Yes, that's right, January. I am a week late. I started compiling my favorites early and thought I was killing it when Angie politely reminded me that I was supposed to post the last week. In my defense, I needed extra time because all of the submissions were SO. FREAKING. GOOD. I had such a hard time narrowing them down. There were so many more I could have included, but I had to stop somewhere. If you were not included this time, please continue to post because chances are that you will be featured at some point!
Low light is probably one of my favorite themes and one I am so glad we repeat every year. Besides the fact that light is scarce in January in most parts of the northern hemisphere and with this pandemic, I've been inside, A LOT, I genuinely like the dramatic contrast between dark and light. Dark shadows gets my blood flowing! Enough about me, here are some one of the many beautiful images submitted the last two weeks of January.
XOXO - Gossip Girl is what ran through my head and now I can't think of any other way to sign off.
1. Gear: Nikon D800, Nikkor 24-20mm
2. Settings: ISO 800, f2.8 1/60 (oops)
3. The Shot: Sun was shining on the sofa where my son was so I asked him to look toward the outside. I was lucky to get this in focus since my SS was not quite fast enough.
4. Post Processing: In LR, I lifted shadows & exposure, added a bit of contrast & clarity. In PS, I removed a bright spot behind his head with the clone tool and also did a bit of dodging and burning (although, I am not really sure what I'm doing when I do this)!
1. Gear: Sony A7RIII, Edge 35
2. Settings: 1/400s ISO 200
3. The Shot: In the bathroom with the afternoon sun coming through muted to his left. He wasn't posing for me, just concentrating on pouring. I felt the water-covered (slightly dirty!) mirror gave rather nice bokeh!
4. Post Processing: In LR I converted to bnw and then played with the tone curve to emphasize the shadows. I used on radial filter, a few graduated filters and then brushes on his eyes. I finished it in PS.
1. Gear: Nikon D810, Tamron 24-70mm
2. The Settings: ISO 200, f/4.0, 1/1000s , 52mm
3. The Shot: I set up my camera on a tripod and asked my daughter to sit in the light pocket while I did the settings. I then set the timer and joined her.
4. Post Processing: Edited in LR, applied a base preset, bumped up shadows and reduced highlights a tad bit. Added a radial filter and did some HSL adjustments.
Naomi Leona Werkmann
1. Gear: Nikon D7100, 35 mm prime lense
2. Settings: f 2.8, ISO 640, 1/200.
3. The Shot: We had so many oranges laying around that we decided to make orange juice and when I saw the orange colors against the blue wall it was the perfect photo opportunity so I layed it out beautifully.
4. Post processing: in Photoshop, I dodged and burned to add contrast and put a light vignette overlay for focus.
1. Gear: SONY A7rii 85mm 1.8
2. The Settings: f1.8 1/250 ISO 1600
3. The Shot: Curbside Balance Beans, little sis like big sis
4. Post Processing: Lightroom, preset with highlights and darker blacks
1. Gear: Canon 5D edge 50
2. Settings: 1/100, iso 2000 f/?; manually adjusted focus
3. The Shot: it was getting super dark and I noticed that orangey glow from the window that I wanted to capture, so I asked my husband to toss our son next to it;
4. Post Processing: Adjustments in LR - wb, up shadows, adjusted blues, warmed up the oranges.
1. Gear: Sony a7iii with sony 35 mm
2. Settings: shutter speed 1/125 f 2 / ISO 2500
3. The Shot: Going back to an old trick with a new twist. I used the fridge light to do a self portrait in low light and this time I added tulle! I set up my tripod, turned off all the lights, sat on the floor and I opened the fridge door. Was looking at my phone here as I used it as my trigger. I was switching between auto focus and manual focus here depending on if I was looking up and could rotate the focus ring on my camera or if I just wanted my camera to pick up my eyes (I had other photos with eyes visible). I’m always so amazed at how great this light is. I added my SOOC and my set up and lighting exactly as I had it, messy kitchen and all.
4. Post Processing: Edited in Affinity photo. Adjusted white balance in the Develop persona using the tulle as my guide, then added clarity. Then moved it to photo persona to practice using a skin tone palette. Added a slight s-curve. Slight exposure adjustment, lowered saturation and increased vibrance, added brightness, a touch of adjustment to the black level, then I treated myself to touch up using frequency separation..
