January 2012
Emma's smile

How I did it

In looking around old picture files, I found this image of my granddaughter. She was at my house all bundled up, ready to go home but was always ready to be photographed and still is. I tried taking this with the flash and it did not work well with the foil wallpaper in the background. For some reason part of my metadata is gone from this image but I know it was taken with my Olympus UZ700 point-and-shoot camera on the action setting because, at that point with the grandkids, I always used the action setting. I bumped up the exposure to add light and avoid the flash. That camera captured amazingly sharp images and not a lot of post processing was needed. It is a good thing because, I didn't know how to do much post processing at the time.

COMMENTS:

Brian Magor Great family album shot. To take it any further than that, I might darken down the coat as it is bright and competes for attention. There are too many catchlights in the eyes and they coould be cloned out.

Susan Davi What a cutie pie. This photo captures her spirit and enthusiasm. I am drawn to her beautiful smiley eyes

Richard Harper Well, everything is pristine sharp. I would have liked to have seen the top of her head, but, I understand, that it was necessary to crop to get rid of some of that bright tinfoil. You have to accept the opportunity as it occurs. It may not have been possible to move the child

Frank Foto Great facial expression! I might have taken out the very small blemishes in the face, then put the image through noise reducing software. (Noiseware Pro is great if you do not have actual portraitting software - you can pick the mid-tones of the skin to remove noise from only that range of tones, and also adjust the amount of reduction, too.) Then, after resizing, sharpening just a tad. (Not sure....was that done?) The slight bit of noise might have been introduced because of the auto settings for ISO on point and shoot cameras. The V-shape of the opened coat, I think, really adds a lot to the composition, and the cropping of the top of the scalp does not take anything away from this image

Jim Mayo I see a little red eye in the eyes. I like how she is looking at you

Chuck Mc Collom How can anyone find fault with pictures of grandchildren. Look at those eyes1

Linda Speh

My experience with photography is simply for my enjoyment and includes mostly vacations and family photos. I got my first digital camera in 2000 and have finally worked my way through four different cameras of varying capabilities. Once I got my DSLR, I realized I have finally arrived. I have found these cameras extremely intelligent which have made life easier for mThere is more that I do not know about my camera than what I do know. I joined St. Louis Camera Club in 2007 and enjoy learning through their club competitions. I just completed the Basic Photography class taught by Kathy O'Donnell after having taken her Basic and Advanced Photoshop Elements 6 classes earlier. I won't really understand how to use this camera thoroughly until I complete the Advanced Photography class and then I am sure it will an on-going learning, love/hate relationship. So, I am basically a beginner and hope that the Study group experience will help me understand what makes a good image and what others think of those that I have created. I know that I am my own 'worst' critique so it will be fun to experience other opinions and to see what others in the group enjoy photographing. Since I am a mother of two grown sons and two growing grandchildren, my family and husband, Warren, are a large part of my photographic subjects. I find photographing children the best!

Webmaster: Robert B. Gorrill, APSA, MNEC

January 2012 Emma's smile

January 2012
Emma's smile