Ever in the setting sun..

[insanepinoy]

No not a question.. thats her name "Ever" Heres my first official submitted image from a photoshoot yesterday with Ever. I did minor PSing sharpening and levels adj.. I know Don has been waiting for some posts from "newbies" so this one is for you Don! Please comment would like to know what I could do to improve!! Oh, I realized a reflector or fill flash would of helped a little here..
[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]
-Ran

Canon 10d
Canon 28-80 3.5-5.6

[kentalan]

Yes, a reflector or fill flash would have helped. That aside, her pose seems very awkward. She looks like she is on starting blocks getting ready to run off the left side of the picture. The awkwardness is exacerbated by the glamour pose of her upper body that has her hand in her hair. Maybe by cropping just below her left hand you can elimate the strange pose and have a pretty good upper body shot.

The bushes in the back are nice, but I don't think they add much to the image. Perhaps these could have been blurred with a wider aperture. If she were wearing an expensive dress, my advice would be to keep the foliage and go for a rich girl in the garden look. However, with the jeans its hard to pull that off.

To summarize, pose, reflector or flash, and depth of field can be improved. Hope that helps.

[kwik67]

instead of her back to the sun, maybe have her front side to the sun with the head going in the same direction.

To drop out the background and get a nice bokah, pick up the 50mm 1.8 Lens. it's under a $100 and in that lighting you might be able to shoot wide open at 1.8 but definetly at 2.8. Plus the 1.8 will help alot when shooting at night from your previous post. The only thing is you move around alot since it's a prime and not a zoom.

[insanepinoy]

[ QUOTE ]
Yes, a reflector or fill flash would have helped. That aside, her pose seems very awkward. She looks like she is on starting blocks getting ready to run off the left side of the picture. The awkwardness is exacerbated by the glamour pose of her upper body that has her hand in her hair. Maybe by cropping just below her left hand you can elimate the strange pose and have a pretty good upper body shot.

The bushes in the back are nice, but I don't think they add much to the image. Perhaps these could have been blurred with a wider aperture. If she were wearing an expensive dress, my advice would be to keep the foliage and go for a rich girl in the garden look. However, with the jeans its hard to pull that off.

To summarize, pose, reflector or flash, and depth of field can be improved. Hope that helps.


[/ QUOTE ]

I need to start looking at poses more closely.. I also should of just left my 28-80mm lens at home.. i dont like it..switched to my 50mm 1.8 after first few shots. this was one of the first ones. i know i can do better than this.. i just rushed myself and i guess i was kinda nervous at the same time. jeez.. i look at all the pics i took yesterday and im not too moved by them. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] at least i know what ive done wrong and what to look out for next time.. thanks for the help again.


by the way speedlite is the flash right? i want the 550ex but i dont have mula right now. maybe i can get the 420exjust bought this 10d a couple weeks ago and havent even really got the hang of it yet because i had school. finals ended last monday. anyways, thanks again.

[insanepinoy]

[ QUOTE ]
instead of her back to the sun, maybe have her front side to the sun with the head going in the same direction.

To drop out the background and get a nice bokah, pick up the 50mm 1.8 Lens. it's under a $100 and in that lighting you might be able to shoot wide open at 1.8 but definetly at 2.8. Plus the 1.8 will help alot when shooting at night from your previous post. The only thing is you move around alot since it's a prime and not a zoom.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks Kwik67, I did use a 50mm 1.8 on that other post along with a tripod. Out of curiosity.. i was shooting in program and aperture mode. how do you guys shoot? meter with the camera then adjust accodingly in manual mode so you dont have to always meter on every shot? *sorry newbie question, better i ask now than later* because thats how i shoot with landscapes and still objects. dont know if photographers do this with models, i assume they do also. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

[kentalan]

I was nervous on my first shoot too. I forgot how to work the camera, and wasn't paying attention to the model. I was also using a new camera that I wasn't familiar with.

