated and it seems the colors are suited just fine for the image. I absolutely love the expression you captured. Somber, but with a gaze that seems as if she's thinking about the long day ahead of her. The cut-off at the knee's is okay by me, since she's sitting; however, the cut-off of her right leg is the thing that stands out to me. Keeping it all in frame would help the image. Although there's stuff going on in the background, it doesn't take away from the image, it actually suits it. Especially since you made the conversion to B&W, I think if you left it as a color photo, it would probably stand out more but in this case it works.