Amy Rogalski’s Bio
I am a natural light on location maternity, baby and family photographer based out of Providence, RI.
- Answered 92
Amy Rogalski’s Answers RSS Feed
-
When shooting newborns what is your favorite aperture? If you shoot around 1.8 or pretty wide open, how far away are you from the baby to ensure the baby is in focus?
I am usually right at 2.8 for newborns. But I also like to open up wide to 1.4 or 1.8 (or 2 on the 35) and just get the eyes and nose in focus and let everything else fall off. Often I will be about a foot away from them for those shots. I will also take a shot, scoot back about six inches, take a shot and then scoot back six more just so that I can make sure I covered it.
-
How long does a typical session take you to edit?
Depends what kind of typical we are talking about :) On average from start to finish it takes 3 hours to edit a session. Newborns up to six hours. Weddings a lot longer. But this is never accomplished in one sitting. It's always interspersed with other sessions and life!
-
what kind of camera and camera equipment do you use?
I shoot with a Nikon D700 and have the 24-70, 70-200 VR II, 50 1.4 and the 35. I also have a Tamron 90mm macro that I use for newborns.
-
Hi Amy, the recent post was goregous! How do you manage the sunlight on the beach? was it a little cloudy? i see hardly ANY harsh shadows that i tend to get at the beach. do you use any fill light or was it right around sunset? love them!
I shoot mainly at sunset on the beach. Never ever (if possible) between about 10 and 4. The sun is just too high and too harsh. It's all about working with what light you have and making sure it's as pleasing to your subject as possible! My last beach shoot in Newport was slightly cloudy but had beautiful rich strong setting sun.
-
Do you mind sharing what forum/message board you are on?
Unfortunately it is a private message board that I only recommend to people that I know in person. But a great public one that I am part of is www.ilovephotography.com.
-
Hi Amy, your work is amazing...do you do anything special for printing or canvas? i have some MCP actions for high def sharpening and lightroom has special settings for exporting in printing, should i sharpen a little extra to print or make a canvas?
I always run an unsharp mask before printing a photo! I usually run it at 74 / 2 / 3.
-
Any tips on how to get light in the eyes? I try to face my subject towards open sky... but it still seems kind of hit and miss for me.
If the subject is looking up at all, you should be getting light unless there is something very big and dark behind you. If the subject is looking straight dead ahead at you the light will be cut down some as you are physically blocking the light while you are shooting. Try and keep your angle slightly higher to where they are. Don't stand over them completely (though that is also fun!) but try and be slightly above.
-
Do you ever feel like different color blankets make your newborn skin tones different? I feel like I get a different color cast depending on which blanket I use. Suggestions? Thanks!
Yes, definitely at times! Similar to how green grass at outdoor shoots leaves green/yellow casts on skin. Doing a custom white balance at the beginning often really helps to cut down on that. Lighting the baby from the side as well can aid. Other than that it is fixing in photoshop / editing software working with a lot of layer masks!!
-
Any tips for smoothing diaper creases on a newborn bottom?
Well the first key tip is to tell the client to keep the diaper on loosely starting about 30 minutes before you're scheduled to get there. But since you're asking I am guessing it's already after the fact. You can use the clone or patch tool for best results along with maybe a little portraiture / skin smoothing.
-
Amy, love your work, your images seem so crisp. i do well with juicy close-up portraits, however when i have a group, the image is NOT very sharp. shooting a 24 70 2.8 lens at about 4 aperture...suggestions or tutorials?
A good general rule of thumb is to set your aperture at one higher than the number in your group. So a group of four = f/5.6. But you can definitely shoot at lower apertures - just make sure you are far enough back so that your depth of field will be deep enough. I have shot groups at 2.8 and 3.2. At the other end of the spectrum I also shot a group of 23 at f/11!! I am also one who believes strongly in the "strong points" of lenses. ie 1.8, 2.8, 3.2, 5.6. I think lenses just tend to perform better at these apertures.
-
In one of your answers below you said that you "check the layers and erase back anything that is blown according to a threshold mask." Could you explain how you check if something is blown? THank you so much!
First, you have to find out what your lab's threshold is. Meaning above what point will the colors simply posterize and you will lose detail. For most labs that is above 230-240 even though the "technical" cutoff before colors are blown is around 250-255. You can use the eyedropper tool and simply scan over your photo with the Info palette open and see if you are going above 230-240. Or you can create a threshold layer mask above whatever layers you have made and set it to 230-240 and see what shows up as blown. It will show you anything directly below it that goes over whatever number you set it at. Then erase back those areas or burn them, etc.
-
Do you ever consult over the phone or critique photos over some sort of consulting/mentoring fee?
I don't, I'm sorry. I do suggest you look into something like www.ilovephotography.com and put your photos on there for critiques!
-
love the blog templates that you used for the wedding pictures...do you do that in photoshop yourself or is it an action? thanks!!!
It's called the Morai compositor!! So so worth the investment.
-
Just had a session with two brothers and their new baby sister. The newborn was very red/orange. When I used hue/saturation in photoshop to decrease her orange tint... it makes the brothers too white... too desaturated. Any tips for this?
Layer masks. That is the key. Working in layer masks with only the selected part of the photo. Then everything else remains untouched!
-
When photographing siblings, who do you put your focus point on or do you put it between them? I usually focus on the older child's eyes and then the younger one is usually not as sharp (he's probably moving too!)
I just pick one child's eyes and make sure that I am stopped down enough and I am far back enough that my depth of field will be deep enough to cover both!
-
Do you have a recommendation for coffee self mount or flush mount coffee table books? i ordered from dream, but it takes a long time.
Let's see. Vision Art books are stunning. Millers are nice though they do have a faint pink line down the center of the page. Finao is amazing and Kiss are also great. I have heard that Cypress books are stunning but I haven't seen them personally.
-
What do you consider to be a safe ss to stop motion when working with children?
I never go below 1/200 if at all possible, preferably even higher. The only exception is if I have to pull out my flash such at weddings. Then I can drop to 1/100 or 1/80 and the flash will help to freeze the motion.
-
What do you do in post production to result in bright crisp images?
Well I try my best to start with bright crisp images!! Good glass, good light and knowing how to shoot a near-perfect exposure in different conditions is really the most help. If it's not good straight out of the camera no post processing in the world will make it great :) So that is the first step. Get it right in camera. Get good light, use good quality glass, know what aperture and shutter speed you need to get the proper exposure.
My post-processing on the majority of my photos is incredibly simple. I make my adjustments in the RAW window first, tweaking exposure, recovery, etc. Then in Photoshop I use levels, a screen layer majorly reduced, a curves layer set to luminosity mode to add more depth to my tones, and burn the edges slightly to give a very non-obvious vignette towards the center. I obviously play with other things sometimes like different color balances etc depending on the finished product I want but that is basically it! -
I don't understand back button focusing! I have tried to read up on it, but it is a little confusing to me. Can you simplify? Thank you, Amy!
Hmmm. You can separate out your focus from your shutter button. It is similar to focusing and recomposing where you press the shutter halfway and then recompose while holding it, but instead of that, I have it assigned to a button on the back of my camera. I simply press that button and then can recompose the shot before I press the shutter button. It holds the focus where I wanted it but allows me to still adjust things for proper exposure.
-
love the headshot of your husband, what lens do you use for that and what aperture? your branding is especially lovely too. just love it all. (i bet you hear it all the time)
Aw thanks! That one was with the 135 that I was renting and was shot at 2.8
