Lighting Question

[ShannonKG]

Here's a snap shot that I took of my son and his Great Granda at the beach this summer. I was wondering what your thoughts were on the lighting. Do you find the lighting to be too harsh? Is it coming off too overexposed? What could I have done to combat that? Also any other critique you have would be great

The photo is SOOC.

Efix:
Aperture: f/6
ISO: 800
Shutter Speed: It's saying 10, but exposure time is 1/1000
Flash: Not used.

[Tito87]

Why did you use ISO 800 for this shot? Your shutter speed is 1/1000. You could've had the same exposure (I think it's overexposed, though) shooting at 1/250 with ISO 200, or even better, at 1/125 with ISO 100.

[ShannonKG]

Originally Posted by Tito87

Why did you use ISO 800 for this shot? Your shutter speed is 1/1000. You could've had the same exposure (I think it's overexposed, though) shooting at 1/250 with ISO 200, or even better, at 1/125 with ISO 100.

I honestly don't know lol. As soon as I wrote it down I was like "what was I thinking?!" Yes, I should have lowered it and lowered my shutter speed.

[Hill Country Hack]

Shannon,

Here is my non expert input. In general I do like this shot and it evokes a positive emotion and shows the love between the two. Well done.

As for the technical aspects:
You asked about the lighting and if too harsh. It appears it was an overcast day? Your subjects appear a bit washed out. I personally have set my apeture to f8 (f8 may be the sweet spot of your lens for the best sharpness), ISO 100, meter the light on the brighter area and seen if the shutter speed was at least 1/60. If not, I would bump the ISO to 200 and see if that fixes the shutter speed. If not, then I would open the apeture one more.
For the composition- A bit too centered for me. The heads of your subjects are dead center of the frame. I would try a tighter crop removing more from the top of the frame as the horizon is slanted. This will move the heads into the upper third of the frame.

The focus seems a bit soft. Could it be noise from the high ISO of 800?

There are others with much more experience than I who can give you a more detailed answer. Keep on shooting and sharing!

[ShannonKG]

Originally Posted by Hill Country Hack

Shannon,

Here is my non expert input. In general I do like this shot and it evokes a positive emotion and shows the love between the two. Well done.

As for the technical aspects:
You asked about the lighting and if too harsh. It appears it was an overcast day? Your subjects appear a bit washed out. I personally have set my apeture to f8 (f8 may be the sweet spot of your lens for the best sharpness), ISO 100, meter the light on the brighter area and seen if the shutter speed was at least 1/60. If not, I would bump the ISO to 200 and see if that fixes the shutter speed. If not, then I would open the apeture one more.
For the composition- A bit too centered for me. The heads of your subjects are dead center of the frame. I would try a tighter crop removing more from the top of the frame as the horizon is slanted. This will move the heads into the upper third of the frame.

The focus seems a bit soft. Could it be noise from the high ISO of 800?

There are others with much more experience than I who can give you a more detailed answer. Keep on shooting and sharing!

Thanks for your input

I'll try what you suggested. Unfortunately this was a quick, one shot sort of deal. He doesn't sit for long lol. But I will definitely try that. I usually try to bracket my pictures so I guess I'll have to keep doing that until I'm more comfortable with it.

I'm not sure about the focus. I know I did a focus then reframe thing. Maybe my finger slipped and I didn't realize? Or maybe it is just a combination of high ISO and overexposure?

[Hill Country Hack]

Keep at it! As a snap, it is nice and can be cherished.

[ShannonKG]

Okay now that I have an idea why and how to fix it I'm going to post a photo with a little pp work. Basically I darkened it a little and cropped. Is this any better?

[Doug Sundseth]

Much nicer image. Your subject fills most of the frame, your colors and exposure are much better, and your composition is much stronger.