Is the problem in PP or in the exposure?

[jlykins]

I just bought a D70 a couple of days ago to go along with my D40, and I took some shots of my kids getting to know the camera. Here are the originals and the final product that I came up with. They just don't look as sharp or as good as they could be. They were both taken with a 55-200 VR in P. Let me know what you think.

 

[JerryPH]

First, yours:

3 things....

- A little work on getting the right exposure
- A little sharpening
- A little work on the composition

A little exposure work and sharpening:

A little creative cropping:

It's very basic, but those are areas where you could start to look at, perhaps? Those borders you added are not very complementary to the pics, at least IMHO.

 

[iflynething]

There seems to be alot of noise


~Michael~

 

[JerryPH]

There seems to be alot of noise

Where?? He shot with a Nikon D70 at F/4.0 at ISO 200!

What you may think is noise is just likely bokeh. Noise would NOT even start to be an issue unless he shot over ISO 800 in a dark area WITHOUT a flash.

 

[sabbath999]

If you are wondering if your camera is exposing correctly, and your screen doesn't tell you enough information, check the histogram.

Also, are you SURE you focused on the eyes? With people/animals, always focus on the eyes for snaps.

 

[Happy Hour]

how did you make that border?

 

[iflynething]

Where?? He shot with a Nikon D70 at F/4.0 at ISO 200!

What you may think is noise is just likely bokeh. Noise would NOT even start to be an issue unless he shot over ISO 800 in a dark area WITHOUT a flash.

I didn't know that and I was look at the vacum cleaner. Just a personal observation

~Michael~

 

[jlykins]

If you are wondering if your camera is exposing correctly, and your screen doesn't tell you enough information, check the histogram.

Also, are you SURE you focused on the eyes? With people/animals, always focus on the eyes for snaps.

I think that's what I did wrong. It may be too that I'm just comparing apples to oranges. I am shooting with a f4 and most of the "good" portraits that I see are done with a 2.8. I think I need to invest in a 17-55 Bad.

how did you make that border?

In photoshop I did a select all, then under the select menu I chose border, set the pixal amount that I wanted, chose the crop tool right clicked and chose "fill" when the menu box poped up I selected Diffuse and black.

 

[Happy Hour]

I think that's what I did wrong. It may be too that I'm just comparing apples to oranges. I am shooting with a f4 and most of the "good" portraits that I see are done with a 2.8. I think I need to invest in a 17-55 Bad.



In photoshop I did a select all, then under the select menu I chose border, set the pixal amount that I wanted, chose the crop tool right clicked and chose "fill" when the menu box poped up I selected Diffuse and black.

I have shot plenty of great portraits in f4 and up. I have a huge lens collection and I use a 70-200 @f5 for portraits the majority of the time and get outstanding results. But it's all on your opinion on what you want to achieve in each shot. That is the reason for more lenses. The crappiest lens ever made (stated in the reviews for it) Is my every day lens and I get great pics with it. I think it got its bad rep from people who didn't know how to use it! learn your camera and how to acheive the effects you want from different exposures before you go out and buy a ton of lenses. You can buy every lens in the world for your camera and it only gets you as far as your understanding of your camera.

 

[jlykins]

I have shot plenty of great portraits in f4 and up. I have a huge lens collection and I use a 70-200 @f5 for portraits the majority of the time and get outstanding results. But it's all on your opinion on what you want to achieve in each shot. That is the reason for more lenses. The crappiest lens ever made (stated in the reviews for it) Is my every day lens and I get great pics with it. I think it got its bad rep from people who didn't know how to use it! learn your camera and how to acheive the effects you want from different exposures before you go out and buy a ton of lenses. You can buy every lens in the world for your camera and it only gets you as far as your understanding of your camera.

I agree. The other thing that I think I am doing wrong is shooting in P not manually. I am comfortable doing ambient light photo's in manual but I haven't gotten down how to meter when using a flash. How do you go about it? Do you back it down a stop or two from "correct" on the meter? Is there a book that anyone recomends on doing flash photography?

 

[Happy Hour]

I agree. The other thing that I think I am doing wrong is shooting in P not manually. I am comfortable doing ambient light photo's in manual but I haven't gotten down how to meter when using a flash. How do you go about it? Do you back it down a stop or two from "correct" on the meter? Is there a book that anyone recomends on doing flash photography?

first things first have you read understanding exposure? If you have I have no idea why you would even remember that there is a P on your camera

 

[jlykins]

first things first have you read understanding exposure? If you have I have no idea why you would even remember that there is a P on your camera

Yes I have read it twice. The only reason that I use P for anything is I'm not sure about flash and the effects on the settings in manual. I was just reading an article on the Strobist that explained a lot. I am going to play with the flash this weekend and see if I am really understanding what they're saying as far as backing it down two stops from correct on the meter and setting the flash on manual. I have some playing to do, but that's the fun of it... Learning to do it, if we were all pro's we wouldn't have anything to talk about.

 

[Happy Hour]

Ok I was just making sure. That a great place to start. Have you been on the website the strobist? I think they have a ton on lighting. Not to sure if they go into specifics about ur cam adjustments. but a great site to learn about lighting.U still never answered my original ? of how you did that border.

 

[jlykins]

Ok I was just making sure. That a great place to start. Have you been on the website the strobist? I think they have a ton on lighting. Not to sure if they go into specifics about ur cam adjustments. but a great site to learn about lighting.U still never answered my original ? of how you did that border.

about 5 or 6 post's up.

 

[JerryPH]

I think that's what I did wrong. It may be too that I'm just comparing apples to oranges. I am shooting with a f4 and most of the "good" portraits that I see are done with a 2.8. I think I need to invest in a 17-55 Bad.

Thats not necessarily true. The vast majority of pro-style portraiture is shot between F8-F16 for a deep DOF becuase you want the complete face or bust or body to be in focus with no apparent falling off of focus. What *is* important is lighting. More importantly, getting that flash or strobe OFF the camera. At F/2.8, it is easily possible to take a picture where the eyes are in focus, but the nose starts to blur. This becomes rediculously easy to do with faster lenses like F/1.8's and F/1.4's

Some of my best shots were at F-stop settings other than F/2.8 or wider. Fast lenses are nice, but I think that for me, understanding lighting and if shooting indoors, having the right off-camera flash equipment and knowing how to use it is more important.

In photoshop I did a select all, then under the select menu I chose border, set the pixal amount that I wanted, chose the crop tool right clicked and chose "fill" when the menu box poped up I selected Diffuse and black.

In general, framing is a thing of personal taste. Some people like certain style frames but I fall into the class where I never use it for my shots and do not enjoy many kinds of frames at all unless I can encorporate it as part of the picture. Otherwise, they come out looking kinda amateur-ish, if you know what I mean? I let the picture talk and no need for frames for me. An example of what I mean:

IMHO, frames really start to interfre with the quality of a picture when it intrudes upon aspects of the picture's traits... like when the frame covers a hand, fingers, hair in a closely cropped picture or insists on covering an aspect of the picture that my eye was drawn and led to follow into... and abruptly interrupted.

If I could offer a little advice, if you have to have a frame, do not place them on the inside of a picture, but on the outside.