[momtographer]

I posted this question on accessories but figured it would be seen here faster





I wanted to try out sun flare, and I did pretty darn good if I do say so myself but she looks terrible (not the way shes posed I didn't worry about that since she wouldn't let go of the hanger anyway) shes way to dark and there no fixing it, do I need a reflector or is it something I'm doing wrong?

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Last edited by momtographer; 05-21-2008 at 11:27 AM.

[Peacekeeper]

You can do three things that I can think of.


1. A reflector as you said.
2. Use a flash to flash fill.
3. Post process, using a mask, increase the exposure of the child only.

PK

[KrisK10D]

Looks like you're a fair distance from bubs. The K10 on camera flash should work a treat. Get too close and it will blow her skin out. There's a fine line with the flash but once you find it, it's not such a bad fill flash.

[spyglass]

As other have said, you could use a fill flash (it's power level set low enough, or the flash positioned far enough away, to not cause burn out on the baby's features. Or you could use a reflector. I am a big fan of reflectors as they are easy to use, supply the same colour temperature of light. The only problem with reflectors and kids is that they can be a distraction for the kid where a flash would not be. The biggest problem is that you do not get a lot of kicks at the cat with kids (unless you use duct tape - ha ha)
One other trick that works well with kids is to tripod mount your camera. Take a few shots of the kid (exposure set for proper exposure of the kid (also bracket). Remove the kid and then take a few shots with the exposure set to favor the sky, sun set, and flaring. Fire up Photo Shop and find the best 2 captures and with a little editing create the perfect result with post editing (layers, layer mask, etc).

[benjikan]

Generally under similar conditions I would take my hand and move it to act as a scrim to block the sun from hitting the front lens element, that is if the lens hood is not sufficient. You can use fill flash or if you have a reflector that will often do the trick. It is a stylistic decision that will determine which type of fill you wish to use. Often a white wall or lighter adjacent element will kick in enough light.

Ben

[joefru]

Generally under similar conditions I would take my hand and move it to act as a scrim to block the sun from hitting the front lens element, that is if the lens hood is not sufficient.

I got the impression that the flare was intentional.

[benjikan]

I got the impression that the flare was intentional.

If that is the case there is absolutely no problem. It would be simple to kick light back in to the subject via a reflector.

Ben

[garth1948]

I would move about 30 degrees clockwise to get no direct flare and illuminate more of the subject's face with that golden light.

[Peacekeeper]

The op said "I wanted to try out sun flare,....."

So the issue is not the sun on the lens, that was intended. But, how to even out the exposure of the subject against a bright back ground, if I am not mistaken.

PK

[momtographer]

PK's right, I wanted the sun in the shot, I think I'm going to go with fill flash, thanks for all the tips! , I'll update later today after I try it out

[joefru]

PK's right, I wanted the sun in the shot, I think I'm going to go with fill flash, thanks for all the tips! , I'll update later today after I try it out

Go ahead and try it; see what you think... I find that fill flash gives photos a certain look that I'm not fond of. Not sure what it is exactly, but something unnatural. A friend of mine paid a decent amount of money for this big photo shoot with her kids, and almost all of the shots have the fill flash look Beautiful photos otherwise, but I couldn't get past it.

That being said, I've never used a reflector and have used fill flash myself, but usually for snapshotty stuff that I wasn't terribly concerned about.

Joe

[momtographer]

I still need some practice but its better...