Help me Salvage these Portraits!!

[dennybeall]

You commented about adding a lens shade. That just helps eliminate light coming from an angle not behind the subject. It's even more important to help protect the front of the lens from bumps!!!

 

[311Photo]

If you sent the above file to print, it would look better than it appears on-screen. Again--avoid Lightroom's "Portrait Sharpening". You need a much better lens in order to shoot these types of shots, or a massive lens shade, or a person holding a clipboard or hat well in front of the lens: see that horrific circle on the husband, from internal lens elements reflections? This is a bad lens.


IMAGE 3656 is at Dropbox - IMG_3656_Warm&Fuzzy.JPG

Image 4222 standard is at Dropbox - IMG_4222_1904x.JPG

IMG_4222 Warm&Fuzzy is at Dropbox - IMG_4222_Warm&Fuzzy.JPG

4233 standard at Dropbox - IMG_4233_1904x.JPG

4233 Warm&Fuzzy is at Dropbox - IMG_4233_Warm&Fuzzy.JPG

What exactly is meant by a "bad lens"? Bad for this application or bad period? If the former, what is ideal for this application?
I am more than willing to get the appropriate equipment but I want to be careful not to get unnecessary equipment.
One person says I have everything I need and another and just lack skill and another says I'm working with a lack of resources. Gees, this is a confusing field. I imagine it's a mixture of both. But before I go buy a ton of stuff, I want to make sure it's the right things.
I apologize for not providing raw, unedited images. The images I posted had already been played with some, indeed, before I decided I needed help.

I think you received the best natural lighting advice from Darrel in your other thread. Another thing that can aid in lighting the subject is a reflector to bounce the light awards the subject. Reflectors are cheap or free if you have one of those car windshield reflectors.

I agree.
I have a white poster board that I'm currently using as a reflector but the problem is that I shoot alone and wind has been heavy lately since I can't prop it up against anything. This has been my biggest reservation in getting anything more or even really trying to use reflector. Advice on this?

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Sent from my VS990 using Tapatalk

 

[Derrel]

Bad lens, as in Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5~5.6: each shot has a massive flare in it. This lens shoots very poorly toward the sun, and at the wide-angle end, such as at 21mm in the shot of the kids, it has a lot of chromatic aberration in the images it shoots. This is a very low-cost "kit zoom" that cannot be shot "against the light" without high risk of flare. This is an issue with many zoom lenses: poor ability to shoot 'against the light' as most say.

Do you have a lack of resources? Yes, and no. For example, a really GOOD lens, like say a 35mm prime lens, with its own dedicated lens shade, could have shot these images, and not given that big flare spot, and could have created much higher image quality. The tiny little lens shade that comes with am 18-55mm kit zoom is sort of an afterthought, a marketing ploy. The hood is NOT optimal for all focal length settings; one,single hood can, in fact, NEVER be able to provide optimal shade from the sun; that is where single focal length lenses, and LONG, full-shading lens hoods come into play. To optimally make the 18-55 kit zoom work its best in this type of tough situaton, you need a lens shade solution that WORKS; meaning, something like an assistant with a clipboard or piece of black-painted cardboard throwing literally, a shadow, onto the front element of the lens. Or a compendium lens shade.

You know the orange-eared shot of the boy, in the other thread? That same strong sunlight, when it strikes the front element of a zoom lens, either directly, or at a glancing angle, can cause lens flare, or ghosting; your 18-55 lens created one, or two BIG, round flares. Not tiny, hard-to-see,little flare spots, but BIG flare spots. That's what I meant by bad lens....and it has terrific levels of chromatic aberration (color fringing is another common name for this optical defect) at the short end of its zoom range: this is VERY common with 18-55 lenses that cost $99. But-this is the issue: a photographer MUST be aware of lens flare, at all times. Lens flare is the ditch for the driver. The gopher hole to the pastured horse. The sniper to the common soldier.

Reflector, reflector stand or grip solution; ancillary lighting gear (flash units), lighting modifiers...these are lacking to some degree. Even one, single, medium-power speedlight flash could have made these family sessions better, by far, by creating better lighting in the field. Photography is a big, broad field, and there are a lot of things for you to learn. You really do not have the knowledge or ewuipment needed to make this "easy"; you're at a place right now with low-cost equipment, and NOT much of it, and not a lot of knowledge about the skills needed to shoot for money and not have the possibility for big errors to creep in. The first thing would be gaining knowledge. I'd suggest book-learning, or some of the links KMH has provided. AND, this is the thing...if you qant to be able to shoot toward the sun, or to shoot in strongly back-lighted situations, you need to get a lens that performs better than the 18-55 does, and that lens needs a fully-working lens shade on it, and an optical design that RESISTS sun-flaring to a high degree.

