Beach Practice Shoot: C&C!

JackRabbit

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Ok, so this is a shoot that I did with my friend Josh and my sister to practice for the shoot that I have planned for Friday with a few girls for their senior portraits. So anyways, I was super pissed at myself for not bringing at least one flash with me to this because the sun was in all the wrong places but whatever, I think it worked out decently. I really am looking for technical critiques. I don't want "I like these" or "I hate these" unless it is followed by something constructive and why it is that you like/hate them.


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I did a different type of post process on this one too. This one was slightly desaturated and then a photo filter was added to give it some color.
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I tried a different post process on this. Basically what I did was I desaturated the greens in RAW. Other than that and a few other tweaks, there was nothing else done to this.
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I think this is definitely my best attempt at B&W yet though that it still not saying much I guess... You tell me
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I personally don't think the pier is distracting.

I think a reflector or fill-flash would work great for these shots, lighten up the shadows some. It would also help to balance the bright background with the subject (first shot). There is something distracting in the lower right on the first, which you are probably aware of.


Your composition is pretty good. I'm no pro at posing people, so there may be some details I'm not noticing, but I found them pleasing.
 
I personally don't think the pier is distracting.

I think a reflector or fill-flash would work great for these shots, lighten up the shadows some. It would also help to balance the bright background with the subject (first shot). There is something distracting in the lower right on the first, which you are probably aware of.


Your composition is pretty good. I'm no pro at posing people, so there may be some details I'm not noticing, but I found them pleasing.

Exactly what I was going to say.

Most of the portraits are back lit which leaves the subject's face being under exposed. If you don't have lights, use a reflector. If you don't have a reflector, go to walmart and get one of those windshield screen thrings people put up. They can work well and they're cheap.
 
Really? You find the pier distracting?

No, the rock on the right.

I really enjoy the PP on #1. I am a fan of desaturation. But you said you added a photo filter? What do you mean by that?
 
The best thing about these is the lighting and location you worked in. The light was sweet, but the shadow values do look a bit muddy, due to the extreme contrast range of the scene and the backlighting. When shooting against the light like that later in the day, the lens needs to be immaculately clean, especially on the rear element, you need to have a lens shade in place, and it really helps to have a shadow actually being cast on the front element by having either a compendium lens hood, or an assistant with a black card actually casting a shadow on the front element of the lens, especially if you have a flare-prone lens like the Canon 50/1.8, or any number of mega-multi-element zoom lenses that do not shoot really,really well "against the light".

Also, like Village Idiot said, some kind of reflector to fill in the shadows would really help the overall "look" of the shots when shooting toward the ocean and the afternoon sky and the sun--most digital cameras simply can NOT handle that wide of a dynamic range and still look good, or look realistic. Some kind of help is needed for the sensor to bridge that extreme dynamic range; either fill-in flash, which will change the color temperature relationship foreground/background, or reflector fill, which will reflect the actual ambient light back onto the subject and which will harmonize pretty easily. Even dropping a white bed sheet or a cheap foil "space blanket" on the ground right in front of the person will help provide fill-in light.
I do think you're doing pretty well with your photography, but one thing I have noticed is that you're missing the focus a bit on some of your shoots. Not by much on most shots, but on a number of your shots you're shooting with not quite enough depth of field to get the entire face or person into acceptable focus,which is visible in the largest-size samples you have on Flickr. Overall though, I see that you are working hard on improving and are actually improving your work every month. Your progress seems to be on a pretty steep upward trajectory at this point,and your technicals and your artistic decisions seem to be steadily improving. The last photo, the B&W, makes good use of the subject and the location. It could be a bit snappier, but then again, the backlighting is causing the dynamic range to really stretch the sensor's dynamic range, and I can see that the highest tonal values are blown out and starting to posterize, which the B&W conversion minimizes.
This kind of extreme scene dynamic range is a place where the FujiFilm S3 Pro and S5 Pro and their extended highlight dynamic range sensors earned a special place--no other sensor can handle those really super-bright sky tones as well.
 
The best thing about these is the lighting and location you worked in. The light was sweet, but the shadow values do look a bit muddy, due to the extreme contrast range of the scene and the backlighting. When shooting against the light like that later in the day, the lens needs to be immaculately clean, especially on the rear element, you need to have a lens shade in place, and it really helps to have a shadow actually being cast on the front element by having either a compendium lens hood, or an assistant with a black card actually casting a shadow on the front element of the lens, especially if you have a flare-prone lens like the Canon 50/1.8, or any number of mega-multi-element zoom lenses that do not shoot really,really well "against the light".

Also, like Village Idiot said, some kind of reflector to fill in the shadows would really help the overall "look" of the shots when shooting toward the ocean and the afternoon sky and the sun--most digital cameras simply can NOT handle that wide of a dynamic range and still look good, or look realistic. Some kind of help is needed for the sensor to bridge that extreme dynamic range; either fill-in flash, which will change the color temperature relationship foreground/background, or reflector fill, which will reflect the actual ambient light back onto the subject and which will harmonize pretty easily. Even dropping a white bed sheet or a cheap foil "space blanket" on the ground right in front of the person will help provide fill-in light.
I do think you're doing pretty well with your photography, but one thing I have noticed is that you're missing the focus a bit on some of your shoots. Not by much on most shots, but on a number of your shots you're shooting with not quite enough depth of field to get the entire face or person into acceptable focus,which is visible in the largest-size samples you have on Flickr. Overall though, I see that you are working hard on improving and are actually improving your work every month. Your progress seems to be on a pretty steep upward trajectory at this point,and your technicals and your artistic decisions seem to be steadily improving. The last photo, the B&W, makes good use of the subject and the location. It could be a bit snappier, but then again, the backlighting is causing the dynamic range to really stretch the sensor's dynamic range, and I can see that the highest tonal values are blown out and starting to posterize, which the B&W conversion minimizes.
This kind of extreme scene dynamic range is a place where the FujiFilm S3 Pro and S5 Pro and their extended highlight dynamic range sensors earned a special place--no other sensor can handle those really super-bright sky tones as well.

Yeah, I like I said, I was just kicking myself the whole time I was there because I didn't bring any of my flashes... I will definitely be bringing them on my shoot tomorrow.

As for the lack of DOF problem, the 50mm f/1.8 just can't do sharp faces and still have a shallow DOF. However, as of today, this....
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will be the solution to my problem. :sexywink:;):D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
 
Why is everyone so sad?
 
Really? You find the pier distracting?
Perhaps he is talking about the bokeh. Don't take this personal, and I've seen some pretty expensive lenses with the same problem, but the one you used shows a very unpleasant bokeh. It's as if the background is in the midst of an earthquake. #5 isn't too bad, though. Maybe your 50mm with the 2X converter would do better. I used to love that set up for portraits.

Other than that and the fact that your sister and buddy need to loosen up more, I really like what you did with the light. As they are, they are all keepers.

And, good luck on your new lens.
 

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