I have a question/suggestion for you pros

would you mind showing typical shots of 'mistakes' that are made that would make a good learning curve? Two shots posted side by side one of a good shot one of a bad shot say with noise, hot spots etc. or one prior to a PS work up and one after.

Anyone up for this?

Also can someone tell me how I fix this problem that I tend to have? I shoot in the evening or morning or in the shade/shade but I still tend to have dark faces. If I change the aperture to allow more light, I get a blurry picture.

dark face


overcast, dark faces

same day different shot better color

 

Well one suggestion I can give you right off the bat is that you could use some fll-flash in the first two.

 

thats what I was wondering about. If I needed to work on my settings or would it be beneficial to get a flash (next)

thank you JIP

Angela

 

If you are getting blurry pictures when you change the aperture I would guess that your shutter speed is becoming too slow for hand holding. At that point I would either bump up the ISO (if you have to hand hold) or use a tripod.

You might be able to get away with using a reflector instead of a fill flash in the first 2, and IMO especially the first one.

Just my $.02 hope it helps!

Will

 

dark face: The problem is that the bright white of the clothing is fooling the meter into under exposing. Over expose a bit and/or use fill flash or a reflector.

overcast, dark faces; same problem, but fooled by bright sky.

same day, different shot: tonal range of the scene is pretty even, so the meter does an okay job.

Understand that your meter is always recommending the exposure to get medium gray. If you meter something bright it will under expose. if you meter something dark it will over expose.

 

Use a silver reflector (can be had for a jar of pennies) to bounce light onto their faces. It gives a better shot then fill flash. If you are going to fill flash play with the settings a bit. On camera flash gives very flat lighting so it's important to tone it down so as not to kill the natural theme.

 

Here's a low-tech suggestion: squint.

Really... it can be helpful when you are learning to "see light." Before settling on a setting, squint your eyes (f22) to help see the lighting ratio. I know it sounds silly, but it will help see just where the light is falling.

I hope this helps.

Pete

 

Pete, your suggestion reminds me of putting Christmas lights on the tree. I have always done that to see where the light is dim on the tree. I learned this from my parents.

Good suggestion and reminds me of nice memories too.:thumbup:

 

Stretch I don't know how old you are, but if it's anything within a decade of me, then you'd have to squint more than your parents did, LOL. We used to have some honking lights on our trees.

 

the reason for the above is I'm really wondering if I truelly don't have en eye to see the wrong <sigh>

I'm blind in my right eye. I'm concerned I won't see what you see know what I mean?

angela

 

So, Angela... you see with one eye... like a camera.

Don't fret. You see what we all see. You just need to develop your awareness of what you're seeing. It may take some time. Some folks get it sooner than others, but we can all learn to do it.

Pete

 

I'm not a pro by any means - which is probably why I keep making this mistake - but my most common mistake is forgetting to check the settings before firing away. I'm so use to automatic cameras that I just start shooting away. After 2 or 3 pics when I check the display I'll see that I've either grossly over or underexposed an image and I have to start over.