Boys on the beach

[andrewdt]

Hi all

I have tried different crops with this and I feel that this works for me. What I am not happy with is the way that the skin tones look too bland. I shot at 55mm with a fair crop so distance to subject would have made flash tough. Can you give advice on what I should have done in this situation wrt flash vs pp editing to add more life to this. I really do not have enough time using flash outdoors to make a good go of it. Please also critique the crop that I ended up with.



Exif data
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/3.5
Focal Length 55 mm
ISO Speed 400


Thank you

[Fernando]

I like the crop, and the shot itself. I dont really see the problem with the tones. It looks like it was a somewhat cloudy day, so there are no harsh shadows on the face, and therefore flash was not needed in this shot anyway. If you think they look a little washed, you could always do a little contrast bump, but personally I would leave it as is.
Cheers!

[Doug Sundseth]

The background looks well exposed but the faces look slightly underexposed to me. I'd consider using an adjustment brush and raising the local exposure (maybe 1/2 stop) and possibly the clarity in post. (Lightroom terminology; translate as appropriate.)

To get a similar effect in camera, you'd want to have a light off camera (probably to the right, given the direction of the ambient light) to add just a bit more shape to the faces. I think this could have been done with a speedlight, maybe even just a speedlight on a stick (which might as well be bare, since it is far away from the subjects).

[ccting]

I like the sand horizon which is not flat horizon.. and the sea flat horizon.

Good color harmony for face-background for first kid but not for 2nd kid.. But i don't know how to do it right not in order not the spoil the horizons composition.

Their clothes have been the main distraction.. I wander convert the pic to BW is a better option? Doug, please advise..

[andrewdt]

Originally Posted by Doug Sundseth

The background looks well exposed but the faces look slightly underexposed to me. I'd consider using an adjustment brush and raising the local exposure (maybe 1/2 stop) and possibly the clarity in post. (Lightroom terminology; translate as appropriate.)

To get a similar effect in camera, you'd want to have a light off camera (probably to the right, given the direction of the ambient light) to add just a bit more shape to the faces. I think this could have been done with a speedlight, maybe even just a speedlight on a stick (which might as well be bare, since it is far away from the subjects).

Thanks for your feedback guys. I think I just have to bite the bullet and spend time and effort on off-camera flash work to get it better in camera. I am getting comfortable using bounce indoors on my speedlite but outdoor is another story altogether!