Blueprint: That Cute, Fast 1 Year Old

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After my post on Pioneer Woman’s site about challenges photographing a 1 year old, I got a lot of questions. What lens, what settings, how did I get the b&w, etc… I figured the best way to answer these was in a blueprint.

I shot this image with my Canon 5D MKII with the Canon 50 1.2 lens. I wanted to use natural light but the shot was early evening and there was not a lot of indoor light inside at this hour.  I boosted my ISO to 2,000 so that I could regain some light in camera. This camera can handle high ISOs beautifully.  I also believe a little grain never hurt anyone. I set my aperture fairly wide at f 2.5, but not completely wide open, as Gavin was on the move. My speed was at 1/200 – I needed a fast shutter, but not as fast as if shooting a track star (maybe someday).

Details on the edit and which MCP Photoshop actions were used (straight out of camera shown 1st, then the final image 2nd):

  1. I started editing this shot my using Noiseware since I shot at a high ISO. I used the default portrait settings on a duplicate layer and reduced the opacity to 65%.
  2. Next I ran Crackle from the Quickie Collection to give the photo some dimension.
  3. Then I ran the Color Burst action from the Complete Workflow Set. I kept all layers at the default opacity.
  4. I noticed his skin coloring was off so I used the Magic See-Saw action from the Bag of Tricks action set.
  5. I wanted to enhance the eyes, so I ran the Eye Doctor action.  I used the Catchlight layer and Sharp as a Tack.
  6. I decided that while the color now looked okay, I wanted to take away the distraction of color from this portrait. I decided to convert to black and white.  I possibly could have skipped the color correction since it was minor, but I made this decision afterward.
  7. To get a black and white, I use Vanilla Ice Cream from the Quickie Collection on top.

gavin-600x543 Blueprint: That Cute, Fast 1 Year Old MCP Actions Projects

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  1. Lenka on January 29, 2010 at 10:07 am

    Beautiful! Love the black and white. Jodi, did you use the clarity action crackle TOGETHER with the color burst WITHOUT turning off the step where it defogs at the beginning of the action? just wondering.

  2. Tracy on January 29, 2010 at 10:58 am

    I LOVE the close up face one in B&W! She is a beauty!

  3. Sarah on January 29, 2010 at 2:42 pm

    Love this – both the editing and the idea! I think it’d be a lot of fun to do shots for dating services!!!

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