Photo shoot with white shirts and mid day sun!

[edouble]

I happily offered my cousin and his girlfriend a photo shoot for thier maternity pictures. This was my fist photo shoot ever and my first real shoot using off camera flash. I am so stoked to do this! After talking over some details about what I think makes a good shoot ie. background, attire blah blah we plan on starting the shoot outdoors in a secluded park then going indoors. Great. He says the best time for them is 12 noon --- ehhh ok --- kinda sucks time wise for outdoor portrait photography but ok. We meet up at noon --- they both have white shirts on.......


How did I do? Please view my Flickr page to see more photos.

 

[robertwsimpson]

you did ok. I would have chosen a spot where the sunlight isn't so spotty coming through the trees. You have blown out highlights, which is kind of impossible to avoid, given the circumstances. Other than that, your photos look great! Nice work!

 

[DanFinePhotography]

i think the last 2 might be a tad under exposed. Nice images otherwise

 

[cnutco]

you did ok. I would have chosen a spot where the sunlight isn't so spotty coming through the trees. You have blown out highlights, which is kind of impossible to avoid, given the circumstances. Other than that, your photos look great! Nice work!

+1

The sun is quite powerful and hard to work with at times.

 

[edouble]

you did ok. I would have chosen a spot where the sunlight isn't so spotty coming through the trees. You have blown out highlights, which is kind of impossible to avoid, given the circumstances. Other than that, your photos look great! Nice work!

There wasn't consistent shade anywhere. I think I could have used my strobes better to expose them. I was hoping to eliminate all shadows from their faces but I don't have the experience yet to know the adjustments necessary on-location.

thanks!

i think the last 2 might be a tad under exposed. Nice images otherwise

yes - possibly but I think this "look" is fitting for these photos.

you did ok. I would have chosen a spot where the sunlight isn't so spotty coming through the trees. You have blown out highlights, which is kind of impossible to avoid, given the circumstances. Other than that, your photos look great! Nice work!

+1

The sun is quite powerful and hard to work with at times.

Uhhh wow i knew I had my work cut out for me when I saw the location and their shirts lol. I was hoping to overcome some direct sunlight issues with aperture/flash but like I said I just don't have the experience yet to do this. And my SB800's might not be up for the task....

 

[MohaimenK]

Hey these are great shots! WB looks good to me for outdoors. #3 IMO I would have taken it as if the mirror was in focus where she was out of focus. I think that'd be a cooler effect. 4th, I just think the lighting is too low, again focusing out the subjects and catching them off the mirror

 

[edouble]

Hey these are great shots! WB looks good to me for outdoors. #3 IMO I would have taken it as if the mirror was in focus where she was out of focus. I think that'd be a cooler effect. 4th, I just think the lighting is too low, again focusing out the subjects and catching them off the mirror

I agree.

 

[LCARSx32]

The under exposed shots can easily be fixed in pp. Even if you don't have them in RAW (which if you do, it'll be even easier.)

 

[edouble]

I want the underexposed look for those pictures.

 

[Flash Harry]

Those 800's are well up to the task of fill flash in harsh sun but you'll not find out how without trying, 1-1 and1/2 stops less light for a guide and go from there. H

 

[bigtwinky]

Light wise, I think others have touched on the important stuff. Noon is really harsh, and you did a decent job considering lack of experience, white shirts, harsh light.

I do have a critique on composition though... why are all three so centered? You shot the first landscape, but yet there is nothing of interest on either side of them and his head is really tight up top. Portrait might of worked, or moving them off center.

Same for the second one but here they have alot of room over their heads. I do like how the branches frame them in these shots though

I'm not digging the under exposed shots. If thats your style and what you want, no worries. I just personally dont like them. I can see how you might want some lower key shots, but instead of just keeping the exposure low to make them darker, look at playing with curves, contrast and so on to get a more interesting effect.

I like the first mirror shot.
i'm not sure what his face is doing on her shoulder in the second though.

For a first time, very nice. I had my first maternity shoot a few months ago and I hear ya that it can be very nerve wracking.

 

[sobolik]

You asked "how did I do"
I am going to offer a brutal critique. i.e. pick it apart. If you want to improve consider these comments. Otherwise they are nice enough for the casual viewer.

Photo #1 The crop could be improved. There is too much space full irrelevant stuff on the left. The head at the top and the foot at the bottom left are too crowded by the edge. They need more space.

Photo #2 needs more space at the bottom and less at the top. The tree trunk is bouncing on the baby filled belly, her elbow and her ear. If you the photographer would have made one step to your left the tree trunk would have cleared the woman's body.

Photo #3 The mirror edge is crooked. A sure sign of amateur. Most striking to my brain for some reason is the quality watermark with shadow and obvious pride implied, right next to the obviously crooked vertical edge of the mirror. Other wise the concept is quite nice. Try the correct camera distortion component of software. (I use Photoshop elements 5.0 which you can buy dirt cheap used on ebay)

Photo 3 and 4 Is similar to #3 comment only concerning the horizontal lines. They are so close to being level that they could be made perfect while using the camera distortion correct as for the vertical lines.

If you did what I suggest then I personally would find very little to criticize in these photos.

 

[gsgary]

You need to take an ambient reading then match that reading with your flash then if you want the background brighter lower your shutter speed if you want a darker background up you shutter speed don't alter your aperture because that will alter your flash exposure

 

[edouble]

Light wise, I think others have touched on the important stuff. Noon is really harsh, and you did a decent job considering lack of experience, white shirts, harsh light.

I do have a critique on composition though... why are all three so centered? You shot the first landscape, but yet there is nothing of interest on either side of them and his head is really tight up top. Portrait might of worked, or moving them off center.

