My girlfriend reading

robertwsimpson · Oct 8, 2009

these make me happy

plus I just got a new flash that I suck at using and I want to get better.

Click images for EXIF

Any suggestions on lighting are helpfull. First is bounced off of wall from camera left... second is actually the pop up flash I think.

RMThompson · Oct 8, 2009

Well it's just a picture of your girlfriend reading, and in that, you've achieved your goal.

robertwsimpson · Oct 8, 2009

actually, it's what I assume to be a properly exposed shot of my girlfriend reading... I really just don't have a clue how to use this flash thing. Should I focus the flash more on her and less on the background? is it over/under exposed? does it need more contrast? is it washed out? All of these questions running through my head!

max3k · Oct 8, 2009

I would focus on buying her another book. That book looks dangerous for you.

iolair · Oct 8, 2009

The first one's nice. If you hadn't mentioned the flash, I would have assumed it was naturally lit from a window on the left - good, soft light. To my eye, two obvious improvments would be
1) Remove whatever the brown object (the two lines) are in the background to the left of her head.
2) Add catchlights to the eyes.
(both of which you can do in postprocessing, though nicer to get an original image if you can)

If you take a new version of the first one, ask her not to cover part of the book title with her hand.

Interesting title and subtitle to the book - is it any good?

robertwsimpson · Oct 8, 2009

max3k said:
I would focus on buying her another book. That book looks dangerous for you.

lol no ring on her finger yet... it's a good probability there will be one soon though.

robertwsimpson · Oct 8, 2009

iolair said:
The first one's nice. To my eye, two obvious improvments would be
1) Remove whatever the brown object (the two lines) are in the background to the left of her head.
2) Add catchlights to the eyes.
(both of which you can do in postprocessing, though nicer to get an original image if you can)

If you take a new version of the first one, ask her not to cover part of the book title with her hand.

Interesting title and subtitle to the book - is it any good?

the brown object is a chair... I didn't think it was that distracting, but thanks for the heads up
what are catchlights? I mean I usually dodge eyes a bit to bring them out, but I neglected to do that in these, since I wanted full C&C on how to take a good picture with a flash.

the book is pretty good. tonight we are going to get icecream and talk about how to resolve our differences... I think it's written for people who are young and thinking about getting married. I'm 28 and she's 29, and at our age, it seems pretty basic.

JayClark79 · Oct 8, 2009

I think catch lights are the white glare in peoples eyes from the flash??? I could be way off though.

NateWagner · Oct 8, 2009

1. Yes, catchlights are the glare, or reflections from the light that are seen in the persons eyes.

2. If you're only asking about flash use, I personally think #1 is relatively well done. I'm not a huge fan of the composition, but it seems pretty natural. Outside of composition though, it is a little flat to my eye, and I think boosting the contrast a bit would help the photo.