Derrel
Mr. Rain Cloud
- Joined
- Jul 23, 2009
- Messages
- 48,225
- Reaction score
- 18,941
- Location
- USA
- Website
- www.pbase.com
- Can others edit my Photos
- Photos OK to edit
A few things stand out. First, that kind of direct,evening sunlight has a special look, a warm, orange-y glow to it, which I happen to like. It can make people a bit squinty, but it does produce nice eye catchlights. In these two pictures, I can see soft, open shadows, so I would not classify the light as being "harsh", but actually slightly diffused, yet still with a little bit of crispness to it. Earlier in the day, direct sunlight would be harsh, but at that time, the light's not that bad, and some people will really love the warm glow the light has; think beach portraits, picnic shots, things like that--all look good with warm light. As long as people are not squinting.
Framing on the first is too tight...you chopped her forehead off and yet showed her feet. On the second shot, there is far too much foreground and background, and you could easily crop in and improve the shot. Somewhere in-between these two shots is the 'right' framing for this kind of a pose and scene. Depth of field....honestly, f/1.2 looks gimmicky, and to me, virtually screams "noob! fascinated by ability to shoot at 1.2!". Stop it down to f/4.5 and watch the quality go wayy up, and not create distracting uber-shallow DOF, and eliminate the focusing issues that plague ultra-fast lenses used wide open.
If you want to actually be ,"Continuously training, learning and improving," then at some point you'll have to start accepting "nit-picky" C&C. The devil is in the details. The small things are what distinguish a true professional, a skilled shooter, from the mom with a camera or Facebook photographers whose work is generally "ehhhh" to "okay", but seldom rises above mediocrity.
Framing on the first is too tight...you chopped her forehead off and yet showed her feet. On the second shot, there is far too much foreground and background, and you could easily crop in and improve the shot. Somewhere in-between these two shots is the 'right' framing for this kind of a pose and scene. Depth of field....honestly, f/1.2 looks gimmicky, and to me, virtually screams "noob! fascinated by ability to shoot at 1.2!". Stop it down to f/4.5 and watch the quality go wayy up, and not create distracting uber-shallow DOF, and eliminate the focusing issues that plague ultra-fast lenses used wide open.
If you want to actually be ,"Continuously training, learning and improving," then at some point you'll have to start accepting "nit-picky" C&C. The devil is in the details. The small things are what distinguish a true professional, a skilled shooter, from the mom with a camera or Facebook photographers whose work is generally "ehhhh" to "okay", but seldom rises above mediocrity.