The Result of 1 min photography

vipgraphx · Apr 22, 2012

Today my daughter did her confirmation. We were allowed to take pictures after the ceremony with the Bishop. However there where so many other children that I only had like a minute before I was being rushed away. Background was so plain as the led us off to this area of the church for photo opps. The lighting was not so great and I did use my SB700 but I really did not have to much time to nail a picture I was hoping for. I know if I had more time make adjustments I would have had a much better image. Thank god I shot RAW so I was able to tweak the photo so at least we had something to print as a memory for family.

To all the PRO's out there. Can you nail a shot in these circumstances? People rushing you right as you take your camera out and turn it on? What would you have done different in this situation. I thought maybe I should have kept shooting and waited till the last person and do a retake but there was like 70 teens...we had to leave to dinner.

This is the result after post.

ari and bishop2 by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

with a crop

ari and bishop4 by VIPGraphX, on Flickr

Granddad · Apr 22, 2012

Given the circumstances as described I think you did an excellent job and came up with a photo to be proud of. It's clear, it's sharp, good colours, the bishop looks happy and your daughter looks absolutely gorgeous. She has lovely eyes and I'd call that a Mona Lisa smile. The only improvements I can think of in post is to try lightening up the whites of her eyes, just a touch, and possibly trying a gaussian blur on the stucco background to see how that looks.

Well done! :thumbup:

tirediron · Apr 22, 2012

Agree with Grandad; under the circumstances, well done! Just some minor PP work and you'll have an outstanding image.

o hey tyler · Apr 22, 2012

What was the shot data for the photo?

A lot of it boils down to assessing the shooting conditions and setting your camera properly before your daughter even gets up there to have her photo taken. The photo you posted isn't bad or unacceptable by any stretch (except for the white vignette on the uncropped one). I probably would have set my camera to ISO 400, flash to TTL, 1/125s, 50mm+ @ f/4 just to play it safe.

vipgraphx · Apr 22, 2012

Tyler- I did not have time to meter as I had no idea where they were taking us. We walked out the church and followed the Bishop to another building. We were the first in line because of our last name starting with A. They stopped and said ok take your picture.. So yeah it was such a rushed photo.

My camera info is as follows

Lens 50mm 1.8G
ISO 400
F 4.5
1/160s

I took one shot and had to bump the EV down to -1.0EV

If feels like I missed something hear. I am glad that I was able to use photoshop camera raw and build off the original picture because the original looks worse.

o hey tyler · Apr 22, 2012

Well, you had your camera set pretty reasonably. I said ISO400 on the off chance you were shooting in a larger room. Instead of turning down the exposure comp, I would have lowered the ISO if the room was small and the flash was too much.

Even if you weren't able to meter, the settings which I outlined are usually pretty safe.

DScience · Apr 22, 2012

Sorry, but you have a beautiful daughter! :O)

vipgraphx · Apr 22, 2012

I did not think about turning down the ISO, it makes more sense than doing exposures compensation. I used to have the sb28 and I really liked that flash I used it in manual and I had very great results. This newer sb700 , I still have to learn how to make those same adjustments. It seems like it always washes my photos out and I have to take a lot of time adjusting the camera and flash. I should take the time to really figure it out for times like this. Nothing like user error to mess up a photo. Had I shot Jpeg it would have been a total failure. RAW saved me once again.

Thanks.