flash on face

[angeleyes216]

do you think there is too much flash light on the boys face and is there anything i can do to improve it ...thankyou

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7963563@N07/978179860/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1123/978179860_dde7797e25.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="joseph" /></a>

[ELAY]

Hey Lori --

It would be a cute, quirky shot of the boy on his own I think, but I am not sure the young lady next to him will find the light flattering (shadow emphasizing nose, shiny bits on face).

I recognize this is probably a candid shot, but you also caught the boy part way between profile and 3/4 view, so we have an awkward bit of his face, sort of the rightmost part of his right eye. Ideally you would have got him 3/4, which is the point he would be at if he turned toward the camera, and stopped at the point where you could see all of his right eye but before you could see any of the side of his face past the eye.

Personally I refuse to use on camera flash unless a photo is compulsory (birthday party etc.). I forget what you shoot with, and i'm feeling too lazy to track it down. Do you have the ability to set the intensity of your flash?

EL

[jiminyClickit]

angeleyes216,

It's obvious flash, and can be reduced in contrast by overlaying a negative of itself, like so:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/47146451@N00/995809808/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1091/995809808_0fa5710031.jpg" width="401" height="500" alt="Joseph2" /></a>

[angeleyes216]

Hey Lori --

It would be a cute, quirky shot of the boy on his own I think, but I am not sure the young lady next to him will find the light flattering (shadow emphasizing nose, shiny bits on face).

I recognize this is probably a candid shot, but you also caught the boy part way between profile and 3/4 view, so we have an awkward bit of his face, sort of the rightmost part of his right eye. Ideally you would have got him 3/4, which is the point he would be at if he turned toward the camera, and stopped at the point where you could see all of his right eye but before you could see any of the side of his face past the eye.

Personally I refuse to use on camera flash unless a photo is compulsory (birthday party etc.). I forget what you shoot with, and i'm feeling too lazy to track it down. Do you have the ability to set the intensity of your flash?

EL

I took it with my olympus point and shoot...i liked the look on the boys face but it was a quick snap of the camera. Should i take his mother out of the picture?

[blinsky]

If you have the ability (speedlight) try bouncing your flash next time, either off the ceiling or off a side wall, depending on what you want to emphasize...just watch out for racoon eyes...

If you can only work with a point and shoot, try diffusing your flash with a small piece of white paper or some type of thin material that will let some, but not all the light through...

Personally, I have found that with digital photography, lighting (especially with people, indoors, at events) is a huge challenge...high ceilings, low ceilings, mirrors, windows, no windows...all these things affect how our lighting systems are interacting with our surroundings. I think this subject deserves its own post =).

[peeperita]

jiminy....

i am interested on what you mean by overlaying a negative....tell me how ya do that......

peeper

[ELAY]

I think Jiminy is talking about contrast masking (and my apologies if i am wrong).

This is a technique where you create a duplicate of your image on a new layer; then you invert the duplicate (turn it into a negative essentially); then generally you apply a gaussian blur to the negative (for a largish picture, you would go between 20 and 50 pixels or so); and then you would blend with overlay and adjust opacity to taste.

If you are dealing with a colour photo, you desaturate your duplicate layer first.

Here's (http://www.outbackphoto.com/workshop/photoshop_corner/essay_06/essay.html) a full tutorial.

EL

[peeperita]

thanks, elay....

it looks like a fairly simple process....don't ya just love online tutorials?...

peeper

[jiminyClickit]

peeperita,

When all else fails, I try something that I wouldn't have thought of except for that desperation. Experimentation can get you a look others may never have thought of, or you may just be re-inventing the wheel!

When I overlay a negative, I pay particular attention to the area I want most to change. I can emphasize that part by adjusting Hue before Desaturating. You can squint while doing this to see the affect on photo, as areas darken, lighten.

When this is applied over photo to be processed, sometimes Difference Mode works, sometimes Color Mode, again experimentation. I start at 50% Opacity and adjust up or down. This is all Adobe PhotoDeluxe, so other programs are going to be trial and error.

[peeperita]

thank you kindly, jiminy.....

i often have trouble with my exposure at the time i'm taking the shot.....sometimes, it is more me being excited over the moment.....often it is the struggle of the learning curve with my new slr....

i appreciate very much having a new technique to master in ps....

peeper