C&C - Beginner landscapes and portraits

[rizomes]

Hi,
I'm pretty new to SLR photography and I'm doing my best to improve what I do and still take pleasure in the process.
Here are some of the shots I haven't rejected.

1) This on was taken in the island of Ouessant, France. The cloud cover was very homogenous unfortunnately.
Model: Canon EOS REBEL T1i - Shutter Speed: 1/3000 second - Aperture: F/1.8 - Focal Length: 50 mm - ISO Speed: 200

2) Ouessant, France - A miniature I'd like to live into.
Canon EOS REBEL T1i - Shutter Speed: 1/125 second - Aperture: F/4.5 - Focal Length: 90 mm - ISO Speed: 100

3) Ouessant, France - I love the overall scale of the rocks and how it throws the people on top away.
Canon EOS REBEL T1i - Shutter Speed: 1/1000 second - Aperture: F/4.0 - Focal Length: 70 mm - ISO Speed: 200

4) Look no hands! - it's colorfull, I know. Well, it was a colorfull day anyways.
Canon EOS 5D - Shutter Speed: 1/1600 second - Aperture: F/1.8 - Focal Length: 50 mm - ISO Speed: 800

5) My kid. The sun was lowering down on the horizon, giving a very smooth light.
Canon EOS REBEL T1i - Shutter Speed: 1/3000 second - Aperture: F/1.8 - Focal Length: 50 mm - ISO Speed: 400

I'd love to take more street pictures and generally involve more strangers into my pics but I'm too shy for that actually (And I'm working on it).
I've got more pics but I guess it's enough as a start. These pictures illustrate what kind of photography I'm doing a this moment. Nice landscape I'm falling for, and people I love but who get unfortunnately blurred way to often.
And I'd love to create some better pictures, that,s for sure.

Your comments & crits are welcome. Thanks!

(Tech note: I've recently switched from a recently bought 500D to a 5D as the noise was killing me in low light environment). I'm full FF and RAW now (cheers).

 

[rizomes]

I have noticed a strong green bounce on most of the skin tones (in the shadow part) when I'm doing candid portraits. I generally struggle to get rid of it while post-processing.

Is it something you have to cope with when shooting outside with natural light or is it just me? Are there ways to keep that greenish shadow under control?

Thanks.

 

[Foques]

ugh.. new, huh?

I love these shots.. Yeah, could be tweaked a little bit, but composition is appealing to me.
I really don't like kids shots, but #3 is adorable.

 

[Derrel]

Well, one of the things about your work here is that MOST of it is shot around physical landscapes that have large amounts of green in them,and that green is actually,physically reflected into the shadow areas. Lots of grass, or evergreen trees and grass, and so on--it can cause your shadows to have a slight excess amount of green. One thing you can do is to add a slight magenta amount to the shadow values in Photoshop, at the post-processing stage.

A global white balance shift can help offset most of the excessive yellow look or an overall color cast, but if there is actually a lot of greenery round, I find that the shadow values,especially, will have a slight green tinge whenever the subject is close to things like green grass, evergreen hedges, etc.

You can deal with it several ways in post processing: Variations, Selective Color, Hue,etc. It's hard to describe the myriad ways to do color corrections; you can even apply some of the Color Filter Effect, and use a Warming Filter effect to eliminate the slight green bias caused by large expanses of green grass,trees, or foliage. Back in the 1980's, this was a major PITA issue.

 

[pharmakon]

I like 3 and 4...

In 3 I think the people made the shot... I never would have noticed the scale of the scene without them. Would love to see it on a clear morning.

For #4 I think you did a really good job with focusing considering the moving subject and small DOF. I like all the color in the shot as well.

I know some people here don't like this kind of comment, but I think your shots are really good for some one who is "Pretty new to SLR photography"

 

[rizomes]

ugh.. new, huh?
I love these shots.. Yeah, could be tweaked a little bit, but composition is appealing to me.
I really don't like kids shots, but #3 is adorable.

Yep, it's a swindle to get more love! ^^
Seriously, I've been a cg artist for the last 15 years. It might help a bit for basic things like compo and color, I guess. And since I've bought my first SLR last july, I've shot 8000 pictures (Didn't keep much though, but it's a lot of trials and errors in 3 months). Thanks for the comments. Could you tell what kind of tweak you had in mind?

... One thing you can do is to add a slight magenta amount to the shadow values in Photoshop

As well as the magenta offset, I'll give a try to your other great suggestions.

... In 3 I think the people made the shot...

#3 - The location was amazing. I generally avoid adding people in my pictures but this landscape was too wide and I couldn't wait for them to walk outside of "my" frame!! Your suggestion made me think about it. This is the kind of accident that improve a normal shot.
In #4, as the swing was moving and I was pushing my daughter with one hand, I set the focus at the apex of one swing and waited for her to come back for the shot. I've found the very thin DOF a bit disturbing with her defocussed hands in the middle of the frame. But as you said: This portrait is very genuine and it makes the picture really fresh. I feel lucky as I've just had 3 tries for this one, as my primary goal was to spend some time playing with my kind. Thanks for your comments!

 

[Foques]

Sure.
first tweak i would do is to frame the last two shots...

1.
I would decrease grees saturation on the sheep. Make it a little whiter
brighten up grass, just a hair.

2.
I would not do anything but saturate greens, magentas and yellows.
(OR HDR it?)

3.
LIGHTLY brighten up the bottom of the image. nothing else.
People on the top are completing the shot.
If I wanted to go tooo far, i'd photoshop a mist on the bottom of the shot.
a very light mist.

 

[rizomes]

Great. I've tried with the sheep. Now whiter, it pops out of the frame! Thanks.

Here's a quick one taken yesterday evening when my girlfriend was asleep on the couch. Very dim lights and the TV on (talk about ideal conditions!)
That's what I like with the 5D: Even at 1600 iso, the noise is very well under control.

Canon EOS 5D - Shutter Speed: 1/8 second - Aperture: F/2.8 - Focal Length: 90 mm - ISO Speed: 1600

 

[DScience]

Should have gotten the 7D. That thing is pretty acceptable at ISO 6400

 

[rizomes]

I've heard good things about the 7D, but I wanted a full frame body.
Buying a used 5D was a good opportunity to keep the techno geek (in me) at bay, save a bit of money, and still have a great camera (minus many recent features) in the end.