Christmas Tree, boxes & wife..please C&C

[allendehl]

Second attempt.

1(f/5.6; 1/2 sec; ISO 400; wide angle lens)

2(f/4; ISO 400; 1/4 sec; wide angle lens)

3(f/4; ISO 200; 0.6 sec; telephoto)

Again having hard times with the lighting. My home is a little "yellow"..too many incandescent bulbs.
Not too many choices to get nice exposure...just lower the speed or raising the ISO.
The one with the flash was intentionally under exposured.

Thanks in advance for your comments.

 

[PatrickHMS]

#2 = Pretty tree, pretty lady.

The yellow in #2 can be adjusted with white balance if you were to reshoot, but too much white might take away from the "warmth" of the photograph. I would leave some of that in the photo.

Have you tried PP ?

There are also some issues with focus and DOF.

 

[rdzmzda]

#3 is the only one that looks to be in semi-focus to me...it looks to me like in all of them you were torn between what u wanted your focal point to be....nice wrapping jobs on the presents haha dont suppose you would be willing to wrap my gifts for me...i think the family doesnt like newspaper for wrapping paper anymore

 

[allendehl]

#2 = Pretty tree, pretty lady.

The yellow in #2 can be adjusted with white balance if you were to reshoot, but too much white might take away from the "warmth" of the photograph. I would leave some of that in the photo.

Have you tried PP ?

There are also some issues with focus and DOF.

hehe...thanks for the compliments but...you better look at the tree....LOL

I'm shutting with WB in incandescent bulb...what else can I do with it?..I haven't tried PP...I might be wrong but I think software touches are for improve what is already good. I don't feel proud of shutting a photo that requires PP to be good (just personal opinion)

 

[rdzmzda]

haha look at it more like pp takes a good photo and makes it great....i would say a solid 90% of the great photos you see are pp....but you can go with the other approach to if u want....

 

[allendehl]

#3 is the only one that looks to be in semi-focus to me...it looks to me like in all of them you were torn between what u wanted your focal point to be....nice wrapping jobs on the presents haha dont suppose you would be willing to wrap my gifts for me...i think the family doesnt like newspaper for wrapping paper anymore

Well...I'm having lighting problems and I'm shutting at low speeds...so I guess the OOF is because the shaking. I agree 100% with you.
I set properly the focus point(...well...I think so). In #1 it was right in the middle of the box, in #2 in my wife's face and in #3 in the white bow.

What do you recommend?

Thanks a lot!

 

[PatrickHMS]

I kinda like the combination of warmth and soft focus in #2, it is appealing to me just like it is.

I know you got the WB down, like in the other shots in this thread, and the tree skirt is pretty much white in #2.

 

[allendehl]

any tips on how to improve the focus?

 

[RebelTasha]

You need to use a tripod for 2 if you didnt' with the low light and a shutter cable.
Or put it on self timer if you set it up right.

 

[mrodgers]

Set the white balance to incondescent in the camera?

I don't look at post processing as editing and manipulation or as trying to make a bad shot look good. I look at it as "digital development". There's nothing wrong with slightly adjusting the white balance or exposure. It's just a necessary part of photography, just as they have been doing with film for years and years during development.

I'm guessing the comment about the tree you are refering to the top cut off. No comments needed on that then.

If these are hand held at those shutter speeds, I'm impressed. I can't seem to hold 1/40 second with my little superzoom let alone a camera with a much larger lens attached to the front. Tripod is definitely needed.

Nice DOF on the first and last photos of the gift boxes. I wish I could get DOF like that with such a large aperture. I can go to f/3.5 and everything is still in focus unless I really concentrate on my distances.

Why not use the flash, even if it's just the pop up flash, on these? You could difuse the flash with a tissue or something, or even bounce the flash off the ceiling with a white business card or something. I do that with my little bridge camera and get reasonable results and I'd imagine a dSLR pop up is more powerful than the one on my little camera. Directing the flash to bounce off the ceiling I am thinking would work very well.

 

[allendehl]

oh wow mrodgers, thanks a lot for your post.

I don't think software make bad photos look better..I do think they make good photos look great...and at this point I have to be able to get to those "good photos" first.

Yes, these are hand held photos...just laying down in the floor and trying to stay as stable as possible.

I didn't use the flash cause it goes straight to the object and makes it look too bright. I don't like the way it looks...I will definitely follow your tips in bouncing it with stuff. How can I diffuse it with a tissue?...just putting it in front of the flash? ...Do I have to underexposure a little for that?

 

[bigtwinky]

You definatly need to use a tripod if you are shooting at those shutter speeds (1/2, 1/4 and 0.6 secs..)

You said you were using wide angle, so I assume you are using your 18mm-55mm set at 18mm (or so)?

Even if you try and stay as steady as possible, the camera will shake. You are breathing, you need to push the button...at those shutter speeds, the slightest movement will cause some shake and lack of sharpness.

The rule of thumb when choosing shutter speed for shooting hand held is 1/max focal lenght of your lens.
So you are shooting with a zoom lens, 18-55, the slowest shutter speed you can shoot at and not have camera shake is 1/55... or the next closest thing, 1/60. Even if you are shooting at 18mm, you need to look at the MAX focal lenght of the lens.

So an 18mm-200mm would need you to shoot at 1/200
A prime lens that is say 50mm would need 1/50.

Again, this is a rule of thumb. So knowing that, you need to work on setting the right aperture and using ISO to get as close as possible to that shutter speed.

But if you use a tripod, that rule can go out the window if you are shooting still lifes. If you are shooting a model, no model will be perfectly still, even if they try hard... again, they have to breath and so on.

Hope this helps

 

[confused_in_the_darkroom]

not to be nit picky but number 1 has a piece of red lint on the carpet a little in front of the corner of the box. it breaks my focus from the subject in the photo.

Evan

 

[allendehl]

Big...of course it helps!!
I'll have that in mind...that's a good rule. I guess my next investment has to be a tripod. I've seen tall tripods but...these kind of pictures close to the ground...do I need different size of tripods also?...or they shrink?

"Confused", I noticed that when I saw the pic in the PC...:s...newbie's stuff you know. I also shut myself in every Christmas ball when I tried to do some photos close to the tree

 

[ATXshots]

#2 kinda looks like she is wrapping herself up inside the tree skirt. I think she should wear something else. Good setup though! Your tree is so pretty as a background!