Toofpaste needs serious C&C for his recent pictures!!!

[toofpaste]

I want any feedback you guys have!

 

[NateS]

Well, here's my first thoughts. 1 and 2 the background is horribly overexposed due the the harsh light. You might have tried shooting the other direction to avoid that or a different time of day. The girl is exposed well, but the background hurts it. The 3rd shot is a fun pose and exposed well, but I don't care for the look of people pictures when shot from low angels like that.....that's possibly just my opinion though.

 

[toofpaste]

Well, here's my first thoughts. 1 and 2 the background is horribly overexposed due the the harsh light. You might have tried shooting the other direction to avoid that or a different time of day. The girl is exposed well, but the background hurts it. The 3rd shot is a fun pose and exposed well, but I don't care for the look of people pictures when shot from low angels like that.....that's possibly just my opinion though.

True, I don't know it was just like 3 or 4, and the sun was beating down like crazy. I tried to find shade, but that was the best I could do. Anything besides picking another time, (which in this case I couldn't ) that could fix the overexposure?

 

[NateS]

Well.....if you had a hot shoe or off-camera flash I'd Kick the aperture up to like F/12 or above and a 1/500th shutter speed to darken the background with the diffused flash to light the subject. Playing around with the settings and a flash could have gotten better results I bet, but it would be hard to say exact settings without being there and seeing your camera's meter.

 

[Chris Stegner]

Wow, these almost look like they've been outlined and dropped on the backgrounds. If you shot RAW, maybe you could develop the RAW files to get the background darker and save off and then process the same RAW file for the girl. The combine the 2 files. Some would call this HDR, but call it what you want, it could save the images.

 

[toofpaste]

Well.....if you had a hot shoe or off-camera flash I'd Kick the aperture up to like F/12 or above and a 1/500th shutter speed to darken the background with the diffused flash to light the subject. Playing around with the settings and a flash could have gotten better results I bet, but it would be hard to say exact settings without being there and seeing your camera's meter.

Ah....allright, that's what I was looking for. Thanks Nate!

Wow, these almost look like they've been outlined and dropped on the backgrounds. If you shot RAW, maybe you could develop the RAW files to get the background darker and save off and then process the same RAW file for the girl. The combine the 2 files. Some would call this HDR, but call it what you want, it could save the images.

Well, I saved on JPEG, but I still think that's possible, I'll give it a try on PS.

 

[NateS]

Number 1 is far too gone I think, but I was able to make number 2 better with a quick edit.

 

[toofpaste]

Number 1 is far too gone I think, but I was able to make number 2 better with a quick edit.

The background light is still really harsh, but toned down and some color back. (You can see my quick mask around her sholders, but just trying to give you an idea.)

Damn, makes a huge difference. Changes the picture completely, thanks for the time Nate...now I gotta see if I can save these pics.

 

[NateS]

Damn, makes a huge difference. Changes the picture completely, thanks for the time Nate...now I gotta see if I can save these pics.

I fixed the area around her shoulders above. Anyway, all I did was create a duplicate layer and then deleted her from the new layer and set it to multiply....then duplicated that layer 2 or 3 more times set as multiply. Anyway, give that a try on the full size photo you have and it should look even better.

Oh, and no problem. That's what these forums are for....helping other's out. You have a great picture and good eye...just bad time of day.

 

[toofpaste]

I fixed the area around her shoulders above. Anyway, all I did was create a duplicate layer and then deleted her from the new layer and set it to multiply....then duplicated that layer 2 or 3 more times set as multiply. Anyway, give that a try on the full size photo you have and it should look even better.

Oh, and no problem. That's what these forums are for....helping other's out. You have a great picture and good eye...just bad time of day.

Thanks man, those are my nieces, and my sister called me and told me: "Hey, we're at the park, wanna come take some pics?"

So I went, but I couldnt do anything about the sun. I've got some others...lemme pull them out.

 

[shutter1000]

not much you can do with overexposure... you can get a bit more out of 2 but there isn't much you can do with the background in 1. The more you try to get out of them, the more you'll notice the processing.

 

[Jeff Canes]

A quick fix for both 1 & 2 is cropping to a 4x5 format, with #1 cut the left off, #2 cut right off

 

[manaheim]

Hey toof... the backgrounds in these look more than just a bit overexposed... they look funky... did you do something weird with them in PS or something? Or were you just really in major shadow?

BTW, if you have a viscious bright day like that and cant find a spot where the background will also be in shade, you almost might better take the shot in the light... a ND filter or polarizer would help in this situation also.

BTW, I love the expression on the girls face in the foreground on image one. (I assume that's 2 exposures of the same girl made into a composite?)

 

[toofpaste]

Hey toof... the backgrounds in these look more than just a bit overexposed... they look funky... did you do something weird with them in PS or something? Or were you just really in major shadow?

Yeah, I was in complete shadow of a tree, and the rest was blinding!

BTW, if you have a viscious bright day like that and cant find a spot where the background will also be in shade, you almost might better take the shot in the light... a ND filter or polarizer would help in this situation also.

That's a good idea. Maybe just by hitting my f-stops a bit higher and doing 1/1000 could of fixed the problem if I shot in the light?

BTW, I love the expression on the girls face in the foreground on image one. (I assume that's 2 exposures of the same girl made into a composite?)

Thanks! Me too, and no same picture, no PS.

 

[manaheim]

^^^ so that was two girls? Funny.

re: the higher shutter time... yes that would have worked, but in very bright light you tend to get harsher shadows and sometimes the person will wind up having to squint a lot because of the bright light. It's unfortunate, but probably better than absolutely washed out backgrounds.