Day 4: Up In The Air!
Today was a beautiful day in sunny Southern California. We were enjoying the pre-Spring warm breeze, when out of nowhere our little breeze turned into a gust and then into a downright windy day. But that made swinging even more adventurous for my daughter, who was daring the “big kid” swings for the first time. Nothing could get her to come inside, not even the mighty wind. She just turned and faced it head-on. I guess that pretty much sums up the way she handles life these days!
Read on to see the original of this photo…
I am having fun with the Photo a Day project on Flickr. But I’m realizing that I’m much more into the enhancement of my photos than actually taking them. I guess I’m figuring out where my strengths really lie. And I’m totally OK with that now. I can own the fact that I might never know how to use all the manual settings on my camera, but I can Photoshop the heck out of a picture when needed.
Check out the original of the swinging photo here. It was cute, but there was just so much clutter. I wanted something much simpler and much cleaner. So I clone stamped all the distraction away (and also adjusted the levels just a tad in Gimp). I like the final version much better. Now if there was a way I could just clone stamp all the dirt off my daughter’s white sweater from that playground without having to do laundry…
Responses and Conversations
Nice job on the grass…now if we could only do that in our backyard!
Comment by JimmyD on March 4th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
wow! that is a great photoshop job!!! i just say this pic at the 30 day photo challenge pool on flickr. wonderful!!!
it makes me feel better…i keep thinking i need to learn every little thing about my new camera! but…if i can photoshop 1/2 as good as you…i will be set!
thanks for sharing!!!
Comment by stephanie on March 5th, 2007 at 9:06 am
Thanks so much, you guys! I’ve learned that the thing that makes anyone good is just doing something over and over. I didn’t realize until now that in the year and a half that I’ve been constantly shooting my daughter, I actually got much more confident in my photography skills!
Comment by Amy Frazier on March 5th, 2007 at 11:02 am
I have such a hard time getting good swing pictures. Even with my SLR it doesn’t seem to focus fast enough. Any tips? Do you pre-focus on where you think she’s going to be?
Comment by Lauren on March 5th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Well, I have to admit, Lauren, that since my daugher is only 17 months old and they didn’t have a toddler swing to strap her into at this playground, she was really barely moving. But I still did get many photos of her ear or the side of her face as she swung by.
Great question about swing pictures though - perhaps after a little research, it will be the topic of a future blog post!
Comment by Amy Frazier on March 5th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Wow…great clone stamping…..I think I need lessions
Comment by kim on March 5th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
That’s awesome! For a second there I was convinced those were two different pictures! I’ve never been very good with the clone tool. I’ve tried to use it to erase crayon marks on a wall in some birthday pictures, to no avail. I guess the shadows indoors just make it too tricky.
Lauren, I have a Canon Rebel, and the Sports mode is good for swing shots. In this mode, the autofocus is set to “AI Servo” (I don’t know if that name is Cannon-specific or a general term) so it keeps moving subjects in focus if you hold the shutter button halfway down. Also the drive mode is continuous — so you just hold the shutter button down all the way and it keeps taking pictures. One is bound to come out!
Comment by Michelle Potter on May 28th, 2007 at 8:16 am
I agree with Michelle–if you use the “hold the button down” continuous photo option, you should be able to get at least one in focus. If not, you might end up with some cool motion capture/blur shots that will give a good sense of action and activity!
This is something I will have to explore soon as my daughter gets old enough for mommy to let her go a little higher on the swings. It’s easy to shoot when she’s hardly moving right now!
Comment by Amy Frazier on May 29th, 2007 at 1:57 pm