Disney World: Photo or Snapshot?

[jwbryson1]

A few images I took at Disney World last week with my D90, bouncing light with my SB-700. Would you consider these to be decent images or just snapshots? Thanks for looking.

1.

[/URL] Getting Nails Done-1 by jwbryson1, on Flickr[/IMG]



2.

[/URL] Getting Hair Done-1 by jwbryson1, on Flickr[/IMG]



3.

[/URL] Dinner at Cinderella's Castle-1 by jwbryson1, on Flickr[/IMG]

 

[rexbobcat]

Snapshots. The harsh behind-subject shadows plus the flatness brought on by the head on flash make me believe so.

In the last one there is no deliberation when it comes to lighting or composition. It looks like a typical vacation shot.

On a side note: I want to go to Disney World just once in my life.....

 

[jwbryson1]

Snapshots. The harsh behind-subject shadows plus the flatness brought on by the head on flash make me believe so.

In the last one there is no deliberation when it comes to lighting or composition. It looks like a typical vacation shot.

On a side note: I want to go to Disney World just once in my life.....

Thanks for the comments. As I indicated in my original post, these were all shot with bounced light--no "head on" flash as you indicated in your response. Alas, I agree. Not much more than snapshots but still fun to take and reflect on later.

 

[Robin Usagani]

You need to work on your bounced flash.

Also, you didnt let enough ambient light in. Slow down your shutter speed. Maybe 1/60. 1&2, the background is too dark.

 

[jwbryson1]

You need to work on your bounced flash.

Also, you didnt let enough ambient light in. Slow down your shutter speed. Maybe 1/60. 1&2, the background is too dark.

If I slow down my s/s won't I get blurred images?

 

[Robin Usagani]

your flash takes care most of your light. Your flash will freeze the movement and probably wont be visible with little movement with the ambient light you got.

 

[jwbryson1]

your flash takes care most of your light. Your flash will freeze the movement and probably wont be visible with little movement with the ambient light you got.

Thanks. Just when I feel like I know something, somebody comes along who knows SO much more and I realize how little I really know about lighting, etc. :mrgreen:


Practice, practice, practice....

:cheers:

 

[Robin Usagani]

jwbryson, theoretically... if you were in a pitch black room, you shoot with a flash and 10 second shutterspeed, you wont get any motion blur even if the subject is running. In this case, you are mixing flash and ambient, the flash will freeze the movement to a certain point especially if the subject doesnt move that much.

 

[sm4him]

Is it really possible to go on vacation to Disney World and get great "photographs" instead of "snapshots?"

I think sometimes it's much more important to MAKE memories than it is to capture them.

These are good photos, to me, because they will forever convey to your family the memories of this vacation. They may never win the critical acclaim of other photographers, but they don't need to.

 

[jwbryson1]

jwbryson, theoretically... if you were in a pitch black room, you shoot with a flash and 10 second shutterspeed, you wont get any motion blur even if the subject is running. In this case, you are mixing flash and ambient, the flash will freeze the movement to a certain point especially if the subject doesnt move that much.

Thanks. I'm reading Neil's book on mixing ambient with flash and still learning. I appreciate the feedback!!

 

[rexbobcat]

Snapshots. The harsh behind-subject shadows plus the flatness brought on by the head on flash make me believe so.

In the last one there is no deliberation when it comes to lighting or composition. It looks like a typical vacation shot.

On a side note: I want to go to Disney World just once in my life.....

Thanks for the comments. As I indicated in my original post, these were all shot with bounced light--no "head on" flash as you indicated in your response. Alas, I agree. Not much more than snapshots but still fun to take and reflect on later.

If you are in very confined spaces your bounce flash will produce shadows behind the subject if it's near the lens axis unfortunately...

It's like when you move a flash closer to a wall the range (or angle I think) of the light becomes narrower. The farther you get away from the wall, the more coverage the flash has. So basically you're bouncing more of the flash back at yourself than you are beind them.

But even in large space keeping the flash near the lens axis when the subject is close to a solid backdrop is a bad idea. I don't know of any way to reduce the shadows unless you take the flash completely off-camera.

 

[Designer]

I know you wrote "bounce flash", but it sure looks to me as if it is a direct flash.

 

[Designer]

Is it really possible to go on vacation to Disney World and get great "photographs" instead of "snapshots?"

Management hires the really good stuff. Visitors are lucky to get some halfway descent snapshots.

 

[RichardsTPF]

I think sometimes it's much more important to MAKE memories than it is to capture them.

These are good photos, to me, because they will forever convey to your family the memories of this vacation. They may never win the critical acclaim of other photographers, but they don't need to.

Agree.
As a noob with no experience, it takes me 15-20mins to setup light, exposure and compose image, and I still can not get satisfied image . It's hard to take good photography during vacation. Try enjoy your time with family instead of focusing on taking pictures. These are good photos , better than regular snapshot.

Of course, more practice give you more experience. I will practice on-camera bounced flash to shot vacation photos.

How often do any member here take off camera shot during vacation? Just curiosity. And how do you do it?

 

[jwbryson1]

I know you wrote "bounce flash", but it sure looks to me as if it is a direct flash.

Hard to disagree with that. For these images, I turned my camera 90 degrees to portrait "format," turned my SB-700 up about 45 degrees and pulled out the white reflector card to bounce light onto her face. This was the suggestion by the DW photographer who was also shooting the room.