Critiques on lighting here....

[ronlane]

LM, It's not that far off. You have okay to edit, so I played with it and went up a third on exposure and pulled the highlights down -24 and shadows up 21 and got this (edited in LR4). It is not exactly the same exposure as #1 but it's not far off. If you want, I can remove this edit.

 

[Lmphotos]

LM, It's not that far off. You have okay to edit, so I played with it and went up a third on exposure and pulled the highlights down -24 and shadows up 21 and got this (edited in LR4). It is not exactly the same exposure as #1 but it's not far off. If you want, I can remove this edit.

View attachment 39252

I dont mind the edit but still do not care for it :S I played around a bit in light room on one from this set but just do not like it at all. But like I said this was all just a learning exercise and to play around its just an issue I have noticed I have been having around sunset

 

[ronlane]

I can understand about not being happy with a set of photos that you were working as an exercise. I am the same way and I try to use them to work on my LR and PSE post.

 

[Lmphotos]

I can understand about not being happy with a set of photos that you were working as an exercise. I am the same way and I try to use them to work on my LR and PSE post.

I have done that in the past and if it is an image I HAVE to save then I go ahead but right now I am so obsessed with getting it near perfect "in camera" that when I see one like the above I just groan....

 

[katastrophe_katy]

How can it be underexposed when the sky is that blown out? When the sun is a bit higher I have no problem but when it gets lower I always run into this. The sky was such a pretty orange and I metered and had my settings for about. 1/3 stop underexposed so how did the sky get like that

I've noticed that when someone tells you the picture is underexposed, it's because there's too big a difference in toning with the subject and background AND/OR the subject is too dark. His skin looks a little too dark to me. Not much, but still. Maybe try to do this shot again at a different time of day, or maybe at the same time, but have him FACING the light and your back to it.

How can it be underexposed when the sky is that blown out? When the sun is a bit higher I have no problem but when it gets lower I always run into this. The sky was such a pretty orange and I metered and had my settings for about. 1/3 stop underexposed so how did the sky get like that

Because the difference between the subject and the sky is too much. What you are supposed to do is meter the sky, and then match or come close to matching the exposure of the sky with your flash's output. If there is a 2 stop difference,
your subject is going to look very under exposed.


In other words, if the sky metered at f/11, and you are shooting at f/8 and your flash is set for f/5.6, your sky is going to be blown out and your subject is going to be too dark.
To fix the exposure in number 2, you could have halved the distance of the light to the subject(by moving it closer and lower) and decreased the aperture.

I get the whole metering and flash output and when the sun is not directly behind them all these things work great why does this only happen when the sun is lower?

That's just it; because the sun is lower. The higher the sun is, the more light you get. The lower the sun, the less light.

I love the pictures though. The picture of your niece is perfect. I love it. The one of your nephew is just a bit underexposed. You might try selectively brightening his skin tone, but not too much. This looks to be his natural complexion, but the shadowing from the way he's facing seems to make him a bit darker due to the light not shining on him. They're both beautiful pictures and GORGEOUS kids.