New to people photography... Please C&C

[Luna]

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[kellylindseyphotography]

WEll, first night shots are hard, yes impossible for beginners with no flash skill/eperience/knowledge.

You do not know ANYONE? Not one person? You don't have a coworker, friend, cousin, niece, uncle, child, friend anywhere?

It will take practice of course. Shoot in the shade during daytime hours and then show us what you get!

 

[kellylindseyphotography]

Well, flash was your only option, really. Flash is pretty complicated to "get" correctly, and for a beginner, you really should get the basics down before going down that road. And that means your limited to daytime shooting only.

Your right, you did alright with the compostion so there's a good start!

 

[schumionbike]

I think this picture is okay, the lighting from the flash was noticably harsh and maybe a homemade diffuser would help with that. However, it seem like it's pitch black outside so your choice is really limited anyway.

As far practice, I always find little kids to be the best subject to practice on, they always give you a smile and sometimes chasing after them make really good practice.

 

[Senor Hound]

The only problem I see with the photo is the lighting. If you had taken this on a soft, cloudy day, it would have been better, but we can't always control when we take photos, can we (especially us spontaneous folk).

The problem with flash is it only comes from one spot. So your subject has great lighting, but the other end of the bench is starting to get dark and the background is black. Its not your fault, its the nature of the beast. Usually you have to have more than one source of flash, or have everything the same distance away (but then that loses the depth of the photo...)

Anyway, I like it.

P.S. In the future, see what happens with your flash when you put a background behind your subject. It shouldn't be RIGHT behind him, but it will keep the background from being pitch black...

 

[schumionbike]

A diffuser is something you put over the flash to make it less harsh, right? I did that once before with a Kleenex and it actually worked pretty well making the shadows a little duller.

I definitely should practice on some children. My nephew comes over every once in a while so I'll have to snag him for a little bit if I can.

yup, that kleenex would be the diffuser, mine is made out of with which printing paper and for the most part it give pretty soft light, I just went to a graduation where I shot the pic with flash from the diffuser, it's one of the newer in the forum actually if you want to see how mine pic came out.

 

[visualpoetry]

If you need models, create an account on www.modelmayhem.com . There you get to pick from which models to use and they will work for prints or the cd with images on them.