If your feeling in the Critique Mood,

08/15/2005 02:04:25 PM · #1

I took these yesterday evening, my first shoot with a model, well not exactly a model my soon to be wife, could you tell me what you think,
my photo shop skill arent very good, i know a few basics,

Amanda Shoot

marmalade1121

Canon EOS-1D X

08/15/2005 02:19:09 PM · #2

Troy, she's adorable and the pics are decent enough but I have just a few comments from my view.

The composition is hurt by her being in the middle of many of these shots. The rule of 1/3s would be great in these instances. I'm not saying each and every shot should be with her off to the side but it's definitely something you should try. Crop some of your shots in PS (i'm willing to experiment with one if you want) and play around with the rule of 1/3s a little. You'll see that you create more interest in your subject (not the background) following it.

Also, her expressions look stiff and she is holding her head back a lot. She is lovely but this position makes her lok like she is stressed and has a bit of a double chin. Sometimes your positioning as the photographer can help that, change your vantage point as the shooter. I will bet that will make a diff in your shots.

I really like the shots of her where her body sprawls diagonally across the frame, those are my faves.

Message edited by author 2005-08-15 14:20:27.

08/15/2005 02:34:48 PM · #3

You seem to have a great fun doing these.

Technically I think there is a lot of work ahead.

while I understand that this was done using natural light..there seems to be no intent of making use of that available light. the severely underexpose faces are good examples. and using light fabrics was also a biggy problem

Compositionally these shot would also benefit from a better use dynamic compo. the rule of thirds would be a great place to start.

08/15/2005 02:39:08 PM · #4

yeah, i was wondering about the rule of thirds, i wasnt sure if you use it wiht people, but i will keep that in mind, and i definetly know i have alot of work ahead of me, that was my first time ever taking someone out and trying to be a photgrapher we had a lot of fun and are going to do it more often,

if i use my 580ex will that help the darkness in the face region,

And i would up my F stop to like 16-22 and the shutter would slow down too much, i wanted to get some wider shots that way but ended up blurry ,

if you know ps please play wiht some of the pics, if you want the original Pm me with your email and ill send it to you ,

thanks

08/15/2005 02:45:46 PM · #5

It's very hard to shoot outdoors whithout "help" as the best tool is a reflector disk.

Using your 580 is a must if this is your only light source.. and shooting at f22 makes no sense at all...

first thing is to set your camera to spot metering and then meter for the neckline, in manual, at about f5.6 in order to blur the background nicely... shoot from as far as possible and zoom in to 2/3 of your zoom range.. then walk in up to where you get the compo you want. set the exposure speed no slower than 1/60th (with waves, if you can get it to 1/60th that is great)... and no faster than 1/250th (according to you 5.6 starting spot).

Remember to try and find ways to bring reflected light onto your model...it's a must...

08/15/2005 03:01:05 PM · #6

I was using my Canon 24-70mm, most of the shots are at 2.8
I have never used manual mode before, its too scary for my level,
but i will try no harm in that,

so i zoom all the way in, meter at the neckline, set teh aperature, then set the shutter, is that what you are saying,

and spot metering which one is that, AI focus

08/15/2005 03:11:31 PM · #7

hehehee.... a lot of info is hard to digest!

OK, so you have the 24-70 and a 20d to great items!

Set your camera to M and look in your book to see if you can chose 'spot' metering (I think you can)... set your aperture to 3.2 and your speed to 1/100th and then take a shot...if you are under-exposed you can bring the iso up, perhaps to iso400 if it is not too noisy. the idea is to find a good speed while retaining your desired f-stop.

it will take some experimentation of course...and not all experiments will yield good result... but remaining stuck in semi-automatic settings will prevent you from learning about the correlation between f-stop and exposure... they are extremely important to master.

returning to compo... this too is a very important step, there are many different ways to apply the rules of dynamics and they are spectacularly effective in making a shot work. you can certainly find a book with practical info on the subject.

Nikon AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF

08/15/2005 03:36:54 PM · #8

I will do this, thanks for all of your help, ill learn more about my manual mode, and learn how to get the f stop i want by changing the other seting like iso,

but the flash will suffice for a reflector, but not as good,

the next time i do this there will be two people, a couple, so i want to try and make it the best i can, ill keep them out of the center.

can you explaing to me how to read my HistoGram, so i can decide where im at on the exposure level,

pawdrix

Nikon D700

08/15/2005 03:39:05 PM · #9

Troy-On a personal note, I prefer picture that look less posed. For example, if you caught a good portion of Amanda's face pensively looking out into the ocean...that would have caught my intertest. I suppose blending your subject with it's background and making them relate or converse is what I'm getting at.

I took the liberty to do some PP on this one and recrop to get in closer.

I used selective coloring in the blues and red, added contrast and some more saturation. I also burned the ocean, the rocks and the edges. It's a quicky and I hope you don't mind.

