C&C these model shots

Aze · Aug 9, 2011

I had a chance this past week to work with a new model, neither of us have much experience so at least we didn't have great expectations of each other. Here are two shots from the shoot, the only edits are some slight cropping, wb adjustments and a little level adjusting:

1.

iso 100 50mm f8 1/500
I think the shadows on her face are too much and I should have gotten more fill light in her face. I'm not sure about the horizon, I've read that if it intersects the subject you get a better sense of three dimensions, but I'm not sure cutting through her head was correct.

2.

iso 100 50mm f8 1/500
Here her face was way too dark, I had to lighten it up in Lightroom, I'm really unhappy with that. I think the horizon is ok here, but its her head again and I'm just getting the feeling that's bad.

My biggest complaint is that for shooting at ISO 100 I feel like these shots are rather grainy. I really feel like my iso performance is horrible and a lot of my pictures are grainy, this is really bothering me. Also this was shot at an awful time of day, it was about 4:30pm, I really wanted to shoot later but had to work with this. I think having someone assisting with my reflector would have helped, I couldn't get it in these shots without blowing away. Anyway, please be brutally honest. I really want to improve how I shoot people. Another weird thing I noticed, these photos are really desaturated in chrome, but look better in FF...

MissCream · Aug 9, 2011

If your pictures are under exposed at iso100 there will be noise in the darker areas from the lack of detail. It's not your camera

MattK0138 · Aug 9, 2011

She doesn't look to be enjoying the shoot. Nerves maybe? Otherwise they are really dark was it overcast? It doesn't appear to be much natural lighting. I think she is placed in frame well but other than that it's dark sky dark water. I am a noob so take it with a grain if salt. Hope you get another crack at it maybe take some lighting equipment if you have some.

Bitter Jeweler · Aug 9, 2011

Awww...the poor thing has no legs.

fokker · Aug 9, 2011

Both shots are quite badly underexposed, as you already pointed out they needed some fill light on her face in particular.

In the past I have done shots when I haven't had anyone to hold a reflector, so I've put the camera on a tripod and used a wireless remote shutter release while holding the reflector myself. It works but is more time-consuming in setting up each shot than if you have a helper.

mishele · Aug 9, 2011

Bitter Jeweler said:
Awww...the poor thing has no legs.

She has nipples though.

MattK0138 · Aug 9, 2011

They seem lovely

Aze · Aug 9, 2011

@bitter, hah thanks, I was a bit worried she buried her knees too deep in the sand, the waves were causing her to sink, but yeah it does look like that.

It was actually really bright out, A lot of shots were unusable because she was squinting a lot. I really hated having to shoot so early in the day, but at least I got some experience from the shoot. As far as it being dark, I shot in raw so I can bring up the exposure a lot if needed.

@MissCream, my histograms didn't show anything getting clipped out in the shadows, but most the shots were a bit on the low side. I was hoping that I could keep them lower and raise the exposure later as I was working with raw formatting. Should I have gone for better exposure sooc?

@Fokker, I hear ya. I'm a bit skittish near water as I lost a flash to the ocean, luckily it was replaced under warranty, but anything on a stand in the water freaks me out.

I'm guessing these shots are throw-aways. I'm fine with that as long as I can learn for next time. What other things could I have corrected?

MissCream · Aug 9, 2011

Aze said:
@MissCream, my histograms didn't show anything getting clipped out in the shadows, but most the shots were a bit on the low side. I was hoping that I could keep them lower and raise the exposure later as I was working with raw formatting. Should I have gone for better exposure sooc?

There was a thread in the Off Topic section
Tips You Had to Learn that Nobody Taught You. My answer was "Don't keep shooting whatever you are shooting with the intent of fixing something that is wrong in PP, fix it during the shoot... May seem obvious but when I first started I always felt so rushed I wouldn't take the time to fix the little things."

Valid · Aug 9, 2011

I really like these shots. Your model looks really pretty!

I don't live near the ocean so I can't really give any advice from experience. I'm not sure how the lighting behaves near that much water. I have seen shots that use the water itself to reflect light, though with that I assume time of day is critical. Generally I would watch the light around her face. Perhaps have an assistant with a light reflector if possible to fill in the shadows. Another reason why she may seem so dark is because of her pure white outfit. I don't know if that was your choice or the model's but generally tan to darker skin tones look better in off-white than pure white. Pure white will make the subject look darker due to the contrast.

For full body shots it's really important to look at the whole body. See where her legs, arms, and hands are moving.

Something in post that might help is to give your shadows tonal quality. Some of your shadows are really heavily black, and natural shadows can have warm or cold tones to them.

Netskimmer · Aug 9, 2011

I would probably remove the tan lines.

Mesoam · Aug 10, 2011

you need a fill flash to compensate for the lack of light on her face

Aze · Aug 10, 2011

@Netskimmer, definitely. I haven't done any manipulation yet so I could get better CC on my actual photo before I covered up or hid mistakes in PP.

@Mesoam. I am considering getting a better flash. My current one won't sync past 1/250 and at that slow a shutter speed I would have had a smaller aperture than I really wanted.

I think I need to stick to my guns about no beach shots during a high sun, either the lighting of the model looks bad, or they are squinting because its too bright. Or get a flash that can overpower the sun.