how did i do?

[yulchick]

So I'm practicing on my baby girl sasha, and just wanted to know on how i did. Is the lighting ok? How can i improve it?

didnt know which picture to choose out of the set, so going with this one..



ISO 640
f/2.8
1/80 sec

[candleman]

how did you light this?

i'm guess window light, and you went heavy on the dodging and fill lightslider?
(EDIT)
Just spoted the shadow from the direct flash.. that explains whay it's so flat.

1. light should be brighter on the face than anywhere else
place the kiddo 45 degrees to a window, and the face closest to the window and you wil have magic.


2. looking up the nostrils = bad


otherwise.. she looks chubby and cute.

[yulchick]

Yep, I used window light.

Didnt do any dodging... not sure what a fill lightslider is..
What I did was pumped up the exposure a bit, and brightness, used tone curve to adjust the highlights and lights..and a tiny bit of skin smoothing, thats pretty much it.

Thanks for the sugestion on how to place her next time! I placed her completely different, with her head towards the window, with her head guessing 90 degrees to the window ( her hair was right below the window) if that makes sence..gosh horrible at explaining this!

hehe about the nostrils..for some reason I actually like how her head is a bit bakwards in this one shot...but maybe its just me..I do have other shots that dont make you look up her nostrils

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Originally Posted by candleman

how did you light this?

i'm guess window light,

How on earth did you know this? She confirms you are correct in her reply..... but how did you know this? I'm a noob just learning so my inquiry is strictly educational in intent. What did you see in the photo that told you it was natural light from a window?

Thanks for sharing and sorry if I hi-jacked the thread a bit

[ctcook]

+1 everything Candleman said.

Also, if you're going to be doing a full body shot like this try closing down your aperature so that you increae your DOF. At f/2.8 here the ear, top of back, and the little bum are out of focus. My prefrence would be to have the focus drop off just behind the subject, but that's my prefrence so take it for what it's worth.

[candleman]

Originally Posted by Gulf Coast Girl

How on earth did you know this? She confirms you are correct in her reply..... but how did you know this? I'm a noob just learning so my inquiry is strictly educational in intent. What did you see in the photo that told you it was natural light from a window?

Thanks for sharing and sorry if I hi-jacked the thread a bit

: )
Umm.. dunno..

The flatness suggests on camera flash and/or heavy processing, because there’s no real shape defining shadows.
There’s no way to light the background other than an off-camera light.(and you can see the over exposed patch on her back) that there was more light involved.
Pretty unlikely to be a strobe or softbox on the background.. the light just looks different.

The window light Is obviously reflecting off the white blanket and causing those white highlights on the cheeks, back (and especially visable on the little buttcrack lol)

[yulchick]

Is the lighting any better in this one? I tryed positioning her different this time ... please tell me if its any better, and what needs fixing, thank you



ISO 640
f/2.8
1/80 sec

[candleman]

you're getting there.

looks to me like you used on camera flash again though, and that overpowered the ambient light from the window.

I would say disable the flash, or dial the FEC down to a negative number like -1.0 so that all it's doing is acting as a fill, rather than becoming the dominant light in the exposure.

IE.. expose for the ambient from the window on the childs face, don't let the flash take control.
baby and fathers hand | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (window on the right, fill flash bounced off the ceiling)
cute newborn girl | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (window on the left, fill flash from the right)
sleeping baby in mothers arms | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (window only.. no fill flash at all)

(shadows and contrast aren't bad)

[yulchick]

Originally Posted by candleman

you're getting there.

looks to me like you used on camera flash again though, and that overpowered the ambient light from the window.

I would say disable the flash, or dial the FEC down to a negative number like -1.0 so that all it's doing is acting as a fill, rather than becoming the dominant light in the exposure.

IE.. expose for the ambient from the window on the childs face, don't let the flash take control.
baby and fathers hand | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (window on the right, fill flash bounced off the ceiling)
cute newborn girl | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (window on the left, fill flash from the right)
sleeping baby in mothers arms | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (window only.. no fill flash at all)

(shadows and contrast aren't bad)

hmm, I will defenetly try not using the flash next time, ill actually try both of the tips you gave me. Thanks for the info!

[yulchick]

Originally Posted by candleman

baby and fathers hand | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (window on the right, fill flash bounced off the ceiling)
cute newborn girl | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (window on the left, fill flash from the right)
sleeping baby in mothers arms | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (window only.. no fill flash at all)

(shadows and contrast aren't bad)

by fill flash do you mean that you dialed the FEC down to like -1.0? hehe sorry if its a dumb question, but Im a newbie