Below is a shot from my first shoot, and feel free to critique it if you like. Notice how the breasts are tack sharp but her face isn't? I was using a new camera with autofocus and didn't know about the autofocus lock feature. When I focused on her eyes and recomposed, the camera refocused. Had I remembered to keep my finger half depressed on the shutter release I'd be fine. We forget things on first shoots....so stick with equipment you know and are comfortable with.




The term speedlight might be a Nikon term, but it is the flash. The 420 I'm sure will be fine, but you'll have to talk to some Canon guys about it to be sure. Just about anything will work, but if you don't have a flash meter, you'll want one that is compatible with the TTL features of your camera. You should be able to pick up a used one for a decent price.

[kentalan]

My shooting style causes me to use aperture priority and manual almost exclusively. I prefer very shallow depth of field which comes from wide apertures, so if I trust the meter in the camera I'll set it on aperture priority. Aperture priority is also nice when you are changing settings alot and you don't want to keep taking incedent readings with a handheld meter.

Some situations mess with the camera's meter and you can get bad exposures. Water, snow, large differences in light and dark, are just some examples of what gives the camera's reflected light meter trouble. In these cases, I use an incedent meter and shoot on manual.

Program I feel takes too much control away from me. I don't like the fact that it picks the the aperture and the shutter. You might get a good exposure using program, but your composition might be compromised if you wanted a wide open aperture.

[insanepinoy]

[ QUOTE ]
I was nervous on my first shoot too. I forgot how to work the camera, and wasn't paying attention to the model. I was also using a new camera that I wasn't familiar with.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the lift up. I have my chin up high again with a smirk on my face. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[ QUOTE ]

The term speedlight might be a Nikon term, but it is the flash. The 420 I'm sure will be fine, but you'll have to talk to some Canon guys about it to be sure. Just about anything will work, but if you don't have a flash meter, you'll want one that is compatible with the TTL features of your camera. You should be able to pick up a used one for a decent price.


[/ QUOTE ]

I have a 3rd party flash that looks like its almost as old as me haha i think i can make it work. ill test it out first before i actually take it to a real shoot. Ill also have to read up on flash meters. Maybe I should stick with day lighting before i start messing with mercurr or sodium vapor lights.

Look what I found! Its my dad's old flashes. I dont know how to use them though..

[kentalan]

Assuming the capacitor is still good, these will work. If you use them with the umbrella, you'll probably need to use them in manual, and the flash meter will help tremendously. Without the umbrella, you can probably use auto with good and consistent results. Something else you can do is tape some white tissue paper to the front of these which will soften and diffuse the light.

Play with natural light first for your shoots. That will give you the least to worry about and less that can go wrong. But play with the flashes and learn how they work so you can add those to your skill set as well. As soon as you figure out how to work the actual flash, try using off camera with a cable.

You might want to start a new thread with those pictures and see if anyone knows how to work these. Its been about ten years since I've looked at one like this, so there are a few things that are confusing me.

This was taken with a Minolta flash similar to the Achiever you have set on auto. The Minolta flash and camera were one day yonger than I was--so about 17 when I took this.

[insanepinoy]

Alan

I really appreciate you taking the time to explain everything to me. I got the achiever to work and fooled around with it shooting directly, bouncing from ceiling, and using the piece of white tissue (toilet paper?). Pretty harsh lighiting when shooting directly w/out the tissue paper. Bouncing from the ceiling looked more acceptable to me.. Then again I didnt have an actual person I was shooting at. All I need is a model to test it on.. I think I'll use my nieces tomorrow [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I also was serching B&H to see if they sell a hotshoe adapter and cable for the flash that I can use with my camera but no luck. Maybe I was looking for something that doesnt exist? I know the newer speedlites work wireless so maybe they're extinct? I don't know too much about flashes, because I usually use ambient light. So, I'll take your advice about working with natural lighting before I tackle the use of artificial lighting equip.