Kinda Newbie to Shoot Movie Stills

[TheBoombaGnome]

yay!!! :hug:: :lmao:

 

[AnneRiceBowl]

Ok, I've got the first batch of stills ready for you to view! C&C welcome! These are ALL SOOC.

My decision for shooting and to compensate for lens sounds was to use my telephoto lens and to stay as far back as possible. There were a few times I used a picnic table to stand on and fence railings to sit or stand on. I was shooting between legs and arms and other obstacles to deal with. There are a few shots I got that I wish I had gotten a little more in focus, and a few other things I wish I could've changed, but they are what they are. Also, as the morning progressed, you can see where I had gotten a little more comfortable with the camera and with being on the set.

The title of the movie is "Sunrise Decision".

Here are a few to start you guys out with:

1. First shot of the morning: Early sunrise. Astigmatism and standing on a hill worked against me (see crooked horizon line?). This was about 5:10AM CST. Started with the kit lens and decided I didn't like it. Also note, the electrical pole is in fact crooked in real life.

2. Director and camera guy planning shots and such.

3. This is one of the ones I wish were a little more in focus.

4. Getting setup for shooting (Director, camera guy, guy in the white shirt in the background is one of the actors).

5. Walking across the field for next shot:

Next set coming up!

 

[AnneRiceBowl]

Here we go with Batch #2! These will be a few more Behind-the-Scenes and then actual stills. Again, I couldn't snap during sound recording, so what I did was get my camera ready and focused towards the end of the scenes so I could snap as soon as the director said "Cut".

6. Sound guy. A little too dark.

7.

8.

9. A little OOF and another one I wish I would've gotten into focus better:

10.

11. Sunrise:

12.

13. One of my favorites from the morning:

14. Last one for now:

 

[gsgary]

Oh dear looks like it was a bit of a disaster, i don't see any shots in focus or exposed correctly

 

[AnneRiceBowl]

Oh dear looks like it was a bit of a disaster, i don't see any shots in focus or exposed correctly

I would appreciate a little more insight and feedback than that. Thanks!

 

[gsgary]

Oh dear looks like it was a bit of a disaster, i don't see any shots in focus or exposed correctly

I would appreciate a little more insight and feedback than that. Thanks!

First off did you check your shutter speeds for each shot because that would have told you you needed a higher ISO some shots were 1/20 and 1/30 way too slow on these shots ISO was 100 or 200, also were you using your light meter
On shot 8 was she sucking a lemon

 

[MrBarney]

Long-time lurker. It's about time I registered. This is where I make a complete idiot of myself by talking rubbish!

The opinions of a complete newbie, (i.e. me - for what it's worth!) is that you did ok. I don't think any of them will win awards, but given what you had to work with they're not that bad.

I don't think fast glass would have helped that much - except for the first few, you were able to get 1/100th of a second shutter speeds at ISO 100. That's pretty good. You should be able to adjust the exposure to some degree with software, especially if you shot RAW.

1. I like. Straighten and crop the bottom and right and it's a nice shot.
2. Nothing in the bottom left and I don't like the vertical black bar on the right. Would be nice if you could have got about 50% closer.
3. Hugely underexposed. I don't think the focus is that far out, but it's hard to tell at this size. Probably not useable.
4. A lot underexposed (3 stops?), but you might be able to recover something worth keeping in in software here.
5. Exposure is ok, but no real subject. Doesn't do anything for me.
6. Nice shot, but to me it's out of focus. Would have liked to have been a little to the right too. A real shame.
7. Another where I wish you could have been about 50% closer.
8. Not bad. A little soft, but ok.
9. You're right - out of focus, and I prefer number 8 anyway.
10. Does nothing for me - no real subject.
11. A bit washed out.
12. Nice. Beautiful lighting.
13. Nice. Another candidate for being closer.
14. Isn't this a duplicate of 7?

So, other than being too far away and missing the focus a few times (or is it motion blur?), not that bad. Numbers 1, 8, 12 and 13 are really nice. With some processing, these and a couple of the others are worth keeping.

Of course, if you have the chance to go back and shoot some more now you know what you're in for, go for it!

Andrew.

 

[MrBarney]

First off did you check your shutter speeds for each shot because that would have told you you needed a higher ISO some shots were 1/20 and 1/30 way too slow on these shots ISO was 100 or 200, also were you using your light meter
On shot 8 was she sucking a lemon

I agree about the ISO - I would have traded some noise for a faster shutter speed when it fell below about 1/100.

I like number 8. It's "moody"

 

[KmH]

Some insight and feedback.

The backs of people's heads aren't very compelling.

From infancy we are compelled by peoples faces. We even see them where they don't exist like the man-in-the-moon, those hills on Mars when the light is at just the right angle, and the cornflake those teenage girls sold on eBay for $15,000.

I agree with gsgary, you consistanly used insufficient shutter speed for the focal length you were using.

As an example, the OOF shot of the sound man was made at 300 mm but the shutter speed was only 1/100. With the 1.6 crop factor of your camera the effective focal length was 480 mm.

The rule of thumb says your shutter speed should be 1 over the focal length. You would have had a better chance at reasonable focus using 1/500, 2 1/3 more stops of shutter speed.

Kudos for giving manual exposure mode a try. It doesn't say in the EXIF data what metering mode you were using.

We learn more from our mistakes, than we do from our successes.