Not technically perfect.....

[Terri French]

But my family members really like this candid photo that I took of my nephew last weekend. Do you have any suggestions on how I can shoot better in similar lighting conditions?

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[Mike]

Terri,

You might want to lower your ISO to 200 and or increase your EV .03

Mike

 

[Mike]

Terri,

Great shot under tough circumstances by the way!

Mike

 

[Terri French]

Terri,

You might want to lower your ISO to 200 and or increase your EV .03

Mike

The ISO was up because we were sitting on a dock eating lunch between water skiiers. I had the ISO bumped up for a fast shutter speed on the action shots--forgot to change it while we were eating.

Question about the exposure. I'm noticing a lot of my shots seem underexposed. Do you bump up the exposure to +.03 routinely or just under certain circumstances. Wouldn't that have made the blown highlights worse?

I have been wondering about this and would appreciate any advice you can give me here.

I do shoot in RAW and can adjust exposure in conversion.

 

[eng45ine]

Hi Terri,

It's tough to critique the image because of the harsh sunlight. I think that the image came out really good considering the sunlight, the white coat of the dog, the ISO setting and the lack of a fill flash. I wouldn't be disappointed with the image in it's current form. Great shot considering the lighting circumstances.

 

[Terri French]

Hi Terri,

It's tough to critique the image because of the harsh sunlight. I think that the image came out really good considering the sunlight, the white coat of the dog, the ISO setting and the lack of a fill flash. I wouldn't be disappointed with the image in it's current form. Great shot considering the lighting circumstances.

Thanks Frank. Fill flash was out of the question because I was actually quite far away from him. So much to learn.........

 

[greyflash]

Nice looking young man Terri and the Bichon is cute as well. Personally I think you did quite well with your exposure in the bright sun.

 

[PhotoDawg]

Well done Terri!!

 

[Terri French]

Nice looking young man Terri and the Bichon is cute as well. Personally I think you did quite well with your exposure in the bright sun.

Thanks again Gordon. Actually I think the dog is a Maltese. She is an adorable animal.

 

[bendheim]

I like it ...personally it wouldn't bother me technically at all. I'm more concerned about moods, emotions and expression than technical perfection. I think you've done very well.

 

[Clivegriff]

I'm noticing a lot of my shots seem underexposed. Do you bump up the exposure to +.03 routinely or just under certain circumstances. Wouldn't that have made the blown highlights worse?

A lot of people seem to be of the opinion that the D70 routinely under-exposes and compensate for this by increasing EV by +0.3 or +0.5 (personally I usually use the latter) - most of the time.

I think your shot is excellent especially considering the difficult / harsh conditions.

I perceive a slight red cast which can be easily corrected in Photoshop by de-saturating the reds. Ctrl-U to bring up the Hue and Saturation dialogue; CTRL-1 to change from MASTER to REDS. Slide the saturation slider to the left - try -5 or thereabouts.

 

[Terri French]

I like it ...personally it wouldn't bother me technically at all. I'm more concerned about moods, emotions and expression than technical perfection. I think you've done very well.

Peter,
Thank you. I guess mood and emotion is more important. My sister liked the picture so much, that she got it enlarged for framing.

 

[Terri French]

I'm noticing a lot of my shots seem underexposed. Do you bump up the exposure to +.03 routinely or just under certain circumstances. Wouldn't that have made the blown highlights worse?

A lot of people seem to be of the opinion that the D70 routinely under-exposes and compensate for this by increasing EV by +0.3 or +0.5 (personally I usually use the latter) - most of the time.

I think your shot is excellent especially considering the difficult / harsh conditions.

I perceive a slight red cast which can be easily corrected in Photoshop by de-saturating the reds. Ctrl-U to bring up the Hue and Saturation dialogue; CTRL-1 to change from MASTER to REDS. Slide the saturation slider to the left - try -5 or thereabouts.

Thanks Clive for your suggestions. I'll try desaturating the reds. He was sunburned, but it probably is still a bit too red. When keeping your EV increased, do you watch the histogram after each shot? I've been considering bumping mine up. I came from the Olympus 8080 where lots of us kept them turned town -.03 to avoid blown highlights. Guess I've got to change my way of thinking.

 

[Clivegriff]

When keeping your EV increased, do you watch the histogram after each shot?

In a word: yes.

I've recently started to shoot in RAW, so I'm a little more confident of the possibility of correcting exposure after the fact.

 

[Beezle]

Hi Terri,

It's tough to critique the image because of the harsh sunlight. I think that the image came out really good considering the sunlight, the white coat of the dog, the ISO setting and the lack of a fill flash. I wouldn't be disappointed with the image in it's current form. Great shot considering the lighting circumstances.

Thanks Frank. Fill flash was out of the question because I was actually quite far away from him. So much to learn.........

I like the photo pretty much as it is. In my mind capturing what was there and your impression of it is more important than manipulating an image to some standard.

Terri - one thing I have been doing lately is using an SB800 with the 70-200 both as fill and even a main light. I have found that it works quite well up to about 30~35 feet or so. And the shadows often end up invisible too. I tried this because I am often photographing my two toddlers and a flash is pretty much the only thing that can capture their constant motion.

There is a lens that can be used on flashes to concentrate the light a bit. I haven't tried those as yet.

Ed

 

[cincyMAT]

But my family members really like this candid photo that I took of my nephew last weekend. Do you have any suggestions on how I can shoot better in similar lighting conditions?

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Terri,

I really like the way this portrait captures the emotion of the subject. Pictures don't have to be technically correct everytime. This is a good exposure under tough lighting conditions. Kudos for having the eye to see the picture. Maybe a crop in portrait mode might draw more attention to the eyes.

 

[Terri French]

Hi Terri,

It's tough to critique the image because of the harsh sunlight. I think that the image came out really good considering the sunlight, the white coat of the dog, the ISO setting and the lack of a fill flash. I wouldn't be disappointed with the image in it's current form. Great shot considering the lighting circumstances.

Thanks Frank. Fill flash was out of the question because I was actually quite far away from him. So much to learn.........

I like the photo pretty much as it is. In my mind capturing what was there and your impression of it is more important than manipulating an image to some standard.

Terri - one thing I have been doing lately is using an SB800 with the 70-200 both as fill and even a main light. I have found that it works quite well up to about 30~35 feet or so. And the shadows often end up invisible too. I tried this because I am often photographing my two toddlers and a flash is pretty much the only thing that can capture their constant motion.

There is a lens that can be used on flashes to concentrate the light a bit. I haven't tried those as yet.

Ed

Thanks for the encouragement to use my SB800 more. I'll give it a try.

 

[gilbert]

Nice photo, Terri. My only suggestion would be to shoot it as a vertical. I like the blurred out background.

 

[Czechman01]

Although this shot may not be "technically perfect" (whatever THAT means) it is aesthetically perfect. This is a beautiful image taken under difficult circumstances.

This is art why do you want it sterilized?

Save the technical tedium for when you're shooting gizmos for a Sharper Image catalog. Keep capturing souls when you point a camera at a human being.

Woody