Eyes..

[Hardrock]

Hardrock, why will she get a better result with the 70-300? Just wondering. Thanks!

You will probally get the best results using your 70-300. I would use Aperture priority and use the smallest F-stop ie:1.4 or in your case at the long end F5.6 That way you can get some seperation from the subject to the back ground. Also the further the background the more OOF it will be. If using spot metering it may blow out some of the image depending on the lighting. So if you wanted to switch back to manual to try and save some of it you could or use exposure compensation. I would start in Av and see how it goes. Be careful in alot of sunlight it will cast a shadow under the eyes or anywhere on the face so you may want to bring your flash or a reflector to help bring out the eyes.

As far as quality of the image I have no experience with those lens. But with kit lens that are not very fast it is hard to get a lot of seperation from the subject to background, But if you use a longer focal length like the 200 to 300 range it is easier to seperate your subject from the background.

 

[Robin Usagani]

by seperate you mean blurring the background?

 

[Hardrock]

by seperate you mean blurring the background?

Yes.

 

[asheeants]

Wow thank you so much that really helps! My only problem is I don't have an off camera flash or a reflector. Not sure my budget would permit them either. Thanks again for the great advice!

You can get an el cheapo 5-in-1 reflector kit like this one at Adorama for $30. They can make a tremendous difference IMO. I recently stepped up to a Lastolite Trip Grip and the extra covers. I really like this design because I can securely hold and position the reflector in one hand and shoot with the other.

Another really cheap, but effective way to get a reflector is to buy a 24x36" white foam borad from Wally World or an art shop for a couple of bucks. Affix aluminum foil to one side and you have two different ways to render the light. The white side gives soft light and the foil side creates a more contrasty light.

This shot was taken using only a reflector. The model, in deep shade, was about ~15' from the hedges in the background and the reflector was ~10' to camera right. In post using Adobe Camera Raw, I brightened the whites of her eyes and the irises, did some skin smoothing and finally sharpened the eyes and lashes, then bumped the saturation of her lips. One of my qualms with this shot is that my assistant (okay, it was her mother) didn't hold the reflector high enough (okay, I failed to instruct) to get the catch lights at about the 2 o'clock position. This would also given me some shadow on her nose. I'm still learning to do people.

So I made the home made reflector with aluminum foil. Seems to work pretty good. Any of you have any tips on using it? How far should it be from my subject? I tested it out today being about 8 or 10ft away. I used my son as my subject and it lit up his face nicely but there was no way for me to get a good shot because I was blinding him. I have the aluminum foil on a flat board, should I bend the board some or move further back with the reflector? I was up against a wall and by the time I was going to re adjust a rain shower hit so I haven't been able to go back out to try it again. What was I doing wrong?

 

[Robin Usagani]

You can also just use a big white board. Amazing how much a white surface can bounce light.

 

[asheeants]

You can also just use a big white board. Amazing what white surface can bounce light.

thanks ill try that