# Be My Valentine



## smoke665 (Jan 24, 2019)

Didn't get very long to shoot today. My studio in the garage is still without heat until they get the gas line hooked up, and the electric heaters were working overtime. Did a total of about 40 shots, before she was done. Whittled those down to 15, not a good average, but of those discarded most were because she was being a typical 3 yr old today, couldn't sit still. One thing that's always a problem is that fine hair and static, today was horrible. The DW suggested wiping the hair with a dryer sheet which worked really well (she has a good one every now and then). Of the keepers, these were 4 of my favorites.

     Set up - 40" Octobox (r/f of CCL), 40" white reflective umbrella (l/f of CCL),  Kicker was a snoot w/10 degree grid (r/r of CCL) on a boom.  Pentax 50mm ltd., f/6.3, 1/200 (except the first at 1/125) ISO 100. I changed to alleviate some ambient light problems in the room. Not a lot of processing, what was required was completed in Lr. Pretty straight forward shots. As always C&C appreciated.




no-image-available-grid.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr


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## zombiesniper (Jan 24, 2019)

Excellent set.


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## smoke665 (Jan 24, 2019)

zombiesniper said:


> Excellent set.



Thank you!


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## RowdyRay (Jan 24, 2019)

Nice set. Looks like you both had a good time.


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## Tropicalmemories (Jan 24, 2019)

Nice!  Really like the last one - fun expression.


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## tirediron (Jan 24, 2019)

Very nice!


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## Jeff15 (Jan 25, 2019)

Lovely set of images...


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## Dean_Gretsch (Jan 25, 2019)

Nice set! I think Grandpa will always have a willing model!


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## smoke665 (Jan 25, 2019)

RowdyRay said:


> Nice set. Looks like you both had a good time.



Thank you. Yesterday she was mostly agreeable, there are times when we have to hang it up.



Tropicalmemories said:


> Nice! Really like the last one - fun expression



Thank you. That was probably my  overall favorite of the day.

@tirediron and @Jeff15  Thank you.

@Dean_Gretsch Thank you. She has her moments.


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## CherylL (Jan 25, 2019)

Super cute excellent set!  Love her little red toenails.  I bought confetti too for my grands' Valentine photos.  Love the rustic bench.


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## smoke665 (Jan 25, 2019)

CherylL said:


> Super cute excellent set!  Love her little red toenails.  I bought confetti too for my grands' Valentine photos.  Love the rustic bench.



Thanks CherlL, can't wait to see your set.

I made her Mom do the nail polish, they won't let Papa near it, because I'd have had it everywhere. The confetti gets everywhere, but I find that the little ones really like to throw stuff (confetti, artificial snow, fake spider webs lol). Makes for some great smiles, and helps them forget about the lights. Still have the set up, but Sadie disappears when she sees me with the Tutu, so not sure if we'll get any with her yet. Glad you like the bench, I found that and the two heart props at a junk store for $5.  I plan on using it in a cowgirl series coming up as well.

Oh did you catch my comment on the dryer sheets??? I can't believe how great they work at taking the static our of hair.


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## CherylL (Jan 26, 2019)

smoke665 said:


> CherylL said:
> 
> 
> > Super cute excellent set!  Love her little red toenails.  I bought confetti too for my grands' Valentine photos.  Love the rustic bench.
> ...



$5 bench is a deal!  The rustic bench would be perfect for a cowgirl set.  Good idea on the dryer sheets.  I used a tutu on Oscar when he was a puppy and he wasn't very happy.


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## smoke665 (Jan 26, 2019)

CherylL said:


> used a tutu on Oscar when he was a puppy and he wasn't very happy.



Sadie is so good natured that she will endure it, but that won't stop her from "avoiding it" when possible. LOL


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## adamhiram (Jan 26, 2019)

Beautiful photos!  I can't believe she let you get in 40 shots, she must be a little saint.  I think #4 is my favorite on its own, but as usual, they work great as a series as well.  I'm definitely borrowing that confetti idea for a future shoot, what a great way to keep her attention and put a smile on her face!


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## smoke665 (Jan 27, 2019)

adamhiram said:


> Beautiful photos!  I can't believe she let you get in 40 shots, she must be a little saint.  I think #4 is my favorite on its own, but as usual, they work great as a series as well.  I'm definitely borrowing that confetti idea for a future shoot, what a great way to keep her attention and put a smile on her face!