I do not want to discourage you. And neither do the majority of posters here. But there are a lot of things you need to learn how to do; theory, and practice, and also, equipment that many other people have, and use, for similar photo sessions. I started taking photos in 1975. There is plenty to learn. You can learn rapidly, or slowly.

 

[Dave442]

Your initial images with the lens flare are ones that I would not try to salvage. These are sort of like those extra shots or just trying something out after you already have some other shots that you know are good. You had mentioned that you had taken some initial shots and they were good before the people were added. I expect in those initial shots that the area in the shade was still very dark, and you were putting the people in that shaded area so that is what you had to expose for.

I often have this issue with a light background as I am near the beach and people always want their photo with the beach and a bright blue sky in the background. Generally the choice is to add some fill lighting or just blow out the background when you give correct exposure to the face. And then you move the subject and yourself around so you have a darker background and those are usually the better shots in the end.

When you do the photo session you are the one controlling where the people are and where you are so just make it easy for the camera and don't try and push the limits on what it can do.

I suggest you do your next photo session and post a couple of your favorite shots from that. Do that over the next year and you will be able to see what you have accomplished.

 

[fmw]

You want to expose for the subjects, not the background. Your images are all underexposed. You should be able to bring up the brightness in the software. Get the faces right and let the rest go wherever it wants to go.

Thank you. This is very helpful. Tips for exposing the subjects and not the background?

There are plenty of articles and books about photographic exposure. No need for me to repeat the techniques. Perhaps you have a library in your area that can help. Personally, I like having a blown out back ground. I wouldn't have used fill flash. I would just have exposed for the subjects. A properly exposed background would just be a distraction. You did fine other than underexposing the subjects.

I don't think you are ready to charge people money for your photography.

Likewise, this is a bold statement to make based on my three worst photos. I've not asked for opinions on my business endeavors but on how to correct the three worst images I shot.

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I wouldn't call it bold but rather obvious. I'm not criticizing your interest in photography. I'm not criticizing your desire to earn from it. I'm just suggesting that this too early in the journey to be charging people. Perhaps you should be paying your models to sit for your portraits as you figure out what you are doing wrong.

When you post in a public forum you open up things that may go beyond what you asked. It is the nature of the beast and it is true of any public forum. I promise to stop offering opinions to you. You don't like what you read. I'll save the effort and try to help people that are open to feedback.

 

[Peeb]

You guys are a tough crowd...

I learned early on that if you want folks to post comments like: "Wow, that's awesome" or "So sweet!", you should post to facebook, not here.

Some of our most helpful poster here will be ... blunt. Having read this thread all the way thru, you seem to be thickening your skin (good) and listening (great).

Best of luck in pursuing your passion. This is a great resource towards that goal if you'll check your ego at the door and absorb some knowledge.

 

[Designer]

This is the part I don't understand. I keep reading this but then read don't do that because the light will be too harsh and cause squinting.
Are we really starting over because I feel like that post was teeming with sarcasm?

You don't know me, but I'll tell you this; sarcasm doesn't work on the internet. My post (and all of my posts) are intended to offer HELPFUL criticism.

We seem to remember that the earliest "helpful hints" for a photographer using his new Kodak Brownie camera a hundred years ago was to keep the sun at your back. This did two things; 1.) it usually got the subjects facing the sun (to light up their faces) and 2.) it would keep the sunlight from entering your lens (which causes the lens flare that you see).

There are other tricks to keep your subjects from squinting from sunlight, but they are beyond the scope of this post.

By learning the most basic of the basics, you will probably get better photographs than the three you posted here, and then as you learn and progress, you keep getting better. There is nothing magic about photography, it's just learning a skill and then applying that skill in an artistic way.

Your camera is not a magic box. It's actually as dumb as your computer. You have to know how it works, what it can do, what it cannot do, and know how to make it do what you want it to.

As for "fixing" the three photographs, Derrel has indicated that it won't be easy, and they might never be "good". This is why I offered the helpful hints that I did; to help you get better shots next time.

Good luck, and keep shooting!

 

[Raymielke]

Wow, after reading through theses posts its easy to see there's lots to be appreciated by everyone. I'm an advanced amateur so you can take what I have to say and use it however you want, but here goes.

