Most common PP for portraits?

[stsinner]

Just a thought and I'm not trying to be rude but it seems like you have a lot of equipment for someone who hasn't mastered the basics. I think you are trying to do too much too soon and it's making learning harder than it needs to be. Learn how to shoot manual, play with natural light...get that down and then move to studio lighting. That's just my opinion though.

Not taken as rude, at all, and I'll agree that I have a bunch of equipment for a beginner, but I also don't think that I should be subjected to rude posts like the previous poster just because I may have asked the same question twice but in a different way.. I am a friendly person, and I, maybe naively, expect friendliness, but I would like to just consider myself among friends and not be afraid to maybe ask the same question twice expecting different advice without being insulted..

I do have a lot to learn about photography, but I don't really have all that much to learn in order to be able to know a rude person when I see one..

If you don't want to answer my dumb questions, or if you think I've asked the same question before a different way, how about just ignoring it and not trying to be some kind of abrasive hero... I promise you I'm not looking for anything but honest advice about my technique and settings.. Thanks.

I do take constructive criticism constructively, but the previous posts weren't productive at all...





Basically--I do have a bunch of junk, now just help me use it correctly and don't insult me for not knowing how to use it!!

 

[kundalini]

Okay, sorry, but one more response on my part. Looking at your response to Melody and obviously referring to me......

Not taken as rude, at all, and I'll agree that I have a bunch of equipment for a beginner, but I also don't think that I should be subjected to rude posts like the previous poster just because I may have asked the same question twice but in a different way.. I am a friendly person, and I, maybe naively, expect friendliness, but I would like to just consider myself among friends and not be afraid to maybe ask the same question twice expecting different advice without being insulted..

I do have a lot to learn about photography, but I don't really have all that much to learn in order to be able to know a rude person when I see one..

If you don't want to answer my dumb questions, or if you think I've asked the same question before a different way, how about just ignoring it and not trying to be some kind of abrasive hero... I promise you I'm not looking for anything but honest advice about my technique and settings.. Thanks.

And this is what you are pissed off about.............

There is a "Just For Fun" gallery. Perhaps........................

Why post something you know is "junk" in a gallery where learning is paramount? Oh... I understand............................................... nevermind.

I just don't understand.

 

[tsaraleksi]

Anyway.

Did you get a chance to sit anyone down for some portraits tonight?

 

[goodoneian]

don't know your question has been answered yet stsinner, but the change of the shutter speed looks like a white balance problem because your flashes color temperature is matched for the sun i would assume (around 5000k) but the ambient tungsten lights of your house are not (2000-3000k maybe? idk).

so when you use a longer shutter speed, you record the ambient light that is at a different temperature than your camera is set to which tends to screw the image up some. hopefully this makes sense

 

[stsinner]

Anyway.

Did you get a chance to sit anyone down for some portraits tonight?

I did, and I have more pictures to ask advice on that I'll be posting.. Let me get the girls to bed.. Thanks for asking.

 

[stsinner]

don't know your question has been answered yet stsinner, but the change of the shutter speed looks like a white balance problem because your flashes color temperature is matched for the sun i would assume (around 5000k) but the ambient tungsten lights of your house are not (2000-3000k maybe? idk).

so when you use a longer shutter speed, you record the ambient light that is at a different temperature than your camera is set to which tends to screw the image up some. hopefully this makes sense

Wow!! While I appreciate your advice, I have no idea what you just said!! I don't know how light can be "long" and I have no idea about temperature of lights.. That is something that I, admittedly, must still learn... When I move the temperature slider in Picasa, it responds to me like the tint dial of my TV... I have a lot of learning to do...

 

[Dao]

Basically what he mean was ...

1. Your camera expect the light source to be flash light (white balance set to that)

2. When shutter speed is slow, the light that goes into your camera are light from your flash light AND the surrounding light.

3. But the surround light color are not the same as your flash, so your pictures were colored.

However, if the shutter speed is fast, the surrounding light has very little effect on your exposure.

 

[andrew99]

Wow, some hostility in here. I don't get some of the comments .. you need equipment in order to learn and practice this stuff.

Anyways..The white balance problem is caused by the flash being a different colour than the lights in your house. Regular tungsten lights (ie: normal light bulbs) give an orangy tint. Flashes are designed to match daylight, which is more blue. So when you mix your home lighting and your flashes, you're going to get a weird colour cast.

