Play time at Lydiard Park

I have lots of friends who have lots of children, so whenever I'm invited out with them, I make sure I take my camera! There are always so many opportunities to snap some great shots as children are so carefree, natural, and they don't always have to pose or smile for them to look beautiful in a photo.  Here is a small selection of some photographs that I took on a recent trip to Lydiard Park in Swindon ...

It's easy to see that no thought whatsoever on composition went into this image - I wanted it to be simple, three friends holding hands, enjoying having their picture taken - and this is the result I managed to get. Converting the photo to black and white is just a personal preference of mine.  Had I of used a polarising filter, I could've added some detail to the sky and had I composed this image properly (straighten the landscape,  left some open space to one side of the image to show the large amount of space the children had to run around, etc), then I believe this image would be improved.  This is something I will think about when I'm next having a fun day out with the kids!
Canera settings: F/13 (it was a sunny day), ISO400, 1/320 sec. I used a fast shutter speed to ensure the children remained sharp, although I could've used a slightly slower speed and obtained the same result.  White Balance was set to 'Auto'. If I'd changed this to 'sunny/bright' I think the original image would've been warmer in colour and maybe I wouldn't have changed it to black and white? Hmmm ... 

This fun-loving little girl, Daisy, was running around, climbing rocks, singing to herself, but she was aware that I was near her with a camera. In most pics that I managed to take of her, her back was to the camera, so I placed myself further away from her, used a zoom lens, got lower to the floor and did whatever I could to just capture her at her most natural and I'm pleased with the result. Again, I wasn't thinking of composition - simply just capturing some natural action shots for my friend & her children.
Although I used an 18-135mm zoom lens, there is still some  DOF in this image which I like.  I didn't change the white balance from Auto, but the sky still has a nice blue colour without appearing too 'cyan'. The highlights really stand out, but I'm pleased with this as it shows the viewer what a bright & sunny day it was.  
Camera settings:  F/5 (If I'd increased this, I think the highlights would not be so prominent and the overall brightness of the picture would not be so obvious). ISO100, 1/800 (A shutter speed this high was not needed, 1/160 or 1/250 would've been enough to ensure subject sharpness, but I was playing with the settings).

Ellie loved posing for the camera - as you can see in this image, and the one below :)
Although she is not smiling, her expression is natural, there is some DOF, but the colours/hues could do with being a little more saturated.  The image is a little overexposed. Camera settings:  F/5.6, ISO100, 1/500 sec. 

Camera settings for this image were:  F/9, ISO400, 1/160 sec.  The exposure on this image is a little more natural, although the highlights are still very bright in places and detail has been lost. WB was set to Auto (I really must remember to adjust this for each lighting situation!). If I'd thought of the 'rule of thirds' and composed this image, it would've improved the overall look of the photo. 

In this photo, Ellie looks lost in her own little world, very serene, as though she's deep in thought. It's a little overexposed but I did not consider anything photographically technical when taking this photo - I simply just took it.  My aim was to capture (quickly!) the moment, her sad or thoughtful expression. Camera settings:  F/8, ISO400, 1/160sec.

BEFORE

This photo captures nicely, the fun that the children are having, sharp subjects but showing movement still as you can see Ellie's hair bouncing around with the see-saw, and she has physically lifted from the seat as it was a bumpy ride!  The railings in the background are not straight though so I wanted to adjust this in Photoshop.

I used the 'Ruler' tool which is located within the 'Eye Dropper' tool/icon as follows:

AFTER

As you can see, the railings are now straighter and the bar that the children are holding onto is also straighter.

This is my friends' personal favourite. She particularly liked the high contrast black and white as it added depth and shadows, the bold highlights as it reminded her of how sunny it was that day, her smile is natural, the image is sharp but it still shows movement in her hair and there is some DOF, and her little girl Daisy, is unaware the photo is being taken, so this still makes it a 'natural' photo.  Camera settings:  F/5,  1/1000 sec, ISO100.
At this point I was still experimenting with different camera settings, so looking back, I really needed the shutter speed to be somewhere around 1/160 or 1/250, the ISO at 400 and the aperture at around F8/F11 so as to not let too much light in.  

BEFORE

Lydiard House - The colours in this image are quite nice and natural I think.  
Camera settings:  F/8, ISO100, 1/200. 
It's a little overexposed and the obvious drawback is the converging verticals on the house. I was able to correct this using Photoshop though, as you can see below:

AFTER

This was achieved in Photoshop as follows:

• Using the ruler at the left side of the page, click and drag them out to the edges of the building
• CTRL A = selects the entire image
• EDIT (from the toolbar)
• TRANSFORM 
• DISTORT
• CTRL + Click on top left corner to drag image out to meet the vertical ruler/guideline. Then do the same for the right hand side of the building
• Press Enter to 'Transform'.  

Now you will notice the image looks shorter/more compressed.  To fix this, you need to repeat the steps above:  EDIT-TRANSFORM-DISTORT then drag out the TOP and move in the BOTTOM of the image.  This brings the image back to something like the original, but without the converging verticals.  To complete, I increased the colour saturation as the original image looks a little overexposed. 

This was just an image that I took as we walked  away from Lydiard House.  The tree presented a nice frame, but the sky just above the house looks a little too 'cyan'.