From Clicking to Creating
From Clicking to Creating-Week 16
I’m not really into being a portrait photographer, so this weeks Dogwood prompt was a little harder for me. The prompt was all about using different types of lighting for your subject. Butterfly, Rembrandt, split or loop lighting. I had to google what any of those mean, but it all came down to portrait lights. Which I don’t have. I prefer natural lighting, probably because I shoot primarily wildlife, or landscape. So, I took this portrait of my two nieces in my moms basement, with great natural light coming in a window.
I like the shadows, and the light on their faces is perfect. I think anyway. Natural light to me is just…well….more natural. Light coming indirectly from a window is by far my favorite way to shoot anything indoors. If I have to get images of any small products we want to sell, I will set up on a nice backdrop with a little light coming in and it’s usually pretty good.
This weeks 2 Lil Owls prompt is Messy. Who doesn’t love something messy?? This young wild horse provided me with the perfect image after she got a mane full of grass.
Impossibly cute.
Lightroom tips this week may be something you are already using, the spot removal tool.
The spot removal tool in lightroom doesn’t compare with what you can do in Photoshop, but for simple spot removal, it works well enough.
In the develop module, you can find the spot removal tool in the top bar next to the crop tool. Once you click on it, several options will open up. You can change the size of the “spot”, the feathering, and the opacity. I seem to have the best results when it is set to clone, and the feathering is around 50%.
(click to enlarge)
When you click on the part of the image you want to fix, a second identically shaped object will appear. You can move this around until what you are fixing matches up. Sometimes lightroom guess’s pretty good were to pull from, and sometimes it’s way off.
This is an extreme example so you can see what I mean. Obviously I wouldn’t pick this as my repair. I also have turned the feathering off on this example, to show the sharp edge you will get at 0. Feathering helps the blending of the repair, so it’s not so obvious.
If I’m only fixing minor spots, lightroom does a good job, and it saves me the step of taking the photo to photoshop. Give it a try, experiment with the different settings and see what works best for you.
OH that horse is posing, I swear….Don’t you just love playing with the light?
It’s funny, when you get started photographing things, you figure everything is the same, but as you get into it, you realize what you have a passion for and are really good at. Mom does real estate photos for some realtors, but hates it and isn’t happy with the work. She’s tried people, but not really her thing. She loves nature and animals and does much better with that. Your nieces are adorable, but the animals in nature just seem so natural. Maybe that is the key.
The portrait of your nieces is great. I struggle with lighting for indoor photography sometimes. I think the issue is that we get so much direct sunlight through our windows and glare or shadows can be such a problem. Outdoors is so much better!
It’s a strong portrait you have captured. I love the look of your two nieces. And of course the soft light. I tend to use natural light as much as possible, too. And even classical painters used natural light from windows, particularly windows facing north. :-)
I’m similar to you when it comes to portraits. For me, it even goes a step further, where I feel uncomfortable pointing a lens at people. But, if you’re a photographer, people end up asking you to do “events” for them. As long as they understand that I’m a total amateur at people photos, I do them, and it usually turns out better than I expect.
Your portrait is great because it’s so real. I can see the personalities of your nieces shining through. I love the natural light! You have inspired me. I am going to ask to take photos of my nephews together the next time we’re all together!
I could never photograph someone I didn’t know. I don’t know how people do it. I have done family photos a couple times, and they turned out pretty good. I always give the disclaimer I am not a people photographer though.
Hello, the photo of your nieces made me smile. I love the horse and the gorgeous mountain views. Great photos. Enjoy your day!
The portrait of your nieces is wonderful! You don’t give yourself enough credit on this one. ?
I take my photos – mostly – with my phone. Some are candid people photos, some are silly posed photos of my hubby or selfies. Most of my photos though are of Shadow and Ducky. I have some really good photos of Callie and Kissy (my angels), but nowhere near enough; so, when I got this iPhone I decided I was going to get as many candid (and posed) shots of Shadow and Ducky as I possibly can.
Last night I downloaded Photoshop Express to my phone. I played with it a little bit; but it was late so I didn’t spend much time with it. I’m wondering if I should also download Lightroom CC? What do you think? They’re both free from the App Store.
I almost didn’t submit for the ‘Messy’ category (I missed the previous one too – I talked myself out of all those ideas – not a good way to learn!), but I went through my photos for the week and decided this one fit the bill. I had a planned photo session with my niece and my neighbor’s two dogs. I was attempting to capture the emotion “Happy”. That worked fairly well, but then this one to me looks like a “Messy Kiss” candidate, haha. I did notice I was a little stiff the next day after all the up and down, crouching and moving around letting my niece and the dogs just play while I clicked away. I have to plan better I think! This isn’t the best photograph, but it’s a little messy and it’ll make you smile to boot! https://photos.smugmug.com/2018-52-Week-Photography-Project/i-zcdXnpq/0/1a4b9f46/X3/MessyKiss-X3.jpg
Lauri,
This is so cute. I love love unposed shots like this, so much more intimate. Great job.
It’s so easy to talk ourselves out of things, but then how do we learn?
You did a great job with the nieces, and the close up of the horse is great too.