The Face of Innocence
NEX-6, 50mm E-Mount Lens @ 50mm, Aperture Priority Mode, 1/125 secs, ISO 100, f/1.8
Following on from my last post, Wedding Magic (2), I am using some more of the images that I took at the wedding, and the featured photograph is of my friends’ recently born daughter, Poppy. I have chosen this because of what looks like a smile on the contended face of Poppy, along with the fact that it is difficult to find something more innocent than a newborn. I was using my new 50mm Prime, E-Mount lens (SEL50F18), which has a maximum aperture of f/1.8 and gives sharp results with great bokeh and depth of field effects. The wide aperture means that it is possible to use the lens hand-held in low light conditions, as the shutter speeds can be kept high enough to prevent camera shake, and the ISO can be set lower to prevent digital noise affecting your images.
The original, colour image that I took of Poppy.
When comparing the featured image to the one above, it is fairly obvious that I have again carried out some post-production work; the obvious differences being a conversion to black & white, along with the addition of some vignetting. I didn’t bother cropping the photograph, which may have been good in order to follow the rule of thirds, because I wanted to keep Poppy’s face central and away from the vignette, and I also thought it was nice to show that she was on the shoulder of another of our friends, Jayne, to reinforce the contact between baby and adult. When children are being carried by a parent, or other trusted adult, I think it is possible to get some really good shots of them looking comfortable and secure.
Flora resting her head on Alice’s shoulder.
During the wedding ceremony, I was sat behind Alice and Flora, and so I took the opportunity to take the above photo whilst the congregation stood during a part of the service. I had a little bit of time to set up the shot, so set my NEX-6’s point of focus over Flora’s eye, and also composed the shot so that same eye is around the cross-section of the rule of thirds grid. I again converted the image to black & white in Aperture 3, with the original looking like this:
The original shot lacks a bit of punch and vibrancy.
This is the untouched RAW file, and as such I would expect it to require a little bit of work to make it look closer to what I saw in my head when pressing the shutter. The great thing is that shooting RAW gives you the flexibility to alter your images and create something more akin to your original idea, without losing any detail. It also lets you play around further with images, allowing you to discover potentially unexpected results. The two images above both show a relaxed (if slightly bored) little girl, who is resting her head calmly on her mother’s shoulder, and looking into the camera’s lens inquisitively. The scene can appear quite different, however, with some further adjustments to Curves and Levels, along with changing the tint of the image.
Colour tints and more aggressive adjustment of Curves and Levels can give a grittier feel to an image.
It is probably just me, but the tint applied here, combined with darker shadows, lends a less optimistic feel to the image, and looks more as though it was taken in an A&E corridor with Flora’s look seeming to be caused by confusion and concern now. It is interesting how the colours in a photograph can really change the dynamic and feel of it, and it is something that can be quite a powerful tool as is seen in films which choose to utilise certain colour schemes. Apart from the moment captured above, Flora was rather camera shy and not interested in letting me take her photograph. I did, however, manage to capture another two candid shots of her.
Flora excited to see her Dad, Graeme, who was busy with Best Man duties for much of the day.
Neither of these other two photos are particularly great unfortunately, but I was glad to capture this one of Flora smiling (which her Mum had bet me would not happen!).
Flora sitting on the grass, not looking at the camera as usual.
This was the only other half-decent photo that I managed to take of Flora. It can be quite challenging taking photographs of children who have no interest in being photographed, which is why you have to think of ways to capture the shot and adapt to taking the types of images that you can. A few things can help, such as ensuring they are fed and watered, and don’t need the toilet – maybe give them something to play with, or get their parents involved. After all, who wouldn’t want a great photo of themselves with their pride and joy? It is also nice for the child to be able to look back in years to come, and see what their parents looked like without (too many) wrinkles! Obviously, I haven’t achieved this in the above photographs, but it is definitely something to keep in mind when attempting similar photos yourself.
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