An attempt at natural lighting

Figment · Sep 4, 2009

Ok, so I was toying around this morning, and decided to con my wife into posing for a photo. Just wanted to get some C&C on it.
I know the back grounds kind of busy, but I'm more concerned with the lighting. I've been trying to tune my eye a little better to lighting.
Shot with no flash, no bounce, nothing. Just straight hand held at around 8:30 in the morning.

Samanax · Sep 4, 2009

The light hitting your wife looks fine to me. Looks like you had her stand in the shade instead of in the morning sunlight.

Figment · Sep 4, 2009

Yea. I moved her around a bit to get her kind of close to some sun, but not be IN the sun. Personally, I thought it turned out to be a really nice shot of her.. She of course hates it.

thenikonguy · Sep 4, 2009

Figment said:
She of course hates it.

they always do!!

saphoto · Sep 4, 2009

thenikonguy said:
Figment said:

She of course hates it.

Click to expand...

they always do!!

Isn't that the truth? Haha.

c.cloudwalker · Sep 4, 2009

Figment said:
She of course hates it.

:lmao:

:lmao:

:lmao:

Yes, no problem taking a photo with natural light only. It is just a question of putting the right elements together. Time of day, location of the subject, etc, etc. And for a portrait you can almost always do it. But reflectors can be made cheaply and there is no reason to not use one if you need one to make your photo better.

And keep in mind that if you were shooting a landscape, it would be harder. Some people can move mountains but not me :lol:

With some type of photography you will have to work harder on some of the elements.

In the case of this portrait of your wife, you may have gotten a better background by using a reflector or a fill flash. Not the point of your exercise, true, but it still is techniques worth learning.

Christie Photo · Sep 4, 2009

Well... the lighting on her is not far off. It needs to be more directional. So once you find a spot like this, try walking around her in a semi-circle. Have her watch you... turning her head as you move. Watch the how the light falls on her as you move. You might even come up with a better background by doing this.

Frame your subject more carefully. Trees and flowers are nice, but remember you're making a portrait of her and they are merely props.

With a bit of cropping, some other adjustments, and a bit of vignetting, she might have this one less.

-Pete

Dominantly · Sep 4, 2009

I really really like shooting with that warm light that pops up over the mountain in the morning.
I think you did a good job with the original photo. It's not bad at all, but I would have probably put her in the sun, just for fun.

512 · Sep 4, 2009

the first shot is too large and in this case is better a portrait orientation. mind the almost blown out palm on the right. a -1/3 EV could be an idea in this conditions

Figment · Sep 4, 2009

Thanks for the tips guys!
I'm gonna have to drag her out again one morning and make her pose for me again. "But I SUCK at posing and smiling!!!" I can hear it already. Hehe. She knew what she was getting into when I started this hobby.
I agree the shots way too busy and should have cropped it before posting.
The crop that Pete did is a nice job, but personally (And this is totally just my own personal taste, not at ALL a jab at your skill) it's a little dark/soft for my taste. One of the things I Thought turned out GREAT on my shot was her skin tone. But again, that's my own personal view, and in NO WAY reflects negatively on your skill Pete.

Thanks again gang. Still getting the hang of this whole SLR thing. Now that works slowing down, I hope to do some more night shots soon. Gonna drive out to the desert soon and do some playing around.

Can't wait

camz · Sep 4, 2009

You said you got your wife's skin tones right in the shot. That's actually one of the most critical things you can do as a photographer(very difficult to be consistent) especially if the client doesn't prefer artistic post processing.

She's somewhat centered and the space on the right of the shot is somewhat empty and doesn't do much. I usually shoot and leave space for 3 reasons:

1) A brand/product logo will be inserted into that space(Models sometimes love these for their portfolio - can insert gap, guess, gucci etc.)
2) The space compliments the subject
3) I also leave space when I shoot to have an option of cropping whatever way I want in post.

When shooting natural light since your objective was too look for shade also spot check for exposure evenness - watch out for the backgrounds that might be overexposed. Looking at the picture another good location would be by the wall on the right handside behind your wife - the wall looks like it's under a shade but I don't know how far out from it. If you wanted your wife to remain on the same location I would've had her turn to her right and have that shaded wall as the background in order to avoid some of the morning sun currently hitting the building behind her. If you wanted to blur the background, bokeh would also be more pleasant if the background was evenly exposed. Hope that helps.

Dominantly · Sep 4, 2009

Working with a compressed photo.. *disclaimer

But here is how I would have enhanced it.

CamCracker · Sep 4, 2009

Figment said:
Thanks for the tips guys!
I'm gonna have to drag her out again one morning and make her pose for me again. "But I SUCK at posing and smiling!!!" I can hear it already. Hehe. She knew what she was getting into when I started this hobby.
I agree the shots way too busy and should have cropped it before posting.
The crop that Pete did is a nice job, but personally (And this is totally just my own personal taste, not at ALL a jab at your skill) it's a little dark/soft for my taste. One of the things I Thought turned out GREAT on my shot was her skin tone. But again, that's my own personal view, and in NO WAY reflects negatively on your skill Pete.

Thanks again gang. Still getting the hang of this whole SLR thing. Now that works slowing down, I hope to do some more night shots soon. Gonna drive out to the desert soon and do some playing around. Can't wait

I think that going to a desert to take pictures would be sweet! If you post the pictures, I can't wait to see them. It would be something unique, because not a lot of people live near a desert. Or at least me for that matter.

Figment · Sep 4, 2009

Dominantly said:
Working with a compressed photo.. *disclaimer

But here is how I would have enhanced it.

Now THAT I like.

Figment · Sep 4, 2009

CamCracker said:
Figment said:

Thanks for the tips guys!
I'm gonna have to drag her out again one morning and make her pose for me again. "But I SUCK at posing and smiling!!!" I can hear it already. Hehe. She knew what she was getting into when I started this hobby.
I agree the shots way too busy and should have cropped it before posting.
The crop that Pete did is a nice job, but personally (And this is totally just my own personal taste, not at ALL a jab at your skill) it's a little dark/soft for my taste. One of the things I Thought turned out GREAT on my shot was her skin tone. But again, that's my own personal view, and in NO WAY reflects negatively on your skill Pete.

Thanks again gang. Still getting the hang of this whole SLR thing. Now that works slowing down, I hope to do some more night shots soon. Gonna drive out to the desert soon and do some playing around. Can't wait

Click to expand...

I think that going to a desert to take pictures would be sweet! If you post the pictures, I can't wait to see them. It would be something unique, because not a lot of people live near a desert. Or at least me for that matter.

Oh, I'll definitely post them. I live in SoCal and travel to the High Desert fairly often, just haven't humped the gear up there when I've done it. I'm actually REALLY looking forward to winter up there. Some BEAUTIFUL Mountain shots with the snowcaps and such.