C&C Please: Princess in the grass

OrionsByte · Apr 27, 2011

My daughter told me she'd let me practice on her as long as she got to wear her Rapunzel dress. She was pretty distracted though and I had a tough time getting her to hold still.

What I was specifically trying for here was to use the sun as a rim/hair light and I had an SB-600 firing in to a umbrella reflector just out of frame to the left. This was the first time I've tried this, so I'd like some C&C along those lines.

I know the composition isn't the best, and she's not looking at the camera so there are no catchlights in her eyes to speak of, but if anyone could give me some C&C specifically related to the lighting (and maybe the white balance), that would be very helpful to me.

Thanks!

OrionsByte · Apr 27, 2011

Oh, also, just a point of interest: the remote flash was fired via my D7000's popup flash in commander mode. I was standing about 12-15 feet away (shooting at 125mm for decreased DOF), in direct sunlight, and the popup flash still managed to set off the slave. I was impressed.

OrionsByte · Apr 28, 2011

Anyone? Please?

Speckles · Apr 28, 2011

Sorry, I know dick about lighting. If it means anything to you, I like the photo. Your daughter is precious and my ladies would be super jealous of the Rapunzel dress. My 4 year old is determined to have her hair as long as Rapunzel's. Yikes.

thebutler4 · Apr 28, 2011

I like it! .. the crop is a little tight for my taste .. I don't mind that she is not looking at the camera either .. good focus, I might say the hair light is a little out of contrast of the sun. Its a little bright ... but other than that it looks pretty damn good. nice work!

rateeg · Apr 28, 2011

you should have done a lanscape frame with more grass on the left.

sanderso · Apr 28, 2011

To my very untrained eye, seems like her face could be a bit brighter....to bring out more of her features. I like the rim lighting..good work.

BTW...a very cute model! (Reminds me of when my adult daughter was that age!)

OrionsByte · Apr 28, 2011

sanderso said:
seems like her face could be a bit brighter....to bring out more of her features

That's kind of what I was wondering too. I think my failure was trying to shoot the SB-600 in to the umbrella rather than just shoot it bare. Those couple stops of lost light made it really hard to compete with the sun, but that's what the experiment was all about.

I did take some in landscape, and originally the crop wasn't as tight, but the leg of the light stand was visible in those, and there was a neighborhood kid hanging around (which is why my daughter was distracted) that I was trying to avoid getting in the shot. Eventually I gave up on that and asked her if she wanted to be in the picture (I'm not going to post pictures of someone else's kid here without permission, but they came out pretty cute). Her parents later asked me how much I would charge for a session. :lol:

Anyways, those "reasons" are bordering on "excuses" which is why I wasn't really looking for critique on the composition. I already know what's wrong with it.

What do you guys think of the white balance? Too warm? Too magenta?