Veni, Vidi, Vici!

[TheMoons678]

First phrase that came to mind when I saw this in my view finder.

This labor day weekend we went on a walk by the lake and I snapped some shots of the nieces a nephews. Aubrey did this pose on her own.



Nikon D90
Aperture Priority
Exposure 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 72 mm
Focal Length 73.4 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash No Flash

After I got home and went through the pictures, they all looked slightly overexposed, but cranking up the contrast helped considerably (I just purchased a new computer and havent put any software on it, so I did it with windows default pgrm.)

I'm currently having trouble attaching the original that looked overexposed/lacked contrast.

I took the shots around 4pm, but the light was manageable under the trees. Looking at the original, should I have turned the exposure compensation dial down to say -1 based on the light skin and colors? I'm not very experienced in manual mode, and didnt have time to do a lot of guess and check with these kids.

Part of me was telling me to use a smaller aperture with all of the sunlight/daylight, but I tried to go a bit wider at f/6.3. I checked histograms and I wasnt clipping, but I got back and was pretty disappointed with my lack of contrast.

Ughh, o well, I'm hoping to learn from every outing I go on.

[scootermcq]

She is a beautiful girl and this is a lovely capture.

Your exposure is spot on and I love the rim light with the sun. Beautiful job.

By way of critique, she is looking into a very small space and you have a large open space behind her. I think the composition would have worked better if she was on the right side for the rule of thirds looking into the open area of the image.

For contrast etc, look at LeeR's Tutorial on levels: Levels: Getting the Professional 'Pop'

You will be happy with how you could adjust this image in post.

[TheMoons678]

thanks scooter,

I guess I am just getting down on myself for not getting it right in camera, and upping the contrast PP made me feel like i was faking it.

As far as the composition goes, I was expecting her to look more towards me like in this one:


Labor Day at Fish Lake - a set on Flickr

But when I saw her make the funny looking pose, I just went with it and snapped a picture fast without moving my focus point from the left side to the right side.

[scootermcq]

I would probably just crop it in portrait vs leaving it in landscape to get her on the right side of the frame. Lighting can play with us, and that is why we have post processing. It looks fine and can look even better, remember.... most pros do a ton of PP work on their images even though they "look good" SOC.

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by TheMoons678

I guess I am just getting down on myself for not getting it right in camera, and upping the contrast PP made me feel like i was faking it.

Where did you get the impression that using PP to enhance an image is 'faking it'? These are good shots, obviously, but with post work could be great. With that mind-set you're going to rob yourself, and others, of some amazing pictures.

The comp. on the second image you posted is wonderful.

On the first, don't be afraid to play with some different crops. You can always go back and undo anything. Try coming in really tight on her, almost to the point that sliver of room on the left currently opens up in relation to the frame. Try a less tight composition so that while she isn't centered, there isnt enough disparity or imbalance on the left side to make it feel claustrophobic. You're obviously comfortable enough selecting composition to realise the strength of dead space, so try a few things out - generally speaking you get a gut feeling as to whether it works or not.

[TheMoons678]

Originally Posted by Niresangwa

Where did you get the impression that using PP to enhance an image is 'faking it'? These are good shots, obviously, but with post work could be great. With that mind-set you're going to rob yourself, and others, of some amazing pictures.

The comp. on the second image you posted is wonderful.

On the first, don't be afraid to play with some different crops. You can always go back and undo anything. Try coming in really tight on her, almost to the point that sliver of room on the left currently opens up in relation to the frame. Try a less tight composition so that while she isn't centered, there isnt enough disparity or imbalance on the left side to make it feel claustrophobic. You're obviously comfortable enough selecting composition to realise the strength of dead space, so try a few things out - generally speaking you get a gut feeling as to whether it works or not.

As I've taken more and more outdoor portraits, I like the feeling of looking at my shots and seeing that they were properly exposed. When I go thru the whole batch and notice that every single picture needs to have contrast cranked way up to look good, it just makes me think that I did not properly expose them. I am not anti PP, just still early in the learning process and am looking to eliminate frequent errors.

[scootermcq]

Originally Posted by TheMoons678

As I've taken more and more outdoor portraits, I like the feeling of looking at my shots and seeing that they were properly exposed. When I go thru the whole batch and notice that every single picture needs to have contrast cranked way up to look good, it just makes me think that I did not properly expose them. I am not anti PP, just still early in the learning process and am looking to eliminate frequent errors.

With the D90, go into your shooting menu, set picture control, and select which ever control you are shooting in (standard, neutral, landscape etc...) and you will see you can adjust contrast in the camera. You could bump that up a bit. If it is greyed out, then you have active d-lighting on. Try shooting with D-lighting off and bumping that up. Also try shooting with different d-lighting (low vs high vs auto etc)

D-lighting is awsome and helps get light into shadows and seems to make it cover a more broad range by some voodo performed in the camera. The down side to D-lighting is it also seems to loose some contrast when it does the voodo. When we are not shooting in perfect lighting conditions, there are always trade offs and this is one of them.

Personally I would rather use active d-lighting and know I have to bump contrast in post, because of the shadows not being as clipped, but play around and see what you like.