Practice with fill flash

[terri33inne]

On the suggestion of graciousness in my last post... I took my daughter out again at the 'golden hour' today this time with my external flash to practice. She is sooo uncomfortable in front of the camera which makes good practice for me.

I'm posting a SOOC, and a pp... my questions are.
1) How did I do with the fill flash?
2) I can NEVER get her skin tone right... in camera, or in post processing... any tips?
3) Exposure & focus can look PERFECT on the LCD display on my camera, and then I upload them to my computer, and I'm usually disappointed in sharpness, etc.
4) How is the post processing?
Any other tips/critiques are welcome...I'm not really looking for posing critique as she is a MOST uncooperative subject.



EXIF
Camera Pentax K-5
Exposure 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 103 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash External flash

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by terri33inne

On the suggestion of graciousness in my last post... I took my daughter out again at the 'golden hour' today this time with my external flash to practice. She is sooo uncomfortable in front of the camera which makes good practice for me.

I'm posting a SOOC, and a pp... my questions are.
1) How did I do with the fill flash?
2) I can NEVER get her skin tone right... in camera, or in post processing... any tips?
3) Exposure & focus can look PERFECT on the LCD display on my camera, and then I upload them to my computer, and I'm usually disappointed in sharpness, etc.
4) How is the post processing?
Any other tips/critiques are welcome...I'm not really looking for posing critique as she is a MOST uncooperative subject.



EXIF
Camera Pentax K-5
Exposure 0.006 sec (1/160)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 103 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash External flash

1) How did I do with the fill flash?

You did fine, but every situation is different as the subject in this photo is pretty still so this type of situation will be very different using flash if she was moving a bit more. But it looks like you get it.

2) I can NEVER get her skin tone right... in camera, or in post processing... any tips?
The skin looks fine for me, but you were there you the one who can tell us the skin is close to her real skin tone. As for PP, for my style and goals being I go for a print magazine style, I don't crop in PP (very rarely do), I crop in the camera and leave a bit more extra space than what I see in the camera to leave room to play with the framing in post... but I always avoid "creative crops" like square or etc.

3) Exposure & focus can look PERFECT on the LCD display on my camera, and then I
upload them to my computer, and I'm usually disappointed in sharpness, etc.
I have the same issue as well when shooting outdoors, thats because of the ambient light around hitting the LCD especially when its very bright around. I plan on getting a LCD Hood - Hoodman HoodLoupe Professional LCD Screen Loupe H-LPP3 B&H Photo and hopefully this would help my focus issues when shooting outdoors. Also try shooting at a higher aperture as I shot at a very wide opening with f/1.8 on my 50mm so I plan on shooting outdoors at a higher aperture instead of a f/1.8, such as f/2.8 maybe?

4) How is the post processing?
Any other tips/critiques are welcome...I'm not really looking for posing critique as she is a MOST uncooperative subject.

you asked this in question 2... I answered there.

[terri33inne]

Thank you Chris... great feedback!

I cracked up when you said my subject was still... you've never met my daughter! (Ha-Ha!)

[ChrisAdval]

Originally Posted by terri33inne

Thank you Chris... great feedback!

I cracked up when you said my subject was still... you've never met my daughter! (Ha-Ha!)

well yea thats why I said "pretty still," cause children don't normally stay still much at all.

[graciousness]

Hey there!

What an improvement! Look at how much brighter she looks with the use of fill-flash! It will take a few go's before you can start feeling the hang of it, but you know, it's good to see that you haven't overdone or overexposed her face. What do YOU think? Do you feel that it's an improvement in comparison to your previous attempts with photographing her?

My suggestion next is to probably bring up the flash exposure compensation up a notch or two so that it will lessen your need to raise the exposure in post production. You should zoom in on the photo on your LCD screen to check for focus and exposure to double check.

May I also suggest for you to take her photos next time to somewhere that she is not surrounded with greeneries? I think you may be having a hard time with her skin tones because the green is not helping your eyes isolate her skin tones in the overall image. She will look more yellow if she is surrounded by all that green. This is my theory, anyway, and it's worth a shot. Her skin tone looks fine on my monitor with your edit, by the way.

I love the highlight on her hair

Also, remember that colours and sharpness will always be 'bland' with raw images. This is so that you as the editor can adjust the colours and sharpness to your desires and needs.

The crop is ok, although I wouldn't have centered her as much. May I suggest leaving more space to the left side of the image, like take the crop all the way to the left side of the original? Rules of third would really improve this, I think.

Great job on the fill flash work! I hope you go out soon again and do some more and show them to us! Remember that you are a good photographer, do not underestimate yourself. Now you are just getting better

Cheers,

Grace

[graciousness]

Hmmm, this shouldn't have been moved. This isn't a "what's the better photo" comparison thread. She only posted SOOC photo to show what it looked like originally.