Same for the second one but here they have alot of room over their heads. I do like how the branches frame them in these shots though

I'm not digging the under exposed shots. If thats your style and what you want, no worries. I just personally dont like them. I can see how you might want some lower key shots, but instead of just keeping the exposure low to make them darker, look at playing with curves, contrast and so on to get a more interesting effect.

I like the first mirror shot.
i'm not sure what his face is doing on her shoulder in the second though.

For a first time, very nice. I had my first maternity shoot a few months ago and I hear ya that it can be very nerve wracking.

The first shot was taken in landscape orientation because I did not want to cut off her foot. These shots were taken in the woods, I didn't have alot of room to move around. I understand your point about this. I agree with you that the second could have been framed better. Thank you for your critique!!!!!

You asked "how did I do"
I am going to offer a brutal critique. i.e. pick it apart. If you want to improve consider these comments. Otherwise they are nice enough for the casual viewer.

Photo #1 The crop could be improved. There is too much space full irrelevant stuff on the left. The head at the top and the foot at the bottom left are too crowded by the edge. They need more space.

Photo #2 needs more space at the bottom and less at the top. The tree trunk is bouncing on the baby filled belly, her elbow and her ear. If you the photographer would have made one step to your left the tree trunk would have cleared the woman's body.

Photo #3 The mirror edge is crooked. A sure sign of amateur. Most striking to my brain for some reason is the quality watermark with shadow and obvious pride implied, right next to the obviously crooked vertical edge of the mirror. Other wise the concept is quite nice. Try the correct camera distortion component of software. (I use Photoshop elements 5.0 which you can buy dirt cheap used on ebay)

Photo 3 and 4 Is similar to #3 comment only concerning the horizontal lines. They are so close to being level that they could be made perfect while using the camera distortion correct as for the vertical lines.

If you did what I suggest then I personally would find very little to criticize in these photos.

Thank you very much for your comments. Youare helping me improve my photography by sharing your thoughts, thank you.

You need to take an ambient reading then match that reading with your flash then if you want the background brighter lower your shutter speed if you want a darker background up you shutter speed don't alter your aperture because that will alter your flash exposure

Very interesting way to look at this. I took ambient shots at 1/200 (my max shutter speed for flash) and adjusted aperture accordingly starting with f8. Then I did my best to position my flash stands and manually adjust output. I never thought to adjust my shutter speed like you explained. I figured 1/200 is what it should be. Under the the circumstances of the shoot I wish I would have adjusted my flash output better. Thank you for sharing your advice.

 

[gsgary]

Light wise, I think others have touched on the important stuff. Noon is really harsh, and you did a decent job considering lack of experience, white shirts, harsh light.

I do have a critique on composition though... why are all three so centered? You shot the first landscape, but yet there is nothing of interest on either side of them and his head is really tight up top. Portrait might of worked, or moving them off center.

Same for the second one but here they have alot of room over their heads. I do like how the branches frame them in these shots though

I'm not digging the under exposed shots. If thats your style and what you want, no worries. I just personally dont like them. I can see how you might want some lower key shots, but instead of just keeping the exposure low to make them darker, look at playing with curves, contrast and so on to get a more interesting effect.

I like the first mirror shot.
i'm not sure what his face is doing on her shoulder in the second though.

For a first time, very nice. I had my first maternity shoot a few months ago and I hear ya that it can be very nerve wracking.

The first shot was taken in landscape orientation because I did not want to cut off her foot. These shots were taken in the woods, I didn't have alot of room to move around. I understand your point about this. I agree with you that the second could have been framed better. Thank you for your critique!!!!!

You asked "how did I do"
I am going to offer a brutal critique. i.e. pick it apart. If you want to improve consider these comments. Otherwise they are nice enough for the casual viewer.

Photo #1 The crop could be improved. There is too much space full irrelevant stuff on the left. The head at the top and the foot at the bottom left are too crowded by the edge. They need more space.

Photo #2 needs more space at the bottom and less at the top. The tree trunk is bouncing on the baby filled belly, her elbow and her ear. If you the photographer would have made one step to your left the tree trunk would have cleared the woman's body.

Photo #3 The mirror edge is crooked. A sure sign of amateur. Most striking to my brain for some reason is the quality watermark with shadow and obvious pride implied, right next to the obviously crooked vertical edge of the mirror. Other wise the concept is quite nice. Try the correct camera distortion component of software. (I use Photoshop elements 5.0 which you can buy dirt cheap used on ebay)

Photo 3 and 4 Is similar to #3 comment only concerning the horizontal lines. They are so close to being level that they could be made perfect while using the camera distortion correct as for the vertical lines.

If you did what I suggest then I personally would find very little to criticize in these photos.

Thank you very much for your comments. Youare helping me improve my photography by sharing your thoughts, thank you.

You need to take an ambient reading then match that reading with your flash then if you want the background brighter lower your shutter speed if you want a darker background up you shutter speed don't alter your aperture because that will alter your flash exposure

Very interesting way to look at this. I took ambient shots at 1/200 (my max shutter speed for flash) and adjusted aperture accordingly starting with f8. Then I did my best to position my flash stands and manually adjust output. I never thought to adjust my shutter speed like you explained. I figured 1/200 is what it should be. Under the the circumstances of the shoot I wish I would have adjusted my flash output better. Thank you for sharing your advice.

But if you go to F11 or F16 you can drop your shutter speed to 1/100 or less, then if you want a darker background up your shutter speed, when mixing ambient and flash, shutter speed controls ambient and aperture controls flash