1. Gear: Canon 6D Mark ii, Sigma 35mm lens
2. Settings: ISO 3200, f/4.0, 1/800 sec
3. The Shot: I set my kids up with some bubble foam and told them to make a big mess all over the window, then sat outside, focused on my daughter and watched them play. It was almost sunset on a cloudy day, so taking the shot from outside gave me the most light to work with on a low light day.
4. Post Processing: I spent a lot of time editing this in both LR and PS. Because the light was poor, I really struggled with colour tones (and still am not sure I love how it turned out). I lifted the shadows, increased clarity, and reduced noise on the kids and dog in the window, and used clarity and contrast to make the reflection stand out. I cloned out a large outlet from the brick wall and increased contrast and clarity on the brick.
1. Gear: Nikon Z5 + Sigma Art 35mm
2. Settings: ISO: 400 f/3.5 SS: 1/400
3. The Shot: Set up at my favourite indoor spot in front of the window (I just flipped the shot horizontally this time).
4. Post Processing: Bumped up contrast and highlights slightly, and darkened shadows a tad in LR.
1. Gear: Nikon z6ii, 35mm 1.8
2. Settings: ISO 200, f2.5, 1/500
3. The Shot: I took this image of my daughter in the light of her brother’s room, where the run comes in through the blinds. She wasn’t super thrilled that I was telling her to stand still, and gave me her classic serious face.
4. Post Processing: Edited in LR where I decreased highlights, shadows, and blacks, and slightly bumped the whites. Increased contrast & clarity a bit too. Ran through portraiture to help smooth her skin because it looked a bit dirty.
1. Gear: Canon 6DM2 Lensbaby Sol 45
2. Settings: ISO 400 1/1200
3. The Shot: My boys were playing in the beautiful morning light coming through the living room window. I instructed my little one to lay in the little slice of light.
4. Post Processing:Edited in LR. Decreased highlights and shadows. Slightly increased clarity and contrast.
1. Gear: Nikon z7 sigma art 35mm 1.4
2. Settings: Iso 500, 1/500, 1.8
3. The Shot: He was helping his dad build a new hutch for our guinea pigs.
4. Post Processing: ACR contrast, dehaze, clarity, conversion. PS an action I have and played with the contrast and shadows.
Blair Coulter
1. Gear: Canon rebel, 50 mm 1.4
2. Settings: ISO 100, f/9.0 1/250
3. The Shot: My dude and I were snuggling in bed when we saw the gorgeous sunrise and decided to take a picture of it. We grabbed the camera and took some panoramas, then decided we wanted to use the tripod to get one of us. We set the timer and ran back and forth about 15 times trying to get us in the right spot. We had it on burst mode. I told him "look at mommy, look at mommy!" as I flung him up and around in a half-circle with his legs in the air (he was looking more towards the camera which was not as cute in silhouette form.) We laughed a lot. And I love how it turned out.
4. Post Processing: I brought shadows down a bit, popped the highlights, vibrance and saturation by 5, and brought down the blacks just a little bit. I brought it into photoshop to give myself a little more of a chin/neck because it was not so flattering at first. So I used the liquify tool just a little to pull up around my neck and chin.
1. Gear: Canon MarkIII, 50mm
2. Settings: f2, 1/125, iso500, 6000k
3. The Shot: This is near a Northern window using a black trifold poster board on a desk behind her.
4. Post Processing: In LR, I made minor highlight/shadow, contrast, and color gradient adjustments for her skin, then used a gradient tool to darken behind and above her beyond the posterboard edges. In PS, I cropped slightly, eliminated the curtains by selecting & dragging the left edge inward, dodged her hair in the brighter areas, and added a dust overlay.
1. Gear: Nikon D780 & Lensbaby Sol45
2. Settings: ISO 4000 f/3.5 1/160
3. The Shot: I positioned myself at the end of the hallway and had my daughter run towards her room where the light was, creating a silhouette
4. Post Processing: I increased shadows & decreased blacks while slight lifting exposure to still keep the silhouette. I increased contract & dehaze. I decided to keep the grain.. I thought it added to the story