Weekend walk in the woods - C&C welcomed

ronlane · Mar 3, 2013

Took the kids to the grandparents house in the country this weekend. They had a great time. We even went for a walk and took some pictures of them and some interesting things on our way.

1. 100 mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/100th. The sun is over his left shoulder and a fill flash camera left with a diffuser.

Grannys Mar 13-36 by Ron_Lane, on Flickr

Grannys Mar 13-36 by Ron_Lane, on Flickr

2. 80 mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/80th. The sun is over her left shoulder and a fill flash camera left with a diffuser.

Grannys Mar 13-43 by Ron_Lane, on Flickr

Grannys Mar 13-43 by Ron_Lane, on Flickr

3. 109 mm, f5.6, ISO 100, 1/400th. No flash, sun behind the camera.

Granny's March 2013-9 by Ron_Lane, on Flickr

4. 56 mm, f4.5, ISO 100, 1/160th. Sun behind camera right , fill flash camera left with a diffuser.

Granny's March 2013-16 by Ron_Lane, on Flickr

5. 28 mm, f4.5, ISO 100, 1/250th. Sun behind camera right, fill flash camera left with a diffuser.

Granny's March 2013-21 by Ron_Lane, on Flickr

MiFleur · Mar 3, 2013

Very nice series, you have improved a lot since you first stared. These portraits are very nice
I specially like #4 and 2

ronlane · Mar 3, 2013

Thank you MiFleur. I appreciate others seeing the progress as well. Those were actually taken on different days, so I know that I am starting to be more consistent from day to day.

MetroRuss · Mar 4, 2013

Those look awesome!! Nice looking kids too

cgipson1 · Mar 4, 2013

Definite improvement, Ron... those "in the tree" shots look pretty good. The first two are a bit overexposed..... and I don't understand the\ way they look, when compared to the others! If #4 and #5 look good to you.... what happened to #1 and #2?

for instance... your original is on the left... my edit on the right. ALL I did was change brightness and contrast... nothing else....

ronlane · Mar 4, 2013

Thanks Charlie, #1 & 2 weren't shaded like 4 & 5 were. I agree that they were a little overexposed. I will go back in and pull exposure down a little this evening. (Also the first two were taken on Saturday and the other three were taken on Sunday)

cgipson1 · Mar 4, 2013

ronlane said:
Thanks Charlie, #1 & 2 weren't shaded like 4 & 5 were. I agree that they were a little overexposed. I will go back in and pull exposure down a little this evening. (Also the first two were taken on Saturday and the other three were taken on Sunday)

Cool! My point was that you need to get an image in your head, of correct exposure and skin tone. And when doing post on an image, always try to make the image you are working on consistent with the other images you worked on (whether that was yesterday or last year) Consistency in skin tones and exposures is important (unless of course you intentionally do something off for a purpose)

Also... did you buy a "5 in 1" reflector? If so, there is a diffuser disk in there that is great for diffusing bright sunlight and making your own "shade"!

ronlane · Mar 4, 2013

I understand your point with the skin tone, but I have one question. Wouldn't your skin tone be different when you are standing in direct sun light as apposed to being in the shade or dark shadows?

I did get the 5 in 1 reflector and did use it on some other images in that set on Saturday. I'll have to go back and look at them to see how they turned out.

cgipson1 · Mar 4, 2013

ronlane said:
I understand your point with the skin tone, but I have one question. Wouldn't your skin tone be different when you are standing in direct sun light as apposed to being in the shade or dark shadows?

I did get the 5 in 1 reflector and did use it on some other images in that set on Saturday. I'll have to go back and look at them to see how they turned out.

Skin tone is skin tone... (and yes, the shade will vary depending on lighting, tans, race, etc...). Skin tone Exposure is a different story.. underexposed skin looks different than properly exposed skin, which looks different from Overexposed skin.

Memorize what properly exposed skin looks like.. and go for that....

ronlane · Mar 4, 2013

Yes sir. So you were trying to make the skin tone in #4 with #1? (Meaning that #4 is properly exposed.

ceeboy14 · Mar 4, 2013

cgipson1 said:
ronlane said:

I understand your point with the skin tone, but I have one question. Wouldn't your skin tone be different when you are standing in direct sun light as apposed to being in the shade or dark shadows?

I did get the 5 in 1 reflector and did use it on some other images in that set on Saturday. I'll have to go back and look at them to see how they turned out.

Click to expand...

Skin tone is skin tone... (and yes, the shade will vary depending on lighting, tans, race, etc...). Skin tone Exposure is a different story.. underexposed skin looks different than properly exposed skin, which looks different from Overexposed skin.

Memorize what properly exposed skin looks like.. and go for that....

This is the kind of critique, comment and advice everyone should aspire to make on each other's work. Charlie helped Ron identify a problem, gave his several options as to how to compensate in the future, suggested a diffuser and showed at least one editing technique. Bravo. I applaud you.

ronlane · Mar 4, 2013

Ceeboy14, I agree that Charlie's critique's on these have been great. He has spent a lot of time this year (Dec '12 - now) helping me to learn off camera flash, portraits and editing.