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chromasia.com

This is a shot of Finley (left), Harmony (right) and a young boy that they both met at a barbecue we attended recently. As you can see, they had a great time :)

On a more technical note ...

If you've taken a look at the original image you will have noticed that it's quite a bit darker than this version. With the benefit of hindsight I think I probably should have shot a lighter version, and sacrificed some of the background detail, but at the time I decided to expose for the highlights and leave the rest to post-production. That said, the final image does work, but was a lot harder to process than it might have been; particularly in terms of retaining a natural looking tonal balance between the different areas of the image.

captured
camera
lens
focal length
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
flash
image quality
RAW converter
plugins (etc)
cropped?
5.40pm on 17/7/10
Canon 5D Mark II
EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM
115mm
f/3.5
1/125
aperture priority
+1/3
evaluative
100
no
RAW
ACR
none
no
 
3x2 + children [portraits] + no print + show the original
comment by Dan McNab at 11:42 AM (GMT) on 30 July, 2010

Cute shot Dave. You can totally see how much fun the kids had, and it's very much reflected in the light tone of the image. I love how you were able to lighten it up so much without losing all the different textures in the shot. Very nice.

comment by Carlos Garcia at 12:29 PM (GMT) on 30 July, 2010

Lot's of joy and fun is captured in this image! Delightful moment. Love the black and white processing.

comment by djib at 12:40 PM (GMT) on 30 July, 2010

Fantastic grey tones. I love the kids attitude, they seem to have much fun.

comment by steve deer at 01:40 PM (GMT) on 30 July, 2010

dave... this is superb! the only niggle I have is the highlight next to the middle boy's eye. But I didn't notice it until i hit the 'show original' link... would be good if it could be cloned out in some way.

comment by Steve L at 02:52 PM (GMT) on 30 July, 2010

what is the trick for seeing the original again?

comment by Dan Kaufman at 02:54 PM (GMT) on 30 July, 2010

I know what you mean--re shots with the subject in the shadows and bright sun all around. Never-the-less, you did a fine Chromasia-signature job on post-processing !!

Oh to be a kid again !!! They look so happy !!

comment by Cristian Tibirna at 03:32 PM (GMT) on 30 July, 2010

At first I wasn't at all sure about the choice of (b/w) treatment. But then, put in the perspective of the original and taking in the match of the mood of the subject with the lightness acquired in the final image, I agree that the choice was good. It makes me smile the tiniest bit of lack of assurance in the laugh of the kids. It's clear they are good _but new_ friends ;-)

comment by Tom at 06:26 PM (GMT) on 30 July, 2010

Cool composition with the hammock drawing your eyes in. They looked like they had an awesome time. :-)

comment by Marcie at 06:56 PM (GMT) on 1 August, 2010

Such a joyous summer image...and I especially love how you processed this..rendering it completely timeless.

comment by djn1 at 07:31 AM (GMT) on 2 August, 2010

Thanks everyone.

Steve: yes, removing the overly bright spot would probably be a good idea.

comment by Jasper at 03:23 PM (GMT) on 16 August, 2010

Very spontaneous group portrait. With kids this is always hard :)
I think the b/w conversion contributes the the summer feeling in the picture.