Ugh... What did I do wrong?

[Robin_Usagani]

spot meter on the dude's bald head. Who cares about the sky. I rather have blown sky than crappy on camera flash. You didnt put the subject well though. It is best if you put most the face either facing the sun, or completely in the shadow... no half and half unless you use flash.

 

[limr]

f1.8 and 1/2000 isn't wide open.

it was a 35mm f/1.8, how is that not wide open?

Because I misread it as f8? And hadn't had coffee yet? Oops.

spot meter on the dude's bald head. Who cares about the sky. I rather have blown sky than crappy on camera flash. You didnt put the subject well though. It is best if you put most the face either facing the sun, or completely in the shadow... no half and half unless you use flash.

^^^This.

 

[ronlane]

f1.8 and 1/2000 isn't wide open.

it was a 35mm f/1.8, how is that not wide open?

Because I misread it as f8? And hadn't had coffee yet? Oops.

Hey no problem. I either need a soda or a red bull myself.

 

[KmH]

... I literally have no idea why this happened.

What is that happened that you don't get?

 

[o hey tyler]

You underexposed the shot and you couldn't pull details from the shadows.

 

[The_Traveler]

It's not the dark shirt that is the big issue imo.
It's the blown out spots on the arms of the female and face of teh guy

 

[Designer]

Or three words...

Reflector! lol!

Re Flec Tor Yup, three words all right.

 

[KmH]

Yep. Shadows have little or no detail from the get go if the highlights are properly exposed.
It's the opposite of blown out highlights, and is called blocked shadows.
Blown out high;lights are R = 255, G = 255, B = 255 and no detail can be recovered. Blocked shadows are R = 0, G = 0, B = 0, and there are no details that can be recovered.

Fully 1/2 of the luminosity data in a digital image is in the brightest stop of exposure.
The next darker stop (2nd stop) then has 1/2 of what's left, or only 1/4 of the luminosity data.
The next darker stop (3nd stop) then has 1/2 of what's left, or only 1/8 of the luminosity data.
The next darker stop (4nd stop) then has 1/2 of what's left, or only 1/32 of the luminosity data.
The next darker stop (5nd stop) then has 1/2 of what's left, or only 1/64 of the luminosity data.
The next darker stop (6nd stop) then has 1/2 of what's left, or only 1/128 of the luminosity data.
And so on.

Understanding Dynamic Range in Digital Photography
If your camera has a 12-bit A/D converter, the dynamic range of Raw files from your camera should be about 12 stops.
If your camera has a 14-bit A/D converter, the dynamic range of Raw files from your camera should be about 14 stops.

Though JPEG is a lossy file type. It keeps all the luminosity data because all the luminosity data is needed to make an image from a Raw file.
All the color data in a Raw file is not needed to make a JPEG, which is why JPEG discards about 80% of the color data.

You can see an approximation of your cameras image sensor's dynamic range by looking at the image histogram of the Raw file as it is displayed in Lightroom or Camera Raw.
The histogram displayed on the back LCD of a digital camera is not the histogram of the Raw file. It is the histogram of a JPEG Basic thumbnail that is embedded in the Raw file.

 

[Designer]

This is the full shot, post edit, for reference and the straight from camera jpg for reference.

Once again, the slightly darker one is the "raw" output.

Are you up for any more comments on this shot?

I simply don't understand the pose at all. Why take a picture of their backsides anyway? Perhaps a better choice of backgrounds is in order. Aside from not seeing the fairly high differential in lighting between sunlight and shade, you should just try to remember that when shooting in full sunlight, you need to get the flash out. Or some Re Flec Tors.

 

[elementgs]

As usual, KMH offers an amazingly helpful response. Totally appreciated.

I really appreciate all the feedback on this and any other comments or suggestions for future engagement/wedding photos would be tremendously appreciated. They are good friends of mine and I will be taking them out again in the future to shoot some shots.

As for your question Designer, please. I'm open for suggestions and additional feedback. Before though, I feel the full context of the shot is fairly important to understand... This shot in particular was a candid shot that I just liked and was going to present to them. They weren't actually posing. The reason I selected this picture for review on this thread though was because out of all 300ish pictures for the day, this series was the only one to have problems in post. Everything else was fine, or fairly fine.

I only had a short window of opportunity to shoot these pics though so the whole shoot was rushed and on a wretched valley day with the sky as bland as it could be, the sun was high on the horizon so everything was blown out... not to mention it was 110.. ugh. All in all though I believe more than a few of the shots came out well.

This one is my favorite though... open to suggestions on this one as well.

 

[Designer]

This one is my favorite though... open to suggestions on this one as well.

Needs fill flash.

I sympathize with your hurried time frame.