You’re kidding
QMy twoyear-old grandson has become my photography muse, but I don’t think my processing is up to scratch. I shoot raw and use Lightroom, so what’s the best approach to take? Susan Harker
AYou’re not shooting commercially, therefore you have no pressure on either the shooting or the processing side. This means you can come up with your own style. I think when you are concentrating on capturing your own child or a grandchild, what you want is as natural a portfolio as possible – something that you can turn into a yearly photo book to document their development.
It sounds to me like you should concentrate on keeping things as simple as possible – get as much right in-camera on the exposure and focusing side of things, then just make a few simple changes to composition and a slight clean-up where necessary. Two-year-olds rarely stop moving, so that’s why you will need to use the Crop Tool from time to time, and they’ve often got dried food marks – or worse still, the dreaded snotty nose – that will need a bit of attention with the Spot Removal Tool in Lightroom.
Avoid the Clone Brush and use the Heal Brush to make these changes bit by bit. Lightroom will automatically sample for you, but you may need to override its choices sometimes, so make sure you’re zoomed in at 100% and are watching for any slip-ups. Don’t overdo the work with the Heal Brush either, so that your shots stay looking natural. Lightening the skin tones will help a little bit too on occasions – but again, it’s all about keeping that balance between the portrait looking natural and fake.
Finally, make the most of the next couple of years: it’s the time when children are the least camera-shy, so you can shoot plenty to embarrass them with when they’re teenagers!
simple portraits, with the sea behind acting as an excellent backdrop.
One more thing to keep in mind: when it’s sunny, it’s very easy to blow out the highlights on the white breast of a puffin, so make sure your exposure is spot-on, and use negative exposure compensation if you need to keep it under control.