Portrait of myself

boomer · Oct 19, 2009

Did a portrait of myself yesterday in the later afternoon. Was pretty happy with the way it came out.

What do you think? Which crop do you like better?

eric-holmes · Oct 19, 2009

Looks good, I personally prefer the first crop.

AverageJoe · Oct 19, 2009

I like the crop as well but I'd vote for a shallower depth of field.

boomer · Oct 19, 2009

Thanks for the input guys

AverageJoe said:
I like the crop as well but I'd vote for a shallower depth of field.

Ya, i would have tried, but since i was using a remote flash, the fastest shutter i could use was 1/200th. My settings for this shot was 100 ISO, 1/200th shutter and f/16 aperture. So i couldn't open the aperture up anymore because i was already at my max shutter speed with flash (with keeping the same overall exposure). All thanks to the bright AZ sun! :grumpy:

Could i have done anything else with still being able to use the flash?

dry3210 · Oct 19, 2009

The basketball net is somewhat distracting but beyond that nice pictures

Patrice · Oct 19, 2009

I understand the need for lower iso to control the noise but you should be ok to iso 400, but that is still only two stops - f16 to f8, still lots of dof. Neutral density filters were created for that very purpose and they are not very expensive.

Pat

boomer · Oct 20, 2009

Patrice said:
I understand the need for lower iso to control the noise but you should be ok to iso 400, but that is still only two stops - f16 to f8, still lots of dof. Neutral density filters were created for that very purpose and they are not very expensive.

Pat

I don't think i would want to go with a higher ISO. Going from ISO 100 to ISO 400 would require me to go from f/16 to f/32 in order to keep the same exposure.

ND filter would be my best be though! Great idea! And living in AZ, it would be a good investment

ErectedGryphon · Oct 20, 2009

#1, great landscape work too!

Derrel · Oct 20, 2009

I like the second shot, the vertical one. My wife's been in a chair since '91, so to me, it looks better to see the front castors,and the overall chair. I also like the shorter focal length in the second shot, since it magnifies the background less,and shows more of the sky on a blue-sky day, which goes with the speedlight lighting with the highly directional shadows.

I hear it's been VERY hot down there recently...I watched the Stanford-Arizona game on TV this past Saturday,and it was 108 degree on the field at kickoff, which they said was record heat for October.

Buckster · Oct 20, 2009

boomer said:
Thanks for the input guys

AverageJoe said:

I like the crop as well but I'd vote for a shallower depth of field.

Click to expand...

Ya, i would have tried, but since i was using a remote flash, the fastest shutter i could use was 1/200th. My settings for this shot was 100 ISO, 1/200th shutter and f/16 aperture. So i couldn't open the aperture up anymore because i was already at my max shutter speed with flash (with keeping the same overall exposure). All thanks to the bright AZ sun!

Could i have done anything else with still being able to use the flash?

The D90 features FP High Speed Sync up to 1/4000, and I think the SB600 is compatible with that (maybe not?).

Not sure what you're using for communication between the camera and off-camera flash, but it's something to look into as a possible future solution to these situations.

_rebecca_ · Oct 20, 2009

I prefer the second crop. I find the background less distracting in the second, and I like seeing all of your chair. It feels awkward to have it cropped off the way it is in the first.

c.cloudwalker · Oct 20, 2009

You asked about the crop but first, I want to say a couple things about other aspects of the photos.

1/ I would have brought the flash closer to the camera. It looks like it is almost at 180º from the sun and it creates shadows that are not the most pleasant. To me anyway.

2/ You look a bit too much like a lobster. If your skin really is that red than fine but it looks too red to me.

Crop wise. I prefer the first one because of the shadows on the concrete in the second one. Other than that, I think both are fine, they are just different. But it did make me wonder about something. Having worked with people in wheelchairs I know that they make some fully able people uncomfortable. Seeing your two photos I can't help and wonder if those who are uncomfortable with wheelchairs will prefer the first one...

boomer · Oct 21, 2009

Derrel said:
I like the second shot, the vertical one. My wife's been in a chair since '91, so to me, it looks better to see the front castors,and the overall chair. I also like the shorter focal length in the second shot, since it magnifies the background less,and shows more of the sky on a blue-sky day, which goes with the speedlight lighting with the highly directional shadows.

I hear it's been VERY hot down there recently...I watched the Stanford-Arizona game on TV this past Saturday,and it was 108 degree on the field at kickoff, which they said was record heat for October.

Thanks!

Yes, it was very hot that day for October! I think it was about 106 when i took that picture. But it was beautiful again yesterday! only about 80

Buckster said:
The D90 features FP High Speed Sync up to 1/4000, and I think the SB600 is compatible with that (maybe not?).

Not sure what you're using for communication between the camera and off-camera flash, but it's something to look into as a possible future solution to these situations.

Yes, it looks like it does. I will have to try it and see how it works. thanks.

c.cloudwalker said:
You asked about the crop but first, I want to say a couple things about other aspects of the photos.

1/ I would have brought the flash closer to the camera. It looks like it is almost at 180º from the sun and it creates shadows that are not the most pleasant. To me anyway.

2/ You look a bit too much like a lobster. If your skin really is that red than fine but it looks too red to me.

Crop wise. I prefer the first one because of the shadows on the concrete in the second one. Other than that, I think both are fine, they are just different. But it did make me wonder about something. Having worked with people in wheelchairs I know that they make some fully able people uncomfortable. Seeing your two photos I can't help and wonder if those who are uncomfortable with wheelchairs will prefer the first one...

1. You're right. Its was pretty close to 180.

2. I'm pretty sure my skin was pretty red at the time since it was so HOT that day! :lol:

About the wheelchair thing, I'm not too sure. I've never really thought of that before...good question. I could see that making sense as the wheelchair becomes part of the main subject in the vertical crop where the horizontal crop its mainly me.