Experiment: New Backdrop, New Reflector... Yay for Toys!!!

Photographiend · Mar 25, 2013

Last time I posted images everyone commented on how the focus was just not there in my pics. I am still working on it. But I have changed some of the settings. Instead of standard I increased the detail to "Fine". As far as composition it had 3 settings Hard, Normal, and Soft. Being that it was already set for Normal I moved it up to hard (still not sure I like it better but ya learn as ya go I guess). Also, I am now controlling all the settings (as much as possible) apart from the focus that is still automatic.

Here are the new ones from playing around this morning with the new toys.

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Gold Reflector

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Silver reflector

Shooting all natural light.

tirediron · Mar 25, 2013

Focus seems good, but there's a strong green cast in both images.

Photographiend · Mar 25, 2013

What would cause that? and how do I fix it?

Derrel · Mar 25, 2013

The camera is also a bit too close to be "optimal"... the closenes of the camera, combined with the focal length of the lens being used, is making her nose appear unnaturally large, in comparison to the rest of her head and ears....this effect is pretty commonly seen when the camera is closer than about five feet. As to the greenish undertone, yes, I see it. It could be a white balance issue, or could be the way the camera is procvessing the images, or maybe, just maybe, there's a wall or large object with very strong color nearby???

Granddad · Mar 25, 2013

What Derrel said. Focus is good, pose is good (great model!), use of natural light with reflector is pretty good. Cropping isn't bad but try to avoid cropping at the elbows (or any joints). The wb issue may be your bridge camera, what is it? The WB issues could be fixed in post.

All in all, I'd give 'em a pass mark.

Photographiend · Mar 25, 2013

FujiFilm FinePix S4250. Nothing in the environment that could be the source for the green. Although I have noticed her fair skin will pick up all sorts of colors from the environment.

That tip about being too close to the person you are taking a pic of will come in handy too. Although usually I try to get closer to improve the clarity of the eyes. Seems the farther I am the more likely the camera is to pick some obscure point to focus on. I try not to zoom so I can avoid the issue of zoom distortion... Maybe I could give the zoom another shot for the up close pics.

Thanks for all the advice guys :mrgreen:

Chad · Mar 25, 2013

Nice shots, but I agree with the above comments. Green cast - white balance issue and camera to close to subject

2WheelPhoto · Mar 25, 2013

Toys are a good thing

gregtallica · Mar 26, 2013

My only comment that hasn't been said is I definitely like the silver better. My opinion.

cgipson1 · Mar 26, 2013

Can you post the original, with no editing? Curious to see what it looks like. The image has some off looking artifacts. Did you run some sort of preset or something?

Here is a quick edit and color correction for comparison

Derrel · Mar 26, 2013

cgipson1 said:
Can you post the original, with no editing? Curious to see what it looks like. The image has some off looking artifacts. Did you run some sort of preset or something?

Here is a quick edit and color correction for comparison

View attachment 40093

Like my grandpappy used to say, "Now we're loggin'!"

(Funny...that was always said when we were cutting down trees and sawing them up into rounds or splitting the firewood....)

Photographiend · Mar 26, 2013

I actually didn't do too much editing with this set. Just cropping really. Could compressing the file create an artifact? I usually post them from my FB which compresses them quite a bit. Had to down size the original to get it to post here.

Please tell me what you are seeing so I know what I am looking for.

cgipson1 · Mar 26, 2013

Photographiend said:
I actually didn't do too much editing with this set. Just cropping really. Could compressing the file create an artifact? I usually post them from my FB which compresses them quite a bit. Had to down size the original to get it to post here.

Please tell me what you are seeing so I know what I am looking for.

My advice is DONT post from FB... they suck the life out of images. Get a Flickr account... best option. Or Photobucket.... but make sure you size the images to 1000 long side before you post them to PB, or they will compress the images badly too. Also check the WB on your camera.... set it daylight, flash, or cloudy day..... not auto... not Fluorescent, etc...

What do you see when you look at the edit I posted? good color? too red? too green? anything odd?

Photographiend · Mar 27, 2013

Great advice. Thanks.

The Edit: Looks a bit on the red side to me. Although the tone is preferable on her skin and strawberry hair.

cgipson1 · Mar 27, 2013

Photographiend said:
Great advice. Thanks.

The Edit: Looks a bit on the red side to me. Although the tone is preferable on her skin and strawberry hair.

I put this together to let you see why she is the color she is. Tip of the Day: Skin Tones By the Numbers | Popular Photography These numbers are more guidelines than trying to get them exact... as people vary, lighting varies, etc! If the averages are somewhat close... that is what counts.

Red / Blue - Her cheeks are at 244 and the average is 212 ... the article uses 227
Green / Magenta - is a little high, but the average of those three is 185.. the article uses 176
Yellow / Blue - average is 172, and the article uses 149

I probably should have pulled a bit more magenta... that is the tone you are seeing. I did this just eyeballing it, and got it pretty close. Getting rid of that Green cast was my goal...