Graduation

[Fortigurn]

Kindy graduation. Nikon 24-70/f2.8 @ 2.8. Monitor needs calibrating, sorry for the rough PP.

[aim54x]

They all look a bit "red" to me....but that 24-70 really is singing!

[Wink]

They all look a bit "red" to me...

Same.

Love the kid in the background in the last shot.

[biggerry]

That last one is classic, check out the kid in the BG, rofl. The last one needed to be a fraction wider to avoid chopping off her hair on the top.

[agriffiths]

I love the last shot. Great catch!

[Fortigurn]

Thanks guys. Yeah colour correction needs to be better, the shooting environment was a nightmare (details here). On the other hand, that Nikon 24-70 makes me cry when I use it. So sharp, so clean, so reliable.

The last photo is one of several I took on motor shutter. I wasn't paying much attention, so I unfortunately clipped little Nina's 'ox horns' (that's the name of the hairstyle), as well as Rita's hair at the left. After I looked at all the shots I saw that Rita had popped up in the background just to do the 'V' sign, and then sat down again. Here's the full sequence.

[surenj]

Lighting looks good.

Can you share what and how you used it?

[Fortigurn]

Lighting looks good.

Can you share what and how you used it?

Sure, see here.

Edit: removed over quota images.

[Fortigurn]

Ooops, I just remembered no more than four images in a thread. Want me to take them out?

[surenj]

Sure, see here. A few more, though a bit contrasty.

I meant whether you had any pics of the lighting setup you used... Where are you light stands etc?

Want me to take them out?

Probably a good idea. Before the mods jump on you.

[Matt. K]

Beautiful images! You get nice and close which gives you big images in the frame. The last 2 images skin tones look a little 'smoothed'? You haven't given them a touch of 'Hollywood' have you?

[Fortigurn]

Sure, see here. A few more, though a bit contrasty.

I meant whether you had any pics of the lighting setup you used... Where are you light stands etc?

Ah, sorry about that. No images of the lighting setup, but you could probably reverse it very easily from one of the images in the post to which I linked. Basically one SB800-onna-stick at one side of the stage bouncing off the ceiling, and one SB800 on my D80, also bounced on the ceiling.

Removed the images, links to them here, here, andhere.

Beautiful images! You get nice and close which gives you big images in the frame.

Thanks. When you're taking photos which you know parents will want to see later, getting close and filling the frame is the way to go. The mums in particular coo with delight over 8x10s of their daughters.

The last 2 images skin tones look a little 'smoothed'? You haven't given them a touch of 'Hollywood' have you?

If by 'a touch of Hollywood' you mean playing around with the clarity slider, yep. I almost didn't post the last couple, since they were under exposed and I had to touch them up a bit in Lightroom to make them presentable, and didn't think I did a great job. Increasing the exposure quite dramatically made them aggressively grainy, and I smoothed them out by reducing the clarity a little (-10). I would have preferred to have taken good shots in the first place, but the expressions were highly characteristic of these two girls, and I hate to waste shots.

If I were taking 'Taiwan photographer' shots, I would have pulled the slider back to -50 or so, added a diffuse glow layer, then sprinkled the whole thing liberally with stars, lens flare, and at least one rainbow. You really need to see what the professional 'togs here do to kiddy photos, or you just wouldn't believe it. I may find an example or two later.

[Fortigurn]

Ok, this is me imitating the 'Taiwan 'tog' look, minus the usual sprinkles, here and here. When I want to do something different with my kiddy shots, I usually don't get any more adventurous than this and this.

[surenj]

If I were taking 'Taiwan photographer' shots, I would have pulled the slider back to -50 or so, added a diffuse glow layer, then sprinkled the whole thing liberally with stars, lens flare, and at least one rainbow

[Fortigurn]

Serious mate, you need to see the photobooks they produce for kindy 'graduations' here. Shockers. It's like they found a 'Bedazzler' tool in Photoshop.