The face in the mirror

[Chevychase507]

Hi!

This is my first post, and being an unexperienced photographer, I am very exited to hear your opinions. The photo is a picture of my girlfriend in the mirror while she is doing her make-up.

https://picasaweb.google.com/1074103...70570548443042

For you to discuss I have following questions:

Are the dark areas too many and too big?

Is the softness of the image a good or a bad thing?

How would you have taken the image?

Exif:

Nikon D90 +AF Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8D

ISO 200

50 mm

0 EV

f/1.8

shutter speed 1/40

[baajero]

The link is not working

[Chevychase507]

I have uploaded it now

[graciousness]

Could have been a good image, however, it is too dark and yes, too soft.

I would have used a higher ISO of at least 400 to even 800 at minimum.

The shutter speed is too slow and would have contributed to the blur in the focus. To minimise movement or camera shake, I would have used at least 1/90 for this photo. 1/40 is just too slow and hence, the focus is off.

Also, using such a wide aperture of f/1.8 would prove to be too difficult due to the very narrow depth of field. Two stops would have been better (at least), ensuring that your focal point is on her eyes.

Nice attempt that just requires tweaking on the settings for better execution.

Keep posting and hope this helps!

Cheers,

Grace

[Chevychase507]

Thank you for the constructive answer, this was exactly what I was hoping for. I will try to convince her to have another go, and then I will follow your instructions.

When you say two apeture stops, do you mean f/2.8 or a step higher?

Once again, thank you for the answer!

Chevy (;

[graciousness]

Originally Posted by Chevychase507

Thank you for the constructive answer, this was exactly what I was hoping for. I will try to convince her to have another go, and then I will follow your instructions.

When you say two apeture stops, do you mean f/2.8 or a step higher?

Once again, thank you for the answer!

Chevy (;

Yup, exactly. Go narrower on the aperture. Apparently, lenses are at their sharpest around 2 or 3 stops above the widest aperture, anyway. Imagine that any slight movement on very narrow DOF would just throw your focus off easily so careful when you are using really wide apertures. You want to make sure that you and your camera are very sturdy when taking the shots.

Also, with the image you are trying to achieve, there is no point having big areas of blur. Even going to f/4 would achieve nice results.

[graciousness]

Something I forgot to mention are lines.

Be careful where you take the shot from as you don't want any of those lines from the mirror cutting off bits of your subject or the frame. This can be very distracting, esp if the lines are creating horizontal lines from end to end.

It would be better if you use a mirror that aren't sectioned such as the wall panel ones you have used here. But it can still work if you are clever enough to compose the lines within the frame carefully and artistically.