A few new photos

Jace · Mar 28, 2011

So, I dragged my wife out to the lake yesterday in order to take some shots of her in all white in front of it (to practice metering, since I can't find a white wall to save me life), and on the way there I saw this awesome frame.

(Ignore the tripod)

So she agreed to take some pics for me, even though it was like 30 degrees (Fahrenheit) and she wasn't really wearing warm clothing.

I know some of these could probably benefit from some cropping, but I haven't cropped them all yet.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#6

#7

We plan on going back when it's warmer, and earlier in the day as these were all after 6pm, when the sun was setting.

Edit: Dropped a few photos to make the list smaller. The first one, the trees, is not for cc or anything.

Bram · Mar 28, 2011

Most of them look OOF. Also if you want serious feeback here, try posting a max of 5 photos. You will get the best feedback with 3 photos.

Jace · Mar 28, 2011

Which ones look OOF to you? I know the last two are, she was moving and talking to me when I took it, but I'm having a hard time finding it in the others. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised.

KmH · Mar 28, 2011

The 2 best times of day to shoot outdoor portraits are:

the hour just after sun up
the hour just before sun down

There are so good they have a special name and are called the "Golden Hours".

To use that nice warm, low angle kind of light effectively takes some lighting knowledge, particularly how to use fill lighting, preferably from off the camera lens axis using a reflector(s) or strobed (flash) lighting.

In #1, #6, and #7 her face is badly underexposed.

#2 is decent but the bright background right at the top of her head is distracting.

Using strobed light gives you more control over exposure because the shutter speed controls the ambient light exposure while the lens aperture controls the strobed light exposure. Notice that enables you to control 2 exposure levels independently with a single shutter release.
So in #1, #6, and #7 you could have properly exposed her face while making the background appear slightly darker than her face. That is called separating your subject from the background, and is why the art world has a age old guideline that says, "light advances, dark receeds".

Having the closer subject brighter than the background gives the subject more visual weight to attract and hold the viewers eye. When the background is bright and the subject dark, the background has more visual weight, taking the viewers eye off the intended main subject.

In portraiture situations where there is a lot of dynamic range in the scene, spot metering mode usually works better then center-weighted, but it helps if you have a bit of experience so you know which parts of the scene to meter.

Stryker · Mar 28, 2011

I think most of them are in focus but a bit soft becuase you did them at f/2. Since you are using a lens with a 50mm focal length, I suggest you bring down your speed of 1/100 and 1/150 and bump up your aperture to f/4 or 5.6. Try adjusting your ISO between 100 and 400 too.

Bram · Mar 28, 2011

Jace said:
Which ones look OOF to you? I know the last two are, she was moving and talking to me when I took it, but I'm having a hard time finding it in the others. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised.

#1,2,3,6,7 all OOF to me. There is no #5 so. and the Sepia does not go well with #6.

Jace · Mar 28, 2011

Thanks Keith, I think I was so intent on not blowing the whites out that I didn't pay attention too much to the under exposure. I'm going to try and take her out there again next weekend.

Could the softness be my fault in PP? I used guassian on her face, tried to keep in minimal, but may have went overboard, lol.

Thanks for the feedback all!

KmH · Mar 28, 2011

Watch this video:

Photographer Tom Munoz | Profoto Acute B2 | Wedding Photography using Profoto Equipment

Notice the photographer is using a 70-200 mm lens not a 50 mm.

Did you mask her lips and eyes so they wouldn't be effected by the blur?

Three things you have to verify for each photo: