First Family Portraits...

[Kinkajou]

I was so pleased to do the first family portraits for Jamie, Bryan and little Miss Maya over the weekend. She's about seven months. Fortunately, they are all beautiful people and we had a lovely day so it made my job VERY easy :)

I just processed a few last night:

1.
http://kozelsky.smugmug.com/People/Jamie-Bryan-and-Maya/DaFrota-Nov09-01/717100178_HwaVx-L.jpg

2.
http://kozelsky.smugmug.com/People/Jamie-Bryan-and-Maya/DaFrota-Nov09-05/717096951_MruKV-L.jpg

3.
http://kozelsky.smugmug.com/People/Jamie-Bryan-and-Maya/DaFrota-Nov09-03/717098198_69oZQ-L.jpg

4. Let me know how the conversion looks on this one...
http://kozelsky.smugmug.com/People/Jamie-Bryan-and-Maya/DaFrota-Nov09-02/717098951_TDFH5-L.jpg

Everything is natural light + reflector. C&C is good! Thanks for looking :)

ETA: I just noticed that Jamie has a little flyaway near her mouth that I'll have to clone out, and I'll probably lighten up a bit under her eyes...

[Mr. Quiet]

The expressions in the first on are great! The only nit that I have with it is the slight out of focus with the mom...The contrast between mom's face and child's face color is a bit drastic?

Very cute.....what is that little bight spot on her cheek from?

Great shot again!:thumb

IMHPO, the color one is better...

[Mitchell]

I like #1. Mom is a touch soft.

#2 is adorable, but I prefer a crop below the chin.

The B&W doesn't do much for me.

[Kinkajou]

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

She is soft, focus was on the baby... I can work on it a little more in post but don't want to over-sharpen.

As for the crop of the baby - I accidentally cut off the chin when I took the shot. :-/

Any ideas on how to improve the conversion?

[adbsgicom]

Congrats on the shoot!!! :clap
Some very sweet shots as already noted.
Can't help you out on the b/w, sorry.

[mcschmidt_00]

Any ideas on how to improve the conversion?

How did you do the conversion? What are you working in (PP)?

[Kinkajou]

How did you do the conversion? What are you working in (PP)?

Working in Gimp ('cause it's free). I can't remember which conversion I went with here, but I know I tried every possible option - channel mixer, saturation slider, desaturation via luminosity, lightness or both... and chose the one that looked the best. I usually go with channel mixer, but I think I just couldn't find the right settings for this one, so I have a feeling it was something else this time. After I made the conversion I went back into levels and curves for some more adjustment.

Maybe if you can give me an idea of how it looks to you - too muddy or whatever - then I'll have idea about the direction I should take. They'd really like some BW images from this session, and there are several taken with this same setup so I'd appreciate any ideas you guys might have about where this is off and how to get it right... if it's even possible :D

I know that the tan mom and pale baby is part of the issue... so I'm thinking that I might have to dodge mom's skin a little bit.

Thanks so much for the comments, everyone! This is why I love DGrin :lust

[kidzmom]

Nice bokeh :D Cute baby and nice captures. I really like the connection b/w the dad and baby in 3. Really nice eye contact they have there. I have cropped chins before and have kicked myself a million times for doing it. It is still a great capture. :clap :clap Good work!