Can these images be salvaged? Probably to some degree but they will never be great. First, start over with the originals and work with the basic RAW files to allow the software to do its best work. All RAW files need the basic adjustments but once those are better understood you can then move into other software adjustments with skin, blemish and color correction with layers. You need to know how to do these beginner adjustments if you are ever going to attempt to fix anything.

Don't get me wrong here. You can do a lot with post processing but you're not going to be able to accomplish this before your Christmas deadlines. Its takes time to learn LR and PS so my advice is to let these go until after the holidays when you'll have more time to play around, or find a mentor in your area that will do the work for you, while you watch. Right now I think you would be better served by not reproducing that type of image on your next outing.

As for the relatively harsh posts about your level of understanding, they are probably right but they offer little corrective benefit. My impression is that you are trying to take portraits in a less than ideal environment, something that takes experience, with equipment that is made for beginners, with an understanding of your equipment and photography that matches your equipment. Harsh, yes, but this is what I am gathering from reading through everything. There's a lot to be learned from all that has been said and I want you to print out everything that was posted, file it away and some time in the future pull it out and re-read everything and see if your perspective has changed. I think you'll see things a little more clearly as to where some of these posts are coming from.

Now for some CC that might help you. First off, make sure that regardless of what kind of equipment you hold in your hands, you know how to use, and for what purpose, every single button that's on your camera. If you don't, there's no point of ever thinking about better equipment!

Secondly, I think you need to be more restrictive and less challenging in your shooting local. Find an area that is evenly shaded without a distracting background, unless you want the background included. My advice, for most portraits, the background should be minimized unless it adds to a story somehow. Study composure and learn how to shorten your depth of field. As to why you think you can shoot better in full sun, I'm at a loss for agreeing with you. You obviously need light entering your lens but having it bounce around doesn't add much to the image but trouble, and harsh shadows offer about the same benefits when it comes of most portraits.

So, I think you need to better understand lighting and how your camera reads and responds to it. You need this understanding before ever thinking about more gear like reflectors. When its time, you still won't need a lot of expensive gear but you should look into a flash that can be used off camera and learn the difference between soft and hard light. Check out the recommendations made on prior posts and use your access to the web to watch video after video on this. As to future shots like those posted, make sure you are metering your subjects, not the entire environment. Your manual is a good place to start to understand this. You'll soon learn how to lock an exposure and recompose. I also believe that with the little I've seen of your work, you would benefit from more of a woman's touch to be a bit more creative with the posing and composition but a man can tell you how to pose small groups or turn someone's body as well as a female.

Next, your equipment. The T2i with the kit 18-55 can do a lot but I think it would be pretty accurate to say that it wouldn't be a pro's first choice. If you are serious about pursuing photography, save a couple hundred bucks as fast as you can and upgrade. New to you can be someone's spare backup. Shop for a used body a few years old and then add the best medium length lens you can afford. Nothing wrong with either a medium length zoom or prime but do a little study about the benefits/restrictions of each. But remember that bodies get cheap and the lenses you keep! With your lens you are pretty much limited to one focal length, fully extended so if that's where you want to be, go find a used f/1.8 nifty fifty.

Get a flash! I personally would not recommend a new one unless you go with something other than a major brand for no other reason than the price. Good used brand named flashes are out there but for the price of a used Canon flash you can get a better new off-brand for less money. Buy the best you can afford because if you don't, you'll soon wish you did.

Also, right now you don't need umbrellas or soft boxes. Nice to have but I don't think they are where you need to be right now. But you do need to get the flash off camera and you do need to diffuse the light somehow. Videos will show you how to do this.

And lastly, please don't let the straight forward comments posted here get all the way under your skin, part way is good enough. It takes a lot of time and practice to learn to take good photos if you are trying to do it without guidance, as it appears you are tying to do. And its a lot easier to fix a good photo than it is to fix a bad one. So keep learning, keep reading, keep watching, and start analyzing and constructing your own images and deconstructing those of others.

I'm not sure where you are with your understanding of all photography factors and you most certainly will not pick it up in an afternoon or two, but I can see that you are jumping in head first. I hope my offerings are anything but new for you but I'm pretty sure there will be a lot of challenges, a lot of learning, and a lot of time spent looking for answers. It doesn't have to cost you much but you need to keep going, or you'll grow moss! Good luck to you.

A mentor would be a great place to start!

Ray