Too Bright?

[Seneca]

There are certain times of the day I really hate to shoot, especially when it comes to portraits, however, it was the only time I could do this...(about 2:00 pm.) Need comments...too bright...too fuzzy?

C&C welcomed.

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[dmwphoto]

It works fine!

 

[Seneca]

Thanks for commenting DMW...

 

[Gale]

I have to agree with you
Bit bright and not sharp
Nice photo though.
Might be able to tone it down and sharpen a bit:>))

 

[Seneca]

Thank you Gale. I seem to be having trouble with my D200. I haven't master the sharpness yet. I notice a lot of my pics are a little blurry. Never had this problem with my D100...so I am worried that I just can't handle this camera yet.

 

[j_b_l]

I like it. That's a tough time to shoot, but you've pulled off a very usable shot.

Congrats.

 

[MurphyD]

Seneca,
Boy I can relate. I too am learning the D200. I have to truly focus on focusing. I notice that in this image, the background is also in focus. I would have opened up the aperature which narrows the depth of field. This makes me THINK about what I want in focus and then I work at making that sharp. Mostly I set the camera to Aperature priority and turn on Auto ISO. I don't have to worry as much about shutter speed and the amount of light. So most of the time I can focus on the aperature, the depth of field, and what is sharp in my viewfinder. I am not finding it easy. But it is getting easier.
David

 

[Czechman01]

Direct sun and portraits doesn't work unless you use a diffusion panel... or wait for nature to provide her own, an overcast day.

That's a great shot, but get closer. Cropping in the camera is the same as cropping in PP... delete everything that does not contribute to the image.

 

[Uncle Frank]

>> Need comments...too bright...too fuzzy?

Yes, too bright. The "fuzziness" may be the result of your choice of aperture. At f/14, diffraction enters into the equation.

When the sun is bright, make sure your subjects are looking away from it. Otherwise they'll scrunch up their faces.

 

[Seneca]

I like it. That's a tough time to shoot, but you've pulled off a very usable shot.
Congrats.

Thank you for the kind words JBL!

Seneca,
Boy I can relate. I too am learning the D200. I have to truly focus on focusing. I notice that in this image, the background is also in focus. I would have opened up the aperature which narrows the depth of field. This makes me THINK about what I want in focus and then I work at making that sharp. Mostly I set the camera to Aperature priority and turn on Auto ISO. I don't have to worry as much about shutter speed and the amount of light. So most of the time I can focus on the aperature, the depth of field, and what is sharp in my viewfinder. I am not finding it easy. But it is getting easier.
David

Thank you Murphy...great advice...I will definately use this - thanks again!

>> Need comments...too bright...too fuzzy?
Yes, too bright. The "fuzziness" may be the result of your choice of aperture. At f/14, diffraction enters into the equation. When the sun is bright, make sure your subjects are looking away from it. Otherwise they'll scrunch up their faces.

Not sure what I was thinking at F14...and looking away from the camera is a great ideal. I'm really glad I posted this picture...I knew I would get some good advice.

Direct sun and portraits doesn't work unless you use a diffusion panel... or wait for nature to provide her own, an overcast day.
That's a great shot, but get closer. Cropping in the camera is the same as cropping in PP... delete everything that does not contribute to the image.

I'm learning that cropping is also an art. Ok I'll get closer and see what that does for me. I am so an amature at this - so I love the advice that I am getting.Thank you Czechman01!!

 

[Dave]

I think you should have used a smaller DOF for this shot. Most of the time a lower F stop works better for portraits. I like something that will blur the background big time and not take away from the subject. You should stop down to at least F4 I would think to get a nice creamy background and still keep your subjects in focus. Otherwise it looks like a good shot, but maybe darken the shot a bit to add a little more contrast to it.

 

[Seneca]

I think you should have used a smaller DOF for this shot. Most of the time a lower F stop works better for portraits. I like something that will blur the background big time and not take away from the subject. You should stop down to at least F4 I would think to get a nice creamy background and still keep your subjects in focus. Otherwise it looks like a good shot, but maybe darken the shot a bit to add a little more contrast to it.

Thanks Peet...I have another portrait session this weekend...so I will definately think of the small DOF. Thanks for taking the time and commenting.

 

[Tully]

As I looked at the picture in my head I thought, "Bethany and Josh sitting in a tree..." because my little 2 y.o. runs around the house singing, "Daddy and Mommy sitting in a tree" - it's been running in my head lately.

Nice photo. I like the white balance; good job in a tough situation.

 

[Seneca]

As I looked at the picture in my head I thought, "Bethany and Josh sitting in a tree..." because my little 2 y.o. runs around the house singing, "Daddy and Mommy sitting in a tree" - it's been running in my head lately.

Nice photo. I like the white balance; good job in a tough situation.

Too funny...now I got the song in my brain :biggrin: Eric, thanks for compliment. I'm hoping to do better this weekend. Got a lot of great advice. Thank again.

Seneca

 

[Billy Ng]

Couple of things:

Move out of P mode into A mode. This will allow you to control your aperture and the let the camera pick the appropriate shutter speed to match. In this case, with such a busy background, you want to separate your subject from that background, so set the aperture wide open for whatever lens you are using, make sure your subjects are both equidistant from the lens, and fire. If you find that you need more depth of field, pull the lens down 1 stop and fire again.

To me, this shot looks pretty unusable, there will be no way getting around the focus issue (the subjects are clearly out of focus, the background is sharper than the subjects). The brightness level is fine ... their faces are correctly exposed and that's all that matters.

As far as shooting outdoors on a bright sunny day, I have a recommendation for that. Shoot into the sun. Put the sun on your subject's backs, and use fill flash to brighten them up. If you have an SB-800, use the orange filter over the flash head to warm up the color a bit. Overhead sun can act as a great hair-light, I put the sun to my subjects back to avoid harsh shadows on their faces and keep them from squinting. I have no examples online right now and I'm at work, but if I remember tonight I'll post a few examples.

If you don't have a hot-shoe mounted flash, but you have 30 seconds to do a little shot setup .... bring a piece of white foam board with you and set it up in front of your subjects to bounce a little natural light back at them. Even better, if you have some spare while paint primer around and a large piece of cardboard .... paint the cardboard. It will work just as well and have the added benefit of being fold-able for easy storage and transportation.

Bill

 

[Billy Ng]

Here's my best shot at editing it:

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I left the brightness and contrast levels as is, but used the burn tool to selectively darken pretty much everything except their faces. Little note, the burn tool can be used on highlights, midtones, or shadows .... using on shadows is a great way to add contrast to only selective areas of your photos (in my edit, I used this technique on the jeans and shirts as well).

Bill

 

[Billy Ng]

Second edit ... I didn't like the mixture of colors in my first edit, so first I tried converting it to black and white but as it turns out, the red channel in this photo is in really bad shape and a full-on B&W conversion just wasn't working.

So I went a different route and desaturated enough to make the color busyness of it go away. I hope you like:

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Bill

 

[biggstr6]

Midday sun is a bear ! Without some assistants to hold panels for you not much you can do , look for some shade maybe , or wait for a cloud to pass.