shot from friends wedding C&C

[t00sl0w]

thanks for the help and input so far guys...
i have been browsing every photo site i know of to stare and study photos, and i am starting to pick up on techniques a little better....mainly, i am starting to care more about my background, when before, i primarily focused on the subject....
thanks for the info on the white balance, i wasnt sure about it, but i have a much better idea now...

 

[manaheim]

because it's so easy to fix in post processing. the presets you are going to be choosing from could be further off than what the camera auto selects. if you're setting up a shot that allows you the time to use a gray card to set a custom white balance then by all means do it. or if the flash is the only light present then you can set it to flash. but for general shooting just use auto.

oof. Auto? Seriously? Ack.

Program mode... sure, ok I guess... aperture priority, sure. Shutter priority I suppose if the focal length demands it... but auto? Gad. Please don't do that. It will punish you by auto-selecting focus points and even set your ISO. Bad bad bad. :thumbdown:

auto white balance. not auto mode.

oops, sorry. I was really spacing out yesterday.

 

[William Petruzzo]

I think there are likely better photos for you to work on, this one seems to have most things working against it. At least from a traditional standpoint.

I am curious though, what is it in particular that you like about this photo that you're especially interested in making it work?

 

[t00sl0w]

I think there are likely better photos for you to work on, this one seems to have most things working against it. At least from a traditional standpoint.

I am curious though, what is it in particular that you like about this photo that you're especially interested in making it work?

your right, i do have better pcitures, but i primarily like to stick to candid, unexpected pictures, and that is what i love about this one. the fact that she didnt even really know i was there made it all that much better. and plus, i like the angle of it, just wish that i had planned it a little better now...

i was thinking, what if i did some fake vignetting or something, would that maybe help? darken the edges, and keep the center overexposed, and maybe a hint of sepia, like it was taken from a ikoflex or something

 

[o hey tyler]

Noooo! Not the vignetting!

 

[t00sl0w]

Noooo! Not the vignetting!

why do you say that?

 

[o hey tyler]

Because it's cliche and overused, and not the best way to enhance a photo of any quality imo imho tbqh.

 

[stephen]

i did one of my friends weddings just to get some practice, and this is a pic that i loved. what do you guys think? i haven't edited it at all, the only thing i was thinking that should be done, would be to maybe remove the arm from the left side of the image....but i feared that might upset how off center she is....what do you guys think?

I'm a novice but I have a couple of ideas. Programs like Photoshop Elements have adjustments that will take the over exposed parts of the image and tone them down a bit. I also work in Photoshop Lightroom which will allow you to use tools to select parts of the image then adjust exposure and light. I think Elements and Lightroom or the full blown photoshop and lightroom sort of work together. You won't make it look great because it is really blown on the bright side, but you can tone it down a bit without darkening the underexposed side of the image. And then you can take the mid-tones and brighten them up a bit. It's very easy to do with just a few slider buttons geared for that job.

The problem with this photo is that the brides face is shaded from the harsh light, light which bathes the rest of her in the same frame. You might have been able to use some flash to even things out. I've never used "fill flash" or whatever they call it but shooting people in a brightly lit day can cause these problems and sometimes using fill flash can make a big difference. Had they been standing in shade that would have helped too because the light would be even over their entire body and you wouldn't worry about the background just set the exposure on them.

I don't think you should beat yourself up over this image. I love the girls expression, you are capturing a moment in time that you cannot repeat. You were not able to stage the scene and think about exposure and so forth you had to point and click. If you didn't click, you would never capture that moment.

You can consider next time your positioning, the use of fill flash, catching them perhaps in the shade before they hit the light, or from the front and so forth. Once the moment is at hand, obviously you are ready for that shot or not because you are documenting a moment in time that will never repeat itself. So many great images are never taken because we don't have the camera, can't stop the car and capture them, don't have the time, don't have the right equipment, you name it. It's all a part of the game.

