Emily

[keithisnor]

55mm
f4
1/200
Rebel XSi

Comments please.

[lonni]

Hi

This shot has potential.

The face is underexposed, if you set your exposure for the face it will be brighter and the sun highlights will be brighter giving it a bit more of a pop, or sunshiney backlit look. A longer shutter time would also do this.

I would also suggest that you crop the photo. If it was me i would crop it so the girls left shoulder goes out of frame a bit and keep some of the BG to the right where the most texture is.

HTH

[SusanH1970]

Agreed with the PP. The backlighting is lovely. Use a reflector to bounce some light on to her face and into her eyes (if you don't have a reflector, a cheap piece of white posterboard or foamboard from a craft store will do fine in a pinch). The dead center composition isn't doing anything for me. Cute kid, love her freckles.

[Benji]

More ammunition about not using sunshine in portraiture. It CAN be done but it takes some thought and planning. Thinking about holding a reflector up and bouncing strong sunshine back into her face? You will get instant complaints from the subject not to mention the squinting of her eyes. How to prevent overexposed hair in the sunshine? Add more light to the areas that are NOT lit by the sun, and adjust the aperture accordingly. If the correct reading for the sun lit hair is f/8 @ 1/200 and the correct meter reading for the skin is f/4.0 @ 1/200 the hair WILL be overexposed by two stops if you shoot at f/4.0 @ 1/200. If you raise the aperture to f/8.0 @ 1/200 (to get properly exposed hair) the hair will now be properly exposed, but the skin will be two stops UNDER exposed. So what is a thinking image maker going to do? He will raise the exposure on her face up to f/8 @ 1/200 and now both are properly exposed. But how you ask? Use flash.

Benji

[SusanH1970]

Backlighting in full sun can be done with a reflector. This was shot at in full sun using a white reflector, no flash.

[keithisnor]

Thanks for all the great tips. I should have given some background for this shot. We where returning from a late afternoon walk, it was an impromptu shot. I would like to try it again with a something to reflect the light.

[Benji]

Based on the foliage in the background, the angle of the spot of sunshine striking the side of her hair and the blue skylight in her hair at camera left upper this was shot in dappled sun in the mid to late afternoon. Dappled sun is where there are lots of little spots of sunshine coming through the leaves. The leaves will soften the light, plus late afternoon sun does not have the power that the full sun has which reduces its power making a reflector bearable for the subject.

Benji

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by Benji

Based on the foliage in the background, the angle of the spot of sunshine striking the side of her hair and the blue skylight in her hair at camera left upper this was shot in dappled sun in the mid to late afternoon. Dappled sun is where there are lots of little spots of sunshine coming through the leaves. The leaves will soften the light, plus late afternoon sun does not have the power that the full sun has which reduces its power making a reflector bearable for the subject.

Benji

Actually, it was taken right around 11:30 a.m. Early morning was too early for the client and the child napped late afternoon, so late morning/early afternoon was the only time we could do it. A bit of post-processing softened the photo. I would NOT have posted this image if it had not been taken when and where I stated it was, and I don't particularly appreciate you telling me otherwise. Some parts of the client's yard were open shade and I got quite a few shots done in those areas, but the swingset and garden were both in full sun and the client specifically asked for a photo done with the child sitting on the swing. The foliage is a short hedge about 8 feet behind the child.

[autofocus]

.........grrrr!! A very lovely shot, BTW Susan

[windrider86]

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