More of my daughter for C&C.

supraman215 · Dec 5, 2012

To the OP: What does this statement "I shot it at ISO 50 b/c I wanted to eliminate the background." mean? ISO doesn't play a role in DOF or the impact of strobes over ambient light. You also weren't maxed out on shutter at 1/80. You could have gone faster in shutter speed to help "eliminate" the background.

I actually don't mind it so close up. But I'm probably the exception. Yeah 2.8 is way too wide for this shot and way to shallow DOF. I would recommend getting your subject further from the background, to retain the OOF background lights, and getting further from the subject, to further increase DOF. Getting further from the subject and cropping later will also make your background smaller. I do it with my 35mm which is never tight enough for me. If I get too close I have too much background, so I get a little further and just crop in post.

supraman215 · Dec 5, 2012

BTW adorable daughter, and it doesn't get easier once they get mobile.

JAC526 · Dec 5, 2012

ISO acts as a global input and will change the exposure for strobes and ambient. So shooting at ISO 50 allowed me to help eliminate the background. For the shots with my daughter you are right I could of went to 1/160th or 1/200th to make it totally dark. I kind of liked the muted colors.

The snowmen I had to drop the shutter to I think 1/20th because the LEDs were flickering and faster shutter speeds weren't picking up all the lights.

Yeah, physical room size was a constraint for these. I think though after messing with the snowman and having the ease of messing around I didn't have with my daughter I could produce much better results if/when I try again.

Thanks, she is pretty adorable....I am looking forward to every step along the way.

Brandon Hill · Dec 5, 2012

Cute child. I'd consider taking or painting down the exposure on the background. The bokeh's light value takes my eye away from the central subject, particularly on the middle one. That way they could be more supportive as background.

supraman215 · Dec 5, 2012

"ISO acts as a global input and will change the exposure for strobes and ambient. So shooting at ISO 50 allowed me to help eliminate the background."

Still confused and what you're trying to say here. ISO has no effect on the "background" it only has effect on the overall exposure of the image as a whole. So it will not eliminate the background without eliminating your daughter as well. If you cranked up the shutter you would have darkened the background only and not your daughter.

"..I had to drop the shutter to I think 1/20th because the LEDs were flickering and faster shutter speeds weren't picking up all the lights."

It had no nothing to do with the flickering, it was because when you lower the shutter you pick up more ambient light.

Remember shutter speed does not impact strobes.

JAC526 · Dec 5, 2012

Brandon Hill said:
Cute child. I'd consider taking or painting down the exposure on the background. The bokeh's light value takes my eye away from the central subject, particularly on the middle one. That way they could be more supportive as background.

Thank you. I think this is a good suggestion.

JAC526 · Dec 5, 2012

supraman215 said:
"ISO acts as a global input and will change the exposure for strobes and ambient. So shooting at ISO 50 allowed me to help eliminate the background."

Still confused and what you're trying to say here. ISO has no effect on the "background" it only has effect on the overall exposure of the image as a whole. So it will not eliminate the background without eliminating your daughter as well. If you cranked up the shutter you would have darkened the background only and not your daughter.

"..I had to drop the shutter to I think 1/20th because the LEDs were flickering and faster shutter speeds weren't picking up all the lights."

It had no nothing to do with the flickering, it was because when you lower the shutter you pick up more ambient light.

Remember shutter speed does not impact strobes.

Yes ISO will change both flash and ambient. That's why I called it global. The LEDs I'm referring to are the ones in the background. And it wasn't like they were dim I mean when you looked at them thru the optical viewfinder there were literally more in the background then what was showing up in the image. Which meant to me they were flickering and at higher shutter speeds I wasn't picking them all up. I know that shutter speed has no affect on flash exposure unless you exceed the sync speed and don't have high speed sync capabilities. If you don't have the option to increase the shutter speed you have to bring the background down another way which is why I used ISO. I could reduce the ISO all the way down and add flash exposure to bring my subject back up.