My daughter CC please

[gnmiranda]

I took this with my new strobe, I am not sure what information to give you about it other than it is an alien bee 800 I used an umbrella to bounce the light. The background is the back of wrapping paper lol So I had a very tight space to work with. How is my conversion is it to gray? Any CC you would like to add is fine, I am just here to learn. Thank you all!

Camera settings

f 8
1/125 sec
ISO 100
Canon XSI

[SusanH1970]

Cute little one! Too much contrast in your conversion, though. You've lost all detail in your blacks and whites. I'd love to see a SOOC version if you have one.

[gnmiranda]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

Cute little one! Too much contrast in your conversion, though. You've lost all detail in your blacks and whites. I'd love to see a SOOC version if you have one.

This is the color one, not quite SOOC it has some processing I shot it in RAW.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a86...a/365-5775.jpg

[SusanH1970]

The color one looks really overexposed. You mentioned it had a little PP work done - did you up the exposure? Do you still have the original RAW file?

Looks like the light might have been a bit hot. What power did you have it set at?

[gnmiranda]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

The color one looks really overexposed. You mentioned it had a little PP work done - did you up the exposure? Do you still have the original RAW file?

Looks like the light might have been a bit hot. What power did you have it set at?

Forgive me lol I am VERY new to lighting. I usually venture outside I am not sure what power I had it at. I did up the exposure in processing. I will get the SOOC for you let me upload it real quickly.

[gnmiranda]

Okay here is the SOOC

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a86.../SOOC-5775.jpg

Thank you for helping me!

[SusanH1970]

Wow, the SOOC is actually exposed pretty nicely! I played around with it a little in Photoshop - the main problem in the SOOC seems to be a WB issue. I'm seeing a lot of green in the photo. Try going into color balance and reducing the green (adding a little magenta - just a little!) - also try giving it a bit of a shadows/highlights adjustment. I accidentally exited CS2 before saving it or I'd have posted it, LOL!

You're welcome, I'm happy to help. This really has the potential to be a very sweet portrait! You can also play around with blurring out the wrinkles in the backdrop.

[gnmiranda]

lol Okay cool! I always up the exposure haha It has become habit i think! I will try to do that less lol

I will get the hang of these lights sooner or later lol I looked at my strobe and I "think" I had it at 1/4th power. I will pay more attention to that next time.

[private]

When you did your B/W conversion the red channel is bumped up too much. The lighting seems OK to me. I'll play and do a quick B/W conversion and see what happens - I assume by the "hotness"of the b/g you are looking for a high key kind of portrait?

[private]

Here is my play on the whole thing. Also to help with the wrinkling you should open up your lens a bit more, IMO, you should go as wide as you can (plus it lets in more light - )