A rope and a puppy. C&C Welcomed!

[phiya]

I like the puppy shot. The dogs cute and has a nice expression and the Dofs good too. Theres something bothering me about the background though. I'm not sure if its the blue or the fact that theres two halves to it, one blue and one brown. Either way its distracting me from the lovely dog.

You know, it hadn't bothered me until you pointed it out. Thanks a lot! :lmao: :greenpbl:

I do like the blue catch light in his eye though... in my living room i'm not sure I had another choice of background in that situation it would have been a lot nicer with something either less drastic (half-half) or a solid 1 color though.

 

[phiya]

This is true, but my strobe wasn't going to light the background, sky, building etc. So while I would have gotten likely better results with my DOF, It wouldn't have mattered much because the background would have been underexposed anyway.

Then you've not glommed to the big advantage of using Strobed lighting.

You can incease the strobed light exposure by using a smaller aperture and more speedlight power and increase the ambient light (background)exposure by slowing the shutter speed. betteryet you can increase the strobed light exposure and get even better separation from the background by decreasing the ambient light exposure (increasing the shutter speed).

The whole point of blurring the background is to separate the subject from the background. You can do the same thing with the ambient light exposure.

I have used my strobe, but not like this... When you're a noob like me you think, it's bright and I want less DOF but still want fill light, increase shutter speed. It hadn't occurred to me to purposely underexpose the background as an alternative to nailing DOF on your subject. Thanks :thumbup:

 

[kundalini]

But the shutter speed at F/3.8 was already at 1/8 which is REALLY pushing it hand held/bracing the camera & hand on a post. So again, I didn't feel I could stop down the aperture any more in that situation.

I'm not picking on you phiya, but let's disect your last comment. I'm overlooking that the f/3.8 stat was a typo, as there is no f/3.8 that I know of on a Nikon. Your listed gear doesn't account for a lens that is capable of f/2.8, so I'm not sure what your aperture was, but regardless, I still think you could've stopped down a wee bit further. Then you went on with "hand held/bracing the camera and hand on a post". That tells me that an opportunity to have rested the camera on the post was an option available to you. Even though this might not have been the optimal framing you wanted, this is where shooting fat and cropping in post (not the post you were resting on, the post processing). By having the camera resting solidly, you could have had an exposure time of 30 minutes if you wanted. This is the crux of the biscuit. Expose for the background and flash for the subject.

I also think the specular highlights in the background are overwhelming and immediately draws the eye's attention rather than the rope. Had you stopped down the lens a bit more, this effect would've been less prominent IMO and would've rendered the background more discernable without overpowering.

It really is a matter of shooting and practice. I don't mean to give you a hard time, but with situations such as this, I may take a dozen different exposures at varying settings. Only by knowing the faults can you find the diamonds. Keep shooting and taking note of the results. That's how we become more proficient. along with a bag full of excuses, I have a boat load of duds. My keeper rate is better than it was, but not nearly where I want it to be. But at the end of the day, I learn something with each click of the shutter.

 

[phiya]

But the shutter speed at F/3.8 was already at 1/8 which is REALLY pushing it hand held/bracing the camera & hand on a post. So again, I didn't feel I could stop down the aperture any more in that situation.

I'm not picking on you phiya, but let's disect your last comment. I'm overlooking that the f/3.8 stat was a typo, as there is no f/3.8 that I know of on a Nikon. Your listed gear doesn't account for a lens that is capable of f/2.8, so I'm not sure what your aperture was, but regardless, I still think you could've stopped down a wee bit further. Then you went on with "hand held/bracing the camera and hand on a post". That tells me that an opportunity to have rested the camera on the post was an option available to you. Even though this might not have been the optimal framing you wanted, this is where shooting fat and cropping in post (not the post you were resting on, the post processing). By having the camera resting solidly, you could have had an exposure time of 30 minutes if you wanted. This is the crux of the biscuit. Expose for the background and flash for the subject.

I also think the specular highlights in the background are overwhelming and immediately draws the eye's attention rather than the rope. Had you stopped down the lens a bit more, this effect would've been less prominent IMO and would've rendered the background more discernable without overpowering.

It really is a matter of shooting and practice. I don't mean to give you a hard time, but with situations such as this, I may take a dozen different exposures at varying settings. Only by knowing the faults can you find the diamonds. Keep shooting and taking note of the results. That's how we become more proficient. along with a bag full of excuses, I have a boat load of duds. My keeper rate is better than it was, but not nearly where I want it to be. But at the end of the day, I learn something with each click of the shutter.

Firstly, no offense taken, no worries! I don't disagree with you, I'm more giving my thoughts at the time. I may have been able to stop down a bit more, but honestly at the time I was thinking "expose the background" and didn't stop to really think about it further. Check the EXIF data on the f/3.8, that's what it says, I didn't pull that number outta a hat. To be honest, I didn't look closely enough at the photo in post in the first place. I noticed a lot that I don't like after posting it.

My rejection rate is probably 90% if I'm not taking my time and 75% if I am. I'm not a pro at all - so I appreciate the help learning. The next time I'm up there for work, I'll probably end up back at this same spot just to nail this shot down, since it has now been thoroughly ripped it apart. :lmao:

PS. I borrow lenses from a friend quite a bit, so my equipment list sometimes won't tell you the whole story.