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02-27-2009, 06:09 PM   #1
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Facing Reality

I went on a shoot Sunday to a nice Botanic Garden area to shoot my Grandson some senior shots for his gallery in my Pbase and for printing. I took several lenses and my K20D and tried to remain calm and collected, not rushing and forgetting what I know. I had a great Bag Lady to carry my gear (her photo is over in the people gallery) and the weather was absolutely perfect, except for some very brutal bright sunlight. I took well over a hundred shots Raw/Jpeg combo, and changed lenses several times for the situations encountered.
When I got home and downloaded, I was happy with some, but not with the majority. I did manage to get enough to fully satisfy my Grandson, but not for my satisfaction. I had no problem seeing where I went wrong on any particular shot, but of course, it is too late at that point. Some were just not possible to get anything decent in the lighting available, but most I would say were just user error. The K20D performed superbly.
For those that regularly shoot people, and excel, my hat is off to you, you have worked hard to gain those skills and I am learning that like most things in life, there is no substitute for experience. I will continue to learn and eventually get better, but the hard reality is that I am much better at shooting squirrels and birds than I am at people. This is one of my better ones, and yes, it has problems! Do you ever feel this way about your level of competence?



Last edited by Rupert; 02-27-2009 at 06:42 PM. Reason: trying to add photo?
02-27-2009, 06:14 PM   #2
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Somehow I am not managing to get my photo in the post. What am I doing wrong? I see it in the post as a bracketed URL, but then when posted it is not there? I'm new to this format, so sorry for the ignorance on procedure.
02-27-2009, 06:25 PM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by Rupert Quote
Somehow I am not managing to get my photo in the post. What am I doing wrong? I see it in the post as a bracketed URL, but then when posted it is not there? I'm new to this format, so sorry for the ignorance on procedure.
Make sure that you are posting a link to a jpeg and not an html (my favourite mistake by far with this bbc stuff).
02-27-2009, 06:44 PM   #4
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Thanks Wheatfield, I think I got it! Any comments on the difficulties of shooting people will be appreciated!

02-27-2009, 06:58 PM   #5
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I have seldom really tried any people photography, I think probably because I feel its one of the hardest things to do right.
In my total amature (and newb) opinion portraits and people shots rely heavily on lighting.
Where you can get around harsh lighting in other areas of photography it can be a killer for people shots.
That being said, this is a nice shot Rupert, and if you take as many pictures of people as you do squirrels than you'll master the technique quickly i would think!
02-27-2009, 06:58 PM   #6
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Hey Jim, good to see you here!

Are you trying to use fill flash (not pop up flash) when he's completely in a shaded area? That will avoid the harsh shadows you otherwise often see. This is a very short answer, and unfortunately I must attend to other things right now!

Regards,
Marc
02-27-2009, 07:00 PM   #7
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Hey Rupert, glad you finally made it over here.

Your shot looks nice to me, but I agree, shooting people is hard. I don't have many suggestions, but creative use of the flash (off camera) or a reflector is always nice. If you have a bag lady, then you have someone to hold the reflector. You probably already have one, but if not, you can get a cheapie like a truck windshield shade for under $50. I have one that's silver on one side, gold on the other (for that "golden" light) and you can also take both metallic sides off and you're left with a opaque white diffuser, which is nice in harsh light.

Hope this helps!

02-27-2009, 07:54 PM   #8
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For daylight portraits, even though there is plenty of light, keep in mind that the light is harsh unless it's a cloudy day there is no diffusion. Use a show mounted flash in high speed sync mode with maybe a -1 or -2 ev so that there are no harsh shadows on his face. A reflector also works - round collapsible reflectors are great for taking out in the field.
02-27-2009, 08:01 PM   #9
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I agree that people are hard to shoot. It seems like there is a bazillion (sp?) things to look at and think of and when you get done, wham, you missed the obvious. As others have said, lighting seems key. I have not done it, but after looking at the shots I have done, I always see shadows or unevenness of light that distract from an otherwise nice shot.

This is where others are coming from with the diffusers, the flashes and the reflectors. Probably having a reflector/diffuser and my guess is two large flashes that you can position to fill in things would make a big difference. One of these days when I get some extra cash, I will pop for another manual flash, a couple of stands/tripods to put them on and a set of triggers.

The other thing sets off a good shot is DOF. good control of this seems essential. I am still learning. Also, I recently went thru a focus check on my K10D and adjusted things. I was getting severe back focus. After correcting this, man, it is much easier to have control over my DOF. You may wish to try this.
02-27-2009, 08:24 PM   #10
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Good tips here

Some I am familiar with others I will have to research. One thing mentioned was the use of another flash off-camera. I have both the 540 and 360 so it would have been a great idea to use them both, but I never thought of it. Shooting squirrels seldom requires such a set up, and so it never entered my mind. Thanks for the ideas, they stir my thoughts in the right direction.
Still.....I do like shooting those squirrels!
02-27-2009, 08:50 PM   #11
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I'm really glad to see you posting here Rupert.


Cheers
02-27-2009, 09:03 PM   #12
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welcome to this forum Rupert, you will be an additional and a respected contributor to this side of Pentax. Your grandson, was he the one you posted on the other forum while he was sleeping after a day's work for his college?. Very nice shot of him.

cheers,

rene
02-27-2009, 09:05 PM   #13
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If you have any studio workshops near you, it'd be fun to try it. You learn quite a few things and get to try lots of different angles. What's interesting is you'll find out that some angles make people look hideous and others compliment them and everyone is different. It was a fascinating experience for me and I'm planning to try more...

Reflectors and flashes are definitely helpful in making photos look better outdoors...
02-27-2009, 09:41 PM   #14
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He's a handsome young man.

One way to take people pictures is to do 2 things. 1) Get close. 2) Then get closer.

To make an emotional connection with your subject sometimes that means you need to be close enough to touch them.

A couple of technical points you can try. Firstly, take a meter reading right off their face. Secondly, use a fast lens and focus on the eyes and only the eyes; don't worry if nothing else is in focus. If you have the eyes sharp and the rest of the person out of focus, a person viewing the image will unconsciously pay more attention to the eyes.

And you know what "they" say... the eyes are the window to the soul.

------------------

EDIT: Here's an example. Sorry it's not a human. I was within arm's length of the subject and I shot wide open. The depth of field is very shallow at this distance so the only areas really in focus fall within the plane of the eyes. So you should be drawn to the eyes first. Only afterwards do you look at the rest of the image.


Last edited by tranq78; 02-27-2009 at 10:14 PM. Reason: add example pic
02-27-2009, 09:47 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by Rupert Quote
I had no problem seeing where I went wrong on any particular shot, but of course, it is too late at that point. Some were just not possible to get anything decent in the lighting available, but most I would say were just user error.
Well, the trick is to take that knowledge of what went wrong in the past and translate that into looking at a scene before you shoot in order to anticipate what will go wrong.

In the case of this photo, the light on your grandson's face is a soft glow coming generally from above. This kind of light is useful as a fill light as long as you have an additional light source off to one side providing more direction for the light. In this case, there is no such directional light to help sculpt his face. A second problem is that the light from above is creating shadows beneath his brows, darkening his eyes.

Under these conditions, I prefer to have another light source that I can put to one side (a flash or even a big piece of white cardboard to function as a reflector). If this is not available, what I look for is a roof overhang such as a canopy over a sidewalk restaurant. I then place the subject as deep into the shadow as possible. The idea is to get that soft light to come from the side rather than from directly above. There will be less light to work with this way, so you'll have to shoot with a higher ISO, but the direction of the light will be strongly from one side, and so will be more flattering and dramatic.
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