C&C Please

[Okie Photo©]

My wife and I received this beautiful figure for Christmas from my mother and father. We just got married in September, so I thought it was pretty cool. I woke up this morning and once again had the itch to play with the new D7000. So I broke out the figure and my SB-600 and went to playing.

I am pretty new to flash, so let me have it. Without critique there would be no improvement! :thumbup:

This is SOOC minus a crop

 

[point-&-shoot]

pretty good. if i had to pick on something it would be. when using flash close your aperture a bit for better detail. im not sure what f/stop you were at on this photo but looks like a sub 8 stop try something in the 10-14 range. also when using flash remember to bring down your iso setting.

here are a couple basic rules for shooting with flash.
shutter speed controls background light.
aperture controls subject light.

you may already know these judging from your photo but what the heck. ill put em up anyways.

 

[Okie Photo©]

pretty good. if i had to pick on something it would be. when using flash close your aperture a bit for better detail. im not sure what f/stop you were at on this photo but looks like a sub 8 stop try something in the 10-14 range. also when using flash remember to bring down your iso setting.

here are a couple basic rules for shooting with flash.
shutter speed controls background light.
aperture controls subject light.

you may already know these judging from your photo but what the heck. ill put em up anyways.

Thank you for the guidance, always appreciated!!

I was actually at a f3.5, I was attempting a bokeh, that shot didn't work out as planned!!

Here is one that worked out much better!

F/4.5
1/60
ISO 320

 

[starcluster]

pretty good. if i had to pick on something it would be. when using flash close your aperture a bit for better detail. im not sure what f/stop you were at on this photo but looks like a sub 8 stop try something in the 10-14 range. also when using flash remember to bring down your iso setting.

here are a couple basic rules for shooting with flash.
shutter speed controls background light.
aperture controls subject light.

you may already know these judging from your photo but what the heck. ill put em up anyways.

Thank you for the guidance, always appreciated!!

I was actually at a f3.5, I was attempting a bokeh, that shot didn't work out as planned!!

Here is one that worked out much better!

F/4.5
1/60
ISO 320

Yes!! i prefer this one better : D

 

[arcooke]

Underexposed and tilted. Spent about 1 minute fixing it up a little.

It's not a bad photo, but I would have probably framed it differently. I'd try shooting this with the figures only visible from the waist/hands up.. and frame them off-center, to the right.

 

[Okie Photo©]

Underexposed and tilted. Spent about 1 minute fixing it up a little.

It's not a bad photo, but I would have probably framed it differently. I'd try shooting this with the figures only visible from the waist/hands up.. and frame them off-center, to the right.

Ahhh, good catch, I really didn't even notice the tilt. I knew it was a tad under exposed.

Nice edit, and interesting thought on framing. Might reshoot a bit later today and try it out!

Thank you for the input!

 

[redtippmann]

pretty good. if i had to pick on something it would be. when using flash close your aperture a bit for better detail. im not sure what f/stop you were at on this photo but looks like a sub 8 stop try something in the 10-14 range. also when using flash remember to bring down your iso setting....

Why would he want a higher f/stop? I think he would actually want a lower one. Mainly because the image is under exposed and it has a potentially distracting background. And if you are wanting detail in that sculpture you would probably be alright at f/4.5, unless you are going to be doing some macro.

But first off I would have taken the figure and moved it as far away from the tree as possible. Then (while keeping the tree in the background) zoom your lens (you might have to be further back) and the tree should still be in the background. That will help with the mixing of colored light. Because with the two shots you have the white of the flash harshly mixing with the orange of the christmas tree lights.

And if there is any way to diffuse the flash... DO IT! There are many ways to do so. If you have a light stand great! (or if you don't you can place the light on anything) If you don't have an photography umbrella you can hold a paper towel in front of the statue, in the direction the flash is pointing. That should give you a nice soft light.

And you might also want to turn the flash power up a little also. If you are using CLS (yeah!) then it is reading that shiny white figure as something it needs to keep all the detail in. So I would bump it up +1 EV and go from there.

Hope this helps!

 

[sam_justice]

Underexposed and tilted. Spent about 1 minute fixing it up a little.

Hmm I disagree, by raising the exposure you've now brought up the bokeh in the background taking the attention away from the statue and now onto the background. The only way to fix this shot is either by layer masking some curves for the statue or reshooting with more emphasis on the light on the statue.

 

[Okie Photo©]

Thank you all very much for the C&C, I think I am going to try reshooting this one sometime. The statue is just too neat, so it makes a nice subject!

I need a lot more practice with the SB-600 anyway, and now that I have the D7000 I might try some off camera stuff!

Thanks again all! :hug::

 

[point-&-shoot]

when using flash close your aperture a bit for better detail.

Why would he want a higher f/stop? I think he would actually want a lower one. Mainly because the image is under exposed and it has a potentially distracting background. And if you are wanting detail in that sculpture you would probably be alright at f/4.5, unless you are going to be doing some macro.

i said that because the subject of the first photo lacks sharpness at the bottom and being that it is the subject and all....
if you think the exposure is low then adjust your flash for more light.