Edit:You can see the burning on the sides and in the sand which shouldn't be visible but again...short on time.

Message edited by author 2005-08-15 16:33:40.

jpochard

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS USM

08/15/2005 03:42:03 PM · #10

I like 259, 173 and 163 the best of the poses. They all need exposure work, but these poses are nice.

08/15/2005 03:42:25 PM · #11

No way i dont mind, I would love to learn that stuff, a book can only help me so much, Im going to try and get a photshop class next semester to help me on the post processing, And I will definely get some shots that dont loooked posed,
like on the couple, i have in my head, kissing, embracing, pointing, admiration, and some poses,

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

08/15/2005 03:48:04 PM · #12

Histos are not so hard... to begin with you have to know a few basic things:

#1 just divide the histo mentally into 5 sections, the right side is WHITE and the left side is BLACK and the 3 middle parts are the rest...

#2 The bottom of the histo is "no info" and the top is "too much info" (more precisely known as clipping)

Ok.. now, the idea for a color photo (intended as a color print) is to have a decent level of info in all 5 panes, with no major spikes or dips... this will give you a fairly flat image but with no major bad news.. spikes and dips are also contrasts...so they are welcome but they must never touch the top or bottom.

if you intend on doing nice black and whites with contrast, then having an Histo with a U or V shape is great, you will have plenty of white and black info and little grey info (grey is everything in between).

mocabela

Canon EOS-20D

08/15/2005 03:51:54 PM · #13

You have some great shots in the bunch with tons of potential; the colours are generally pretty decent - it is, as others have said, mainly the exposure that is detracting from them. Some curves and dodging/burning would really make these excellent! Also, I would recommend playing with some crops, as a few of the shots could be better composed. With the busy background (which is beautiful, and part of the "mood"), you have the opportunity to make her stand out nicely, but when she fills so much of the frame and is dead in the center or almost centered, she ends up fighting with the scenery to be the main subject. It's hard to digest either element when they're at odds with one another; they could really be complimenting each other well.

I'd also love to see some of these processed in b&w. I'm resisting the urge to do it myself, because you have some shots that I think would be fantastic that way! As starting points for the digital darkroom, I think you've got some great stuff here that could be absolutely spectacular.

Canon EF 28-135mm F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

08/15/2005 03:52:08 PM · #14

great thanks, im on the path to success, but its a long path until a blue ribbon, ha lol

thank you to everyone who has comented on my photos, i really listen and learn from them,

SJCarter

Canon EOS-7D

08/15/2005 04:04:49 PM · #15

I left you some comments. I completely agree about the rule of thirds comments. And I think many of the shots looked like forced poses. I would suggest trying to capture more natural moments. I'd also suggest trying to bring out more depth to the images in basic processing (color sat, exposure, contrast, sharpness). Don't be afraid to crop a lot out of a shot to draw the viewers' attention to the main focus of the shot. She's a very attractive model and since she's your betrothed, I'm sure you'll get more opportunities to practice. :-) Keep at it!

Nusbaum

Fujifilm X-T1

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

08/15/2005 04:08:37 PM · #16

Troy,

Those are some fun shots and it looks like you took the opportunity to experiment with some different poses and angles. A couple of thinks to think about your next time out:
1. As Gil P said, avoid white clothing on your subjects when you are getting started. White is very hard to expose correctly.
2. Use your 580 for fill flash OR be very aware of how the existing light is covering your subject. It's easy to get caught up in the overall mood of the scene and loose track of the light falling on your subject's face.
3. Gil P already talked about composition, so I'll just say focus on more interesting composition.
4. This is hard to articulate, but it will help with composition. Rather than simply looking at your subject through the lens, look at the full image being captured by the lens. I don't think this makes any sense until it happens the first time, but you will probably notice because you will crop tighter with the lense and the framing (composition) will be more interesting.

Thanks for sharing and I cannot wait to see the next round of shots!

08/15/2005 04:14:46 PM · #17

im so excited now, im doing it on tuesday so ill post on wed, and ill keep all this stuff in mind, and hope there better then these, A little light woulndt hurt either, yesterday was overcast no sun,

TUBORG

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

08/15/2005 04:22:18 PM · #18

very nice shots but like most of the others have allready pointed out your really should use your flash with these kind of shots.

Nusbaum

Fujifilm X-T1

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

08/15/2005 04:24:40 PM · #19

Originally posted by TroyMosley:

im so excited now, im doing it on tuesday so ill post on wed, and ill keep all this stuff in mind, and hope there better then these, A little light woulndt hurt either, yesterday was overcast no sun,

Overcast is the best light for portraits! This entire series was shot on a very cloudy morning after a thunderstorm, but there is still had a full range of skin tones. An overcast sky will soften the shadows on your subject, increase color saturation, and provide some ambient light for fill. You will also have fewer problems with you subject squinting into the sun.

Message edited by author 2005-08-15 16:25:20.