Thanks Adam, #4 is our favorite as well. I think part of it is the spontaneity of the laugh. She has a repitore of "looks" that she can perform on que but this was all natural. We keep an assortment of things that can be held, tossed, looked at, touched, anything to grab their attention for just a second. I've found this works well with most of the kids I've shot. I also try to give myself some latitude on lighting, and sitting them on something where their feet can't touch the floor helps corral them  Other then that I use center point AF and keep it locked on the eyes, constantly moving to adjust. It's getting really hard on the knees, I need to come up with a low stool on casters. Funny side note, she created a stir at daycare when they had a photographer come in to do school pictures.  When it was her turn, she hopped up on the chair and started posing without direction, working the camera. Guess she was remembering a few things Papa taught her. 



Susan Smitha said:


> Fabulous photos! great shots.



Thank you!


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## bulldurham (Jan 29, 2019)

Agree with all the kudos on her, the poses, even the lighting...to a point, and that point really has more to do with the backdrop, though unfortunately the lighting only acerbates the issue: the backdrop should be seamless in this pose as the drop line under the bench and the horizontal wrinkles take too much from the shot. Some of the fixes can be done in photoshop as I've demonstrated, but this is far better accomplished using a paper BG that is pulled completely under the bench: Seamless where the BG and ground meet and no wrinkles.  I did think the lighter areas were a bit "hot," so toned them down a smidge.

As always my critiques are always about the work and not the person and always meant to help, never hurt...as it is just another point of view.


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## smoke665 (Jan 29, 2019)

@bulldurham I'm surprised no one caught the seam or wrinkles earlier. I posted these without catching it either. When I edited the full set, I corrected, but didn't take the time to repost. I have several options including seamless paper, but nothing large enough for the shot. Originally I had planned on an industrial setting using a concrete block wall as the background, but it just wasn't working. This was a last minute change and is a good example of what happens when you do things last minute.


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## adamhiram (Jan 29, 2019)

smoke665 said:


> I'm surprised no one caught the seam or wrinkles earlier.


Just to offer another viewpoint - I noticed both, and didn't think much of it.  I thought the wrinkle was subtle enough that it just looked like part of the background texture to me.  As shown above, it looks to be pretty simple to even out in post if it bothers you.  As for the seam where the backdrop meets the ground, that's something I've been struggling with in my own work.  I learned pretty quickly that if I try to add a sweep under the subject with seamless paper or a canvas backdrop with a young child, it will be destroyed before the first shutter click.  I actually didn't find the seam too distracting in the original, but admittedly the cleaned up version looks a bit cleaner and keeps the focus on the subject...


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## smoke665 (Jan 29, 2019)

@adamhiram as I'm sure you've found also, when you move the subject further away from the background the larger that background has to be. The bench was longer then I needed, had it been shorter it would have helped. Savage has 107" wide paper that's very reasonable until you add the $106 shipping cost. Being in the middle of nowhere has disadvantages sometimes. 

Except for the seam the canvas works fairly well. In previous uses I've found that stretching it helps with the wrinkles. Being a cheap drop cloth some of the horizontal lines are not wrinkles, but differences in the weave. The original idea was to paint it, which should help on that.


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## ImSoQuazy (Jan 30, 2019)

Well done


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## smoke665 (Jan 30, 2019)

ImSoQuazy said:


> Well done



Thank you


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## Fujidave (Feb 2, 2019)

A beautifully taken set of images smoke, it really is good to take and have these images to look back on in coming years.


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## smoke665 (Feb 2, 2019)

Fujidave said:


> A beautifully taken set of images smoke, it really is good to take and have these images to look back on in coming years.



Thanks Dave. She is growing and changing every day.


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## fotografdenunta (Feb 3, 2019)

Nice picture set! I think the grand parents were very glad when they saw these pictures


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## smoke665 (Feb 3, 2019)

fotografdenunta said:


> Nice picture set! I think the grand parents were very glad when they saw these pictures



Thank you. She is the youngest of six grandchildren, but the only one to live local (5 miles away). As such, she gets spoiled a lot.


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