Being Coy

This is a really super image, she is adorable!. I like her natural expression. I hope you don't mind, but I played a little. I selectively adjusted the levels (in PS) to bring out some detail in her eyes & decrease the light on her face & hair just a little. Was this an on camera flash? If so, you did a pretty darn good job with it. My results with on camera flash always look like a deer caught in the headlights :) I really like the intonation of this, really eye-catching :)

Jayme. I will bring this image back into PS and have another go at it. This and all of the pictures in this folder were taken with hot lights. My husband bought them for me for Christmas. I used them for several months and then got frustrated with the results when I attempted hi-key (the folder with my son Alex). I researched lights here on PN and bought Alien Bees in March. I'm having much better results with those.

Thanks for taking the time to give me feedback. I really appreciate it!

Dawn

Dawn- You sound like me. I bought a few hot lights first. They were very interesting & hot to work with. I love the effects you can get though. I still have them & use them occasionally. I then bought some AlienBess too. I miss the real WYSIWYG feature of the hot lights though. But.. with digital, I can take the image, look at it, adjust the lights to exactly where I want them.

I know how to use a light meter, but it's just not as much fun as playing with the light adjustments by actually looking at the results, then adjusting. I try to decide what I am trying for and then adjust them partially before I start shooting, then fine tune as I shoot :) Another thing I do (I know this sounds kind of anal retentive) I made up a blank sheet with the layout of my studio room & as I finally get the lights how & where I want them, I draw in the subject placement, the placement of the lights, their setting & the backdrop, etc. So I can reproduce it in the future if I want or need to.

I forgot to ask, what was the conversion on this one. I love the burgundy tones instead of B&W. Really wonderful. How did you do it?

I have a light meter too. I use it every once in a while but I find it is not always accurate. I usually end up with overexposed images and end up dialing around the aperature until it looks right.

A diagram is a great idea. I think I'll do that. Why fix what isn't broken or try to reinvent the wheel, right? :)

I used a saturation/hue adjustment layer for the conversion. I lowered the saturation until it was not quite black and white. It was one of my first attempts at converting to b/w with something other than grayscale. :)

Dawn