 

[MrRamonG]

I would highly recommend to not leave WB in auto. I shoot with a Nikon D80 and when I do comparison shots, I am rarely happy with results from shooting Auto WB. Get into the habit of glancing at your settings before every shot.

 

[o hey tyler]

i did one of my friends weddings just to get some practice, and this is a pic that i loved. what do you guys think? i haven't edited it at all, the only thing i was thinking that should be done, would be to maybe remove the arm from the left side of the image....but i feared that might upset how off center she is....what do you guys think?

I'm a novice but I have a couple of ideas. Programs like Photoshop Elements have adjustments that will take the over exposed parts of the image and tone them down a bit. I also work in Photoshop Lightroom which will allow you to use tools to select parts of the image then adjust exposure and light. I think Elements and Lightroom or the full blown photoshop and lightroom sort of work together. You won't make it look great because it is really blown on the bright side, but you can tone it down a but without darkening the underexposed side of the image. And then you can take the mid-tones and brighten them up a bit. It's very easy to do with just a few slider buttons geared for that job.

What people fail to realize, is that when you have a JPG image that has blown areas, you can't "recreate" the data that is lost by specular highlights. It just simply can't be done. If it's all white, there's no data left for any program of any caliber to restore. Unless you yourself have a photographic memory or very good intuition and you can paint with a tablet in photoshop. Otherwise, highlights or dark shadows are pretty much lost unless you shoot in RAW (which isn't a complete fail safe method all the time).

 

[inTempus]

You were in a tough lighting situation.

Many people make the mistake of thinking that direct sunlight is the best light there is because it's all natural. It's actually some of the worst light you can get stuck working with.

As you can see from the picture and the comments in the thread, you have some pretty serious exposure problems.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind when shooting a wedding.

First, the bride is usually dressed in white and the groom in black. This screws with your camera because it's trying to make white 18% gray (under exposes the dress) and it's trying to make the black tux 18% gray (over exposing the tux). You have to dial in the proper exposure compensation to deal with this.

That doesn't really apply to your picture here, but I wanted to share that with you so you're aware of it.

With the shot here, there is one thing you could have tried and that would be to flash the bride with a speedlite. What, more light fixes over exposed brides? Yes, it can.

Which brings me to my next point. Be sure to get flattering angles on your subjects. If you were shooting her from a position to camera right, and got more of her face in frame, a flash would have gotten rid of the harsh shadows, given detail to her dress and even made the sky blue.

Example:
I shot this sample image of my son this summer. I purposely didn't include the sky in the shot because it would have been blown out (white) or his face would have been black and the sky would have been a beautiful blue.

Here's a shot from a few moments later after I mounted my flash. This time I got lower to the ground and included some sky in the frame because I knew it would be blue.

Notice how his eyes are black in the first pic yet they are nice and blue in the second. The flash completely changed the image.

The moral to the story? Always think about composition. Get good angles on your subjects. Try to avoid unflattering lighting if possible. Finally, always have a speedlite (external flash), even if you're shooting outdoors. They're not just for dark rooms.

 

[Hooker771]

Thanks InTempus.

Good read

 

[Hooker771]

WHITE BALANCE SETTING AND THE
I GUEST THE MAN IS HER FARTHER

Too early for booze.

 

[t00sl0w]

thanks intempus, lots of info. and thanks stephen, the same from you.
so, what i need to do then, is go shoot in some direct sunlight, and practice in that enviroment...most of my shooting has been in overcast, or indoors, i dont have much experience in direct sunlight....hmm

also, so the flash can help that much, even in the sunlight...interesting, i always just ignored the flash in sunlight...i have a external flash, but it is a older one that i used with my 35mm....its decent, just cant go over about 1/400 shutter speed...lol

 

[Hooker771]

WHITE BALANCE SETTING IS THE PROBLEM
I THINK THE MAN IS HER FATHER

Let it go.