What went wrong with this photo?

[NicoleScraps]

This is another one from my practice photo shoot with my daughter and her boyfriend. I am trying analyze each one to see what worked and what didn't work so that I can grow and learn.
This is one that I feel could have worked nicely, but didn't. Can I tell you what I think went wrong and you can tell me if I am correct.
1. I could have opened up the aperture a little, but I so afraid that he would not be in focus since he was a little further from me. Probably would have been a little sharper had I done that, since I was using AV mode.
2. My white balance is off. I used the open shade setting and maybe should have used the deep shadow/overcast setting. We were under a gazebo.
3. I used evaluative metering and should have used spot or partial metering off of their faces. To be quite honest, I knew that, but could not figure out how to access the meter settings on my camera. I kept doing what it said in the manual, but it didn't work. I need to work on that until I figure it out.
So am I right? Is there anything else you can add?
Oh and I shot these in jpg. I know that RAW is recommended because you have more control over changes like this in post processing, but I am just ready for that yet. I need to master the settings first before I get into all that.



f/7.1 ISO-200 1/40 sec

[SusanH1970]

The main thing that screams out to me is your white balance. You have neon orange people. It's late here and I'm heading to bed, so I'll take another look in the morning, but for the time being, that's your biggest issue. Cute couple, though!

[naeno]

What a cute couple!

As Susan said, your white balance is really off. The posing of their arms is a bit strange to me too. It looks like he has a death grip on her shoulder, and her arm looks like she's reaching for his at an uncomfortable angle. You also cut them off at the wrist. Be careful not to cut people off at a joint. It makes them look like an amputee. I would recommend having her scoot her shoulder and back closer to him. It should be a more comfortable position. Anyway, for this one, I would suggest a white balance adjustment and a crop. The crop takes all strange arm angles out, and then just clone out his fingers. I've attached my suggestions (I'll promptly remove if you like).

If you have a good program to adjust RAW images, then it's the way to go. However, you can do a lot with Jpeg, too.

[sk66]

Manually setting the WB to cloudy caused the orange...Deep shade setting would have made it even more orange. I use Auto WB almost exclusively (and shoot in RAW).

Regardless of the metering method, if you don't like the "answer" the camera is giving you you can use exposure compensation (the +/- button) to adjust.

Looking at your settings, I'm not 100% sure why it's not sharp. A "wider" f/stop would NOT have helped DOF (a larger F-stop number could). I would guess it's the slow shutter speed. A wider f/stop would help increase shutter speed, as would increasing the ISO..400 should not be a problem. It could also be shallow DOF from using a very short working distance, or combination of the two...it's hard for me to tell at this resolution.

[NicoleScraps]

ugh, I thought I was starting to understand white balance, but now I am more confused.I mean, I do understand what white balance is, but how to make it happen with the camera....that is stumping me a bit. I would like to figure out how to get WB right SOOC, not have to rely on post processing.
So you really think auto white balance would have worked better? Has anyone ever been successful with manually setting the white balance? I read a tutorial that said to point the camera at a white card or paper to set it this way.

[naeno]

I generally shoot auto, and fix in post.

[sk66]

Originally Posted by NicoleScraps

ugh, I thought I was starting to understand white balance, but now I am more confused.I mean, I do understand what white balance is, but how to make it happen with the camera....that is stumping me a bit. I would like to figure out how to get WB right SOOC, not have to rely on post processing.
So you really think auto white balance would have worked better? Has anyone ever been successful with manually setting the white balance? I read a tutorial that said to point the camera at a white card or paper to set it this way.

You can spot meter off of a white card to set it, depending on your camera you can manually set the temp if it doesn't fit a preset, you can use a custom w/b, you can use a preset, or you can use auto. Using a white card or shoot thru tool you set a custom wb.

Putting a calibration card into the scene can help with post...

[RecurrentNerve]

I would like to figure out how to get WB right SOOC, not have to rely on post processing.

If you shoot RAW (and you really, really, really should be), then white balance becomes a non-issue as you can set it when you process the RAW file.

While getting a shot as good as possible in-camera is an admirable goal, there's no reason to feel bad about a shot needing PP... this is the 21st century!

[sk66]

Originally Posted by RecurrentNerve

If you shoot RAW (and you really, really, really should be), then white balance becomes a non-issue as you can set it when you process the RAW file.

While getting a shot as good as possible in-camera is an admirable goal, there's no reason to feel bad about a shot needing PP... this is the 21st century!

When it was film we used color filters during development to get the colors right...including wb adjustments.

[NicoleScraps]

Originally Posted by RecurrentNerve

While getting a shot as good as possible in-camera is an admirable goal, there's no reason to feel bad about a shot needing PP... this is the 21st century!

I know. It is just me and the way I tackle projects. When learning something new, I hate not understanding a particular area and tirelessly focus on the topic until I feel that I have a great understanding.

On another note, this photo is an example of what I feel is one of the worst shots of the session. Here are some that I think turned out much better. I think I did a lot more "right" then "wrong" in some of these.