PICTURE POST II!

[Greylock Crescent]

Someone had a birthday party today.

We tried to get a picture of her in her party dress but she wasn't really into it.

And for some reason she wanted to set up a lemonade stand at home a few weeks ago. She set the price.

So cute! And those are amazing photos. I love the lighting in them. It's masterful ... especially the lemonade shot. How do you get your daughter so well-lit with the bright window behind her?

 

[1001001]

Tell me about it. My daughter turned 17 at the beginning of the month and my older son turns 16 this Thursday. I'd fall on the floor and hyperventilate but I'd probably not be able to get up again on my own.

Our 19 year old stopped by the house with a car load of friends on their way to Spring Break on Saturday. Time flies.

Adorable pictures!

 

[lurok]

I am the Best Fitness Guru.

My gym just got new equipment in, and all the personal monitors now have web access. Will be hard to resist temptation to log in to TrekBBS while ellipsing

 

[TheSeeker]

Did you daughter have a Mexican birthday party? I see the traditional dress and the sombrero cookies. Did she choose this? What's the story, just wondering. My son Aaron will be 4 in May, he keeps jumping from theme to theme for his birthday party. We're gonna have to get him locked down soon.

It originally started out as a Dora the Explorer party since she likes the show so much, but it slowly morphed into a fiesta theme instead. It was her idea to change the party to that theme too! My wife made the cookies as toppers for cupcakes and had the idea to present them in a sombrero. We also had a homemade pinata that my wife and daughter made together. All in all, the party was a big hit.

How do you get your daughter so well-lit with the bright window behind her?

I actually cheated a bit with that particular photo. I shot it in evaluative metering mode so she turned out quite dark, but since I shot in RAW I was able to use Adobe Camera Raw to tweak it using a combination of Fill Light, Recovery, and boosted Blacks.

When I realized my error with the first couple of shots I switched to Partial metering mode and got a much better result which required very little tweaking.

 

[B.J.]

Did you daughter have a Mexican birthday party? I see the traditional dress and the sombrero cookies. Did she choose this? What's the story, just wondering. My son Aaron will be 4 in May, he keeps jumping from theme to theme for his birthday party. We're gonna have to get him locked down soon.

It originally started out as a Dora the Explorer party since she likes the show so much, but it slowly morphed into a fiesta theme instead. It was her idea to change the party to that theme too! My wife made the cookies as toppers for cupcakes and had the idea to present them in a sombrero. We also had a homemade pinata that my wife and daughter made together. All in all, the party was a big hit.

You people do themes for your parties?!? With the chaos that is my house (3 kids from 5 to 14 years old), we're lucky to get a cake made, let alone wrap anything! Eh, our "parties" are just family members anyway.

 

[TheSeeker]

If it was up to me I would just throw some hot dogs and a cake on a table and be done with it, but my wife lives for this kind of stuff. She started planning this party the day after my daughter's third birthday!

 

[Timby]

I've been trying to get myself out of a depressive funk lately, and after much cajoling from friends and family, I've committed myself to taking one good photo a day. (I hadn't used my dSLR since September 2013.) I'm sharing them on Facebook. The first three days' results (I started on Saturday):

No Instagram filters, no Photoshop (outside of cropping and histogram correction), no Lightroom. The bokeh is captured entirely in-camera.

 

[cooleddie74]

Very nice shots, Timby. You have a real eye for this. I especially like the image with the leaf.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I especially like the notebook.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

This past Sunday was the Jewish holiday of Purim, so my wife and sons made some Hamantaschen.

Then we went to a Purim Carnival at the Jewish Community Center, Purim is kinda like the Jewish version of Halloween. So the boys went dressed up as Astronauts.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

Timby, I really like all three photos. The DoF with the leaf really gives it character, but this:

No Instagram filters, no Photoshop (outside of cropping and histogram correction), no Lightroom. The bokeh is captured entirely in-camera.

I just love it. It's a "classic" B&W photo. Kudos!

How do you get your daughter so well-lit with the bright window behind her?

I actually cheated a bit with that particular photo. I shot it in evaluative metering mode so she turned out quite dark, but since I shot in RAW I was able to use Adobe Camera Raw to tweak it using a combination of Fill Light, Recovery, and boosted Blacks.

When I realized my error with the first couple of shots I switched to Partial metering mode and got a much better result which required very little tweaking.

Well, there's no arguing the results. Especially considering the two other photos you shared above (the dress and the cupcakes). You've got a good eye for lighting. I may have mentioned before that your photos have a kind of "Norman Rockwell" quality to them (if I didn't I should have), and these just reinforce that.

Tom Hendricks, looks like it was a blast (pun intended)! Those photos really capture the joy of the moment.

 

[1001001]

Timby, that notebook picture is sublime.

 

[lurok]

Would make a good blog picture header

 

[An Officer]

^ Absolutely.

Seeker, the little one has really grown! Just lovely.

 

[Mary Ann]

Timby, your photos are awesome. I especially love the one with the leaf.

 

[Timby]

Thanks, all. The notebook picture was really a happy accident -- it was late in the work day (I work from home full-time) and the weather was going to get nasty, so I wasn't going to be able to go outside to take a photo with anything resembling contrast. I closed my laptop and walked away for a few minutes to clear my head after a particularly frustrating call with a co-worker, and when I came back, I saw my notebooks, realized the lighting was casting some great shadows, and knew I needed to capture it.

Not sure what I'm going to take today, though. Very grey, overcast skies, so contrast will be an issue again. Might have to do another interior object / setting.

 

[Greylock Crescent]

It's been pretty cold here in NYC over the past couple of days ... but there are signs of spring, and I managed to capture a couple of them last Sunday (among some other sights)!

 

[Mary Ann]

Wow! Those are terrific.

 

[cooleddie74]

Those are all fantastic. I really enjoy the Empire State Building against the black sky. Quite atmospheric.

 

[Emher]

Damn, I miss that city. Next spring I'll be back, hopefully...