If you use a fast shutter speed, you will eliminate the ambient (house) lighting. You can prove this by taking a picture at a high shutter speed (1/200th of a second) without triggering the flashes, and you will get a black or almost black photo. Add the flashes, and you will get a photo lit only by the flashes. The flash blast only lasts an instant, so this allows you to use faster shutter speeds (up to your cameras max sync speed -- usually 1/200 or 1/250 on most cameras). Also you get the added bonus of freezing movement and camera shake.

 

[MelodySoul]

Wow, some hostility in here. I don't get some of the comments .. you need equipment in order to learn and practice this stuff.

If this is in response to my post all I meant is that I feel that he is trying to learn more advanced things before he has mastered the basics of photography. Learn to create a proper exposure before attempting to do a studio set up. What's not to get about that?

 

[stsinner]

If this is in response to my post all I meant is that I feel that he is trying to learn more advanced things before he has mastered the basics of photography. Learn to create a proper exposure before attempting to do a studio set up. What's not to get about that?

You're right, but one of the things that I'm really interested in is portraits... My wife had this goal of taking our own milestone pictures of our girls (1 year picture, etc.), instead of paying a professional.. And every time I've had professional pictures taken they've used umbrellas, so, naturally, I thought I needed umbrellas... Unfortunately, I bought cheap flashes for them that don't have any control-just on and off, and I'm having trouble with the timing. It doesn't seem like that's too terribly advance an issue to overcome, so I have begun asking these types of questions. It's the first situation I've encountered where Auto mode won't even take a decent picture. I was forced into Manual mode in order to control when the flashes fire more accurately, and so I'm in unfamiliar territory.

 

[Dao]

I think you really need to get out of Auto mode and start trying with different settings on your camera without any flash.

This is my logic flow, please correct me if I am wrong because I have not use off camera flash and I am still a beginner.

1. Use a small toy doll or a stuff animal toy from your daughter (if they let you .. haha) and place it in your set up.

2. Use AV mode and take a picture. You may want to try it with F/5.6 to F/8. If you are able to find a good picture with the AV mode. Note down the ISO, Shutter speed as well as the Aperture settings.

3. Now, change your camera to manual mode. Use the same settings you got on step 2 and take a picture.

4. If that looks ok, then add one flash (one flash, not 2). If the flash give 2 extra 2 stops of light, just stop down 2. i.e. jump from F/5.6 to F/11 and see how it looks. ( you can also play with the ISO and shutter speed. But just make sure the shutter speed do not exeed the max sync speed of your camera equipment. For my camera, it is 1/250) The EV table listed in the wikipedia maybe helpful

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_value


5. It is going to be trial and errors until you find a settings that works for your setup and environment. If possible, dim down all other lights when trying.


6. Now, since you have 2 umbrellas/flashed, once you are able to produce a good exposure with one umbrella/flash setup, you can try it with 2 sets and follow the same steps listed above.


Again, this is coming from me that have no experience on this but if I have a setup like that, that is what I will try and experiment with it.

 

[stsinner]

That's great advice, and I plan to try it. Thanks.. I never thought of that, and maybe that's a fundamental basic thing I should have thought of-let the camera choose some setting and them use time in manual.. Silly me.

It sucks when your house is full of people (4 kids) and every room is used.. You have to set up, take down, set up, take down...... I'll try this technique tonight.

 

[stsinner]

I know the poses are terrible, but the girls were very uncooperative today.. So, aside from the poses and the background, how is the exposure, etc? I used my SB600 bounced off the ceiling, and for all the good that a 50 has, it forced me to get much too close, causing shadows to be cast..

I haven't touched it in post, but I think that maybe with some cooperative girls and a nice backdrop, I may be able to pull this off.. I'd love your comments, as I do need to learn. Please let me know specifically the picture lacks in terms of technique. Thanks.

Anyway, I started up with a black screen shot and worked my way to getting this with setting adjustments:

 

[tsaraleksi]

This is much better exposure wise. Did you use the other lights in this one?

 

[OldClicker]

IMHO, your problem may be that you are looking for some kind of trick or setting or gadget that will make you a good portrait photographer. What it really takes is years of study and hard work. There is no shortcut. BTW - this post seems to be a great start. - TF