First try at Garage Shoot

NateS · Aug 29, 2008

Decided to make up a little "studio" in the garage to try some natural light shots as I've recently seen this done with great results. C&C please as portrait work is not my strong area by any means. Focus was as best as I could....he was on fire today constantly running *pulls hair out*.

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I'm hoping to someday get good enough to start doing portraits for people. I know I have a LONG way to go, but that's why I'm here.

DRoberts · Aug 29, 2008

nice shots...get some good lighting and you will be set.

NateS · Aug 29, 2008

DRoberts said:
nice shots...get some good lighting and you will be set.

Thanks I had my SB-600 on a 33" shoot through umbrella but was unable to get any without blinking due to commander mode which is why I ditched it and went with natural lighting. I guess I need to start saving for pocket wizards or get some cheap ebay triggers for now since I'm not a pro/for hire.

NateS · Aug 30, 2008

eyeye · Aug 30, 2008

I guess for me there isn't enough lighting. But the baby is very cute

kundalini · Aug 30, 2008

NateS said:
Thanks I had my SB-600 on a 33" shoot through umbrella but was unable to get any without blinking due to commander mode which is why I ditched it and went with natural lighting.

That's a curious statement. What does it mean?

NateS · Aug 30, 2008

kundalini said:
That's a curious statement. What does it mean?

With commander mode, my onboard flash fires to trigger the off camera SB-600. Every single time....my son would start to blink when the onboard flash went off (to fire the SB-600) which had him blinking in all of the exposures. When I get radio triggers problem will be solved since with only 1 flash going off the exposure will be done by the time he blinks.

kellylindseyphotography · Aug 30, 2008

It appears your shutter wasn't fast enough.. what were your settings? That age is extrememly difficult to work with especially if your still testing the waters as far as lighting goes. Can you ask your wife to pose for you? I'd really recommend keeping your aperature wide open, your shutter near 200, and let your ISO fall where it may after that. As long as you get perfect exposure, you should be able to avoid grain. Your ISO could still be very low if your ap is wide open anyway.

kundalini · Aug 30, 2008

Oh, okay..... subject blinking. I was thinking either the built-in or the SB was blinking *read malfunctioning*.

While the commander does pre-flash to trigger the SB, visually it's pretty much simultaneous. However, I notice that none of your shots have your son looking at the camera anyway, so it bears the question if it was just bad luck timing? Or if you flash synched your shutter speed?

NateS · Aug 30, 2008

kellylindseyphotography said:
It appears your shutter wasn't fast enough.. what were your settings? That age is extrememly difficult to work with especially if your still testing the waters as far as lighting goes. Can you ask your wife to pose for you? I'd really recommend keeping your aperature wide open, your shutter near 200, and let your ISO fall where it may after that. As long as you get perfect exposure, you should be able to avoid grain. Your ISO could still be very low if your ap is wide open anyway.

Good advice and thanks. I really do always have a problem with underexposing my shots. For some reason when it's exposed properly, my little 2" lcd screen looks like it's overexposed to me....I usually compensate which ends up with underexposed shots. I really need to start trusting the camera a little more and relying less on the tiny LCD screen. Good ideas about shooting wide open too...looks like I need all the "speed" I can get with him.

My wife was helping to "pose" him but the second she let go of him he was off running. This made it very hard and left me with very little time to snap anything.

Ajay · Aug 30, 2008

This is a great start Nate. #6 is the winner for me. Sounds like you've gotten some good advice already. Good luck on the next session.

NateS · Aug 30, 2008

Thanks Ajay. #6 was my favorite too. His position and expression in that one is priceless.

kundalini · Aug 31, 2008

So what, I'm chopped liver? Did you synch your shutter speed to the max flash synch?

Forget the image on your LCD, but understand the histogram, which is much more important. And learn to expose to the right. Do a search under Big Mike's name about expose to the right. (Luminosity Landscape????)

kellylindseyphotography · Aug 31, 2008

NateS said:
Good advice and thanks. I really do always have a problem with underexposing my shots. For some reason when it's exposed properly, my little 2" lcd screen looks like it's overexposed to me....I usually compensate which ends up with underexposed shots. I really need to start trusting the camera a little more and relying less on the tiny LCD screen. Good ideas about shooting wide open too...looks like I need all the "speed" I can get with him.

My wife was helping to "pose" him but the second she let go of him he was off running. This made it very hard and left me with very little time to snap anything.

I think you misunderstood me because these are not underexposed and the exposure seems fine. It just has to do with keeping your shutter fast to prevent blur and find your len's "sweet spot". You might have to raise your ISO because of it but if you have a decent camera that shouldn't matter. But yes, you want fast glass, and master nailing the focus on his eyes while keeping your shutter fast and your ap wide.

NateS · Aug 31, 2008

kundalini said:
So what, I'm chopped liver? Did you synch your shutter speed to the max flash synch?

Forget the image on your LCD, but understand the histogram, which is much more important. And learn to expose to the right. Do a search under Big Mike's name about expose to the right. (Luminosity Landscape????)

No chopped liver....just missed your question. Yes I used my fastest flash sync I think....I might try again with the 1/500th just to be sure, but pretty sure that's where I was. I'll look for those posts you mentioned under Big Mike's name.

kellylindseyphotography said:
I think you misunderstood me because these are not underexposed and the exposure seems fine. It just has to do with keeping your shutter fast to prevent blur and find your len's "sweet spot". You might have to raise your ISO because of it but if you have a decent camera that shouldn't matter. But yes, you want fast glass, and master nailing the focus on his eyes while keeping your shutter fast and your ap wide.

Well I shot those with the 50mm f1.8 so I could open as wide as 1.8. I'll try that next time with 1/500th and auto ISO when using no flash. I have a D70s which doesn't do really great with high ISO but with decent/good light and F1.8 the ISO should go much over 400 anyway. Plus high ISO noise won't be as apparent with everything exposed well. Thanks for the tips....my son just woke up from his nap so I think I'll go try all these different ideas.