How bad are these family photos? CC welcome!

[MohaimenK]

Robinson, here's an idea. Why not put the flash off camera using a stand and a cheap wireless trigger? That way you can raise the flash above and have it about 45 degrees to left or right and then use a reflector to bounce some off it for the other side of the face. That way it creates shadows. Not harsh but makes it look more natural. Rather than a straight light source coming at u. Thats why I'd have to agree with Crystal on this. Although, I do like those looks in an evening setting, like at a beach or by water, etc

But I'm glad you did this and shared. I probably would have done the same as you but now seeing them got me thinking what I want to do differently when I have a family shoot coming up in a couple weeks.

 

[Hardrock]

Parks are tough. Lighting at parks is very difficult well at least for me. I think the the clarity is very good on these shots and I do agree with others as far as a little more ambient and less flash. 1 and 8 are my favorite and I think there is a couple things that needs to be cloned out in 3,4, and 6. Overall I think you did great and I bet the parents will love them. What lens did you use?

 

[MohaimenK]

Parks are tough. Lighting at parks is very difficult well at least for me. I think the the clarity is very good on these shots and I do agree with others as far as a little more ambient and less flash. 1 and 8 are my favorite and I think there is a couple things that needs to be cloned out in 3,4, and 6. Overall I think you did great and I bet the parents will love them. What lens did you use?

It depends, though, check out this thread I posted last night, all using natural sunlight

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/photography-beginners-forum-photo-gallery/219146-few-more.html

 

[gsgary]

Not bad, on the flashed ones if you had slowed the shutter down a bit they would have looked less flashed

 

[Robin Usagani]

Not bad, on the flashed ones if you had slowed the shutter down a bit they would have looked less flashed

Gary, I used ETTL so I already maxed out the speed. Wouldnt reducing the exposure will just make the flash shoot harder? What should I have done? Use HSS or manual flash power output?

I used my 50mm. The only one I used 70-200 is the last one. I really need a 24-70mm but my fund is pretty much 0.

 

[bigtwinky]

For posed shots, your 50 will be sharper and nicer than your 24-70. You can do amazing portraits with the 50.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Also.. This was shot at noon. He works at a weird hour and noon is the only possible time.

 

[gsgary]

Not bad, on the flashed ones if you had slowed the shutter down a bit they would have looked less flashed

Gary, I used ETTL so I already maxed out the speed. Wouldnt reducing the exposure will just make the flash shoot harder? What should I have done? Use HSS or manual flash power output?

I used my 50mm. The only one I used 70-200 is the last one. I really need a 24-70mm but my fund is pretty much 0.

No shutter speed controls abient and aperture controls flash, lowering your shutter speed would have lightened the background
Shoot in manual take an ambiet reading then take a flash reading and try and get the flash reading the same, then you can blow the background out by lowering the shutterspeed or darken it by raising your shutter speed , i think one of your settings was F5.6 1/200 all you have to do is up you iso to let more ambient in the shot

 

[Robin Usagani]

For some reason I thought you wanted me to make it faster when you said lower it I thought you wanted me to lower the number LOL.

Not bad, on the flashed ones if you had slowed the shutter down a bit they would have looked less flashed

Gary, I used ETTL so I already maxed out the speed. Wouldnt reducing the exposure will just make the flash shoot harder? What should I have done? Use HSS or manual flash power output?

I used my 50mm. The only one I used 70-200 is the last one. I really need a 24-70mm but my fund is pretty much 0.

No shutter speed controls abient and aperture controls flash, lowering your shutter speed would have lightened the background
Shoot in manual take an ambiet reading then take a flash reading and try and get the flash reading the same, then you can blow the background out by lowering the shutterspeed or darken it by raising your shutter speed , i think one of your settings was F5.6 1/200 all you have to do is up you iso to let more ambient in the shot

 

[supraman215]

ETTL what's that? J/K go manual next time, that way you can lower the power a bit.

The problem with on camera flash is the lighting is very flat. If you had it off camera slightly, you would see some shadow and these shadows, can add some visual interest and depth to the subjects faces, etc. You can go even cheaper than wireless triggers. You could get 2 hot shoe converters and a wire to connect the 2 and have off camera flash. Though that might end up being the same price as they are $15 each.

 

[Robin Usagani]

I would only consider off camera flash on models. I think doing it for family pictures will just make my job a lot harder LOL. I have enough to worry about .

 

[ghache]

Not bad, on the flashed ones if you had slowed the shutter down a bit they would have looked less flashed

Gary, I used ETTL so I already maxed out the speed. Wouldnt reducing the exposure will just make the flash shoot harder? What should I have done? Use HSS or manual flash power output?

I used my 50mm. The only one I used 70-200 is the last one. I really need a 24-70mm but my fund is pretty much 0.

No shutter speed controls abient and aperture controls flash, lowering your shutter speed would have lightened the background
Shoot in manual take an ambiet reading then take a flash reading and try and get the flash reading the same, then you can blow the background out by lowering the shutterspeed or darken it by raising your shutter speed , i think one of your settings was F5.6 1/200 all you have to do is up you iso to let more ambient in the shot

I wouldnt crank the iso up if he was shooting at 1/200th.
i would have tried lowering my shutter speed (1/200th is still really fast when using VR) a couple of stop to get a little bit more light and save on flash power.

 

[supraman215]

I would only consider off camera flash on models. I think doing it for family pictures will just make my job a lot harder LOL. I have enough to worry about .

Is this sarcasm? What's the point of this thread then? :er: I thought you wanted to make your work better, or just better without a lot of work?

 

[SrBiscuit]

you dont even have to use the flash off cam...just angle it and bounce it off some foamcore or something...

using off cam may make your job a little harder in the beginning, but you will learn and the results will be worth it.
i agree with supra, unless youre kidding...sounds a bit like youre throwing up a white flag...
learn the principles off off cam lighting and use it on many applications, not just models. cmon man...keep truckin.

 

[MohaimenK]

I would only consider off camera flash on models. I think doing it for family pictures will just make my job a lot harder LOL. I have enough to worry about .

Is this sarcasm? What's the point of this thread then? :er: I thought you wanted to make your work better, or just better without a lot of work?

He meant like putting it on a stand and using wireless trugger, these images were taken with the flash still attatched to the camera. But yea, my suggession is to use stand/wireless triggers to create shadows.