What’s Your Preference?

ZannieGirl49 · #1 (**permalink**) 03-26-2010, 02:31 AM

I don't take pictures of people often so I thought I'd practice during a beach outing with friends. This is a shot of my friend's daughter playing. Because the sky was decidedly 'blech' I went with black and white. I guess my question is whether or not there's anything I could have done to make the image better. Is there anything that could take it up a notch, and is it even a decent shot in the first place? Also, does the B&W work? Thanks for any input.

Nikon D90
ISO 640
Exposure 1/1000
Aperture f/5.6
Focal Length 70mm

Gina9942 · #2 (**permalink**) 03-26-2010, 09:07 PM

It's a nice shot, but the camera exposed for the background not the child, that is why she looks so dark. You can use a fill flash and that will help a lot. You can try in an editing program to maybe just lighten her up. I like the composition and the idea.

Scatterbrain · #3 (**permalink**) 03-26-2010, 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gina9942

It's a nice shot, but the camera exposed for the background not the child, that is why she looks so dark. You can use a fill flash and that will help a lot. You can try in an editing program to maybe just lighten her up. I like the composition and the idea.

I agree. You've captured a cute moment, but the girl is underexposed so she's looking dark. Try taking it into an editing package & lightening her up a bit. You might need to do this selectively to avoid bleaching out the background.

When photographing children it's always best to try to make sure the exposure & focus is on their face if possible.

S

Life in Motion · #4 (**permalink**) 03-26-2010, 10:33 PM

I hope you don't mind...i just messed with the exposure a bit. I deleted it off my computer!

candidrachel · #5 (**permalink**) 03-26-2010, 10:43 PM

I agree with the others. If you lighten up the girl it will look alot better. The girl looks like she's having alot of fun. I tend to get those types of shots when I forget my external flash. Like one of the others said your camera has exposed of the background.

ZannieGirl49 · #6 (**permalink**) 03-26-2010, 10:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Life in Motion

I hope you don't mind...i just messed with the exposure a bit. I deleted it off my computer!

I don't mind at all! I actually welcome it. I forgot to add that to my original post. But you didn't include your updated image in your post.

I'd love to see what you did. I'm going to play around with the image later and post an updated version.

ZannieGirl49 · #7 (**permalink**) 03-26-2010, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by candidrachel

I agree with the others. If you lighten up the girl it will look alot better. The girl looks like she's having alot of fun. I tend to get those types of shots when I forget my external flash. Like one of the others said your camera has exposed of the background.

Thanks for taking a look. I was actually on Manual mode and adjusting the settings throughout the day. My metering was clearly off (meaning I was doing it wrong, not the camera). Oh, and I don't have an external flash yet. I've got a nice juicy bonus coming to me next month so I may spend part of it on an external flash. I think that it would give me lots of help in this kind of situation and indoors.

Life in Motion · #8 (**permalink**) 03-26-2010, 10:48 PM

just messed with the exposure a little on the image...hope you don't mind. Sorry my computer was messing up . got the image on now. I just did a little exposure adjusting on and around the girl to make her stand out against the background a little more.

This is easy to do. As a beginner as well. I found the trial version of photo-brush 5 easy to operate and is what I'm using right now till i decide what I want to buy.