 Tara R. Swartzendruber |
frustrated with light ya know I've been doing this for 3 years, you'd think I'd understand it by now, but I keep getting frustrated! I like to schedule late afternoon/evening. I know all about open shade. So why is it, that I still have problems. When I'm shooting a family, I need to use a smaller apeture for focus, and then my shutter speed is pretty slow.....too slow for the toddler's moving hands which are now blurry. Bump up the ISO....ok, but I don't like the grainy look I get even at ISO 400. Move said family into the sun....squinting, overexposure, sunlight on their hair or the side of their face. I'm exasperated. It's much easier with just one person when I can get into shade and open up my aperature. But even that doesn't always work well. Is my shade too dark? AND then I hear "don't use flash outdoors" it's not flattering. If I don't use a moderate amount of fill flash, I don't feel my faces are very well lit. But I see other photographers' photos and they look great. I'm just frustrated..... sometimes it works for me, sometimes not. can't always seem to figure out the why/when.....
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Maybe your shade is too dark. I'm surprised you don't have acceptable grain/noise at iso400, but that could be more a matter of personal taste. But who says open shade is the only way to go? Everybody looks good back lit.(I said that) And who says don't use flash outdoors? Use flash outdoors. It looks great, as long as you learn how to balance it right(I said that) Spending more time breaking down how pictures that you like are done will help. And most of them will be done a lot more simply than you realize. Point out some of your pictures, or others, that you like, don't like, what's missing or what's there that you're trying to do. Either in your gallery, or put up a link so people can see what you're talking about.
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Tara R. Swartzendruber |
The noise at 400 is acceptable when the photo itself isn't too underexposed on top of it. So, I ran across a website of photos that I really like, I ask the photographer "how do you get such bright faces?" The answer: "They are in open sky with the sun behind them" (for no squinting).....hmmmm....when I try that, the faces are too dark. I totally feel like I'm missing something...
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Chad McCoskey |
Perhaps you're metering the wrong area. Most likely, the photographer you looked at either used a spot or center-weight meter. An evaluative, full-scene meter is going to meter with the sun as the brightest area and thus set the exposure on that. Using a spot or center-weight will meter off those 2 respectively. This may blow out the sunlit areas, but you'd rather have the face/subject in proper exposure than the background, right? The other possibility is the use of a fill flash: a soft, low-powered flash, just to give the subject's face a touch of extra light. Even in shade the use of a fill flash or reflector is beneficial and done properly will look natural. BTW, a sample image might help.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Should have added a link to the site of the pictures you're talking about.
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Tara R. Swartzendruber |
OK, here's a link..... http://www.uniquelyyouphoto.com/index2.php?v=v1#/home/
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
http://www.uniquelyyouphoto.com/index2.php?v=v1#/gallery1/4/ This picture is just back lit with a small area of open shade. It's a matter of exposing for what light that is bouncing back to the girls face, not for the background. It doesn't look like there was a reflector used. Only what's reflecting off the sky and surroundings.
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Tara R. Swartzendruber |
so really, the key is to expose for the faces by spot metering, right? I really haven't been doing that and I think that might be the problem. Does it matter where your zoom is on your zoom lens when you take the reading? For example, can I zoom way in to get the spot reading off the face or should I keep the lens zoomed out and physically walk close to the face to get the reading....or does it matter?
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Sandy Hawkins |
Tara...I love to use natural light, but everything has to be just right for the images to work out, and sometimes it just isn't. I personally use a lot of fill flash when the light of the day or moment is not good. If you look at my gallery including the finalists some of the outside images were shot with natural lighting, but many were shot using fill flash. I use a SB900 and shoot it through the white part of a reflector keeing it away from the camera. It gives a nice softbox effect and is pretty simple to use. I know some photographers never use fill flash, and they have awesome images, but I am just not that good! ;-)
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Tara R. Swartzendruber |
Thanks, Sandy, Gregory, Chad. I learn so much here and appreciate the non-judgement. A lot of blogs/photographers I look in on say "get rid of your flash", but if you ask questions, they want you to take a $1500 workshop. Anyway, I don't have to get everything for free, but sometimes it;s nice to just to be able to ask a question and get a great answer! Gregory, when you say "this photo is just backlit with a small area of open shade," I'm not sure which photo you are referring to, but many of hers look like they are out in the sun, not the shade and that's what has been throwing me.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
I see all the pictures have the same internet location. I'm talking about the first picture of the girl sitting on the box. If you spot meter off a face you still may have to compensate one way or the other because of the skin tone you're spot metering. It won't matter if you zoom if you're aware of what area your spot metering is covering.
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Chad McCoskey |
Your focus point is key to the spot metered. My Nikon D300 has a red square where I'm focused and thus metered. I can move that square with the pad or I can just move the camera around to see how the exposure changes. If you don't have a focus point, check your manual to get it activated. By default, the focus point is in the middle of the view finder. By most definitely, use spot or center-weight metering when shooting portraits and meter off the face. Good luck.
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Randy A. Myers |
Whoever told you to forget using flash outdoors is crazy. Use it correctly and no one will know, but your pictures will come out fine. I use -1.3 to -1.7 for fill light on outdoor portraits. These cameras are pretty smart. I set my aperture to what I want, usually f-8.0, set my flash to -1.7 and let the camera do it's thing. If there is a lot of movement, you may want to set the shutter to the highest sync speed your camera allows so you won't get blur ghosting from the ambient light exposure. The best way to light outdoor portraits is to get your subjects under cover and add fill light with a reflector or flash. Back lit subjects always need added light to work. Without fill light the subject will be too dark or if you adjust for the subject, the background will be blown out. Grab a willing soul and go out and practice. You will pick up pretty quickly what will work and what will not work. Practice is the key. Good luck.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
I wouldn't go so far to say back lit always need added light. They need it when they need it. It may not sound right, but it's a situational thing.
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- Dennis Flanagan Contact Dennis Flanagan Dennis Flanagan's Gallery |
I didn't read through all the responses, so this may have been addressed. Why do you feel the need to use a small apeture? I assume you are worried about depth of field?? If you have a short focal length, that shouldn't be a major issue.
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Tara R. Swartzendruber |
yes, I'm worried about depth of field. With a family I want to ensure that everyone is in focus...they are not usually on the same focal plane. Seems like if I don't use at least f11, then someone is always a bit blurry. What do you mean by short focal length?
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Tara R. Swartzendruber |
Maybe it's a fad sort of thing, but a lot of the photographers I "watch" say they don't use any flash outdoors and would never.
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- Dennis Flanagan Contact Dennis Flanagan Dennis Flanagan's Gallery |
Focal length is the distance from the rear lens element to the sensor. If you are shooting with a 55mm lens, that is your focal length. Here is a great tool for determining your DOF. Cut and paste in into your browser. http://www.dofmaster.com/doftable.html
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Tara R. Swartzendruber |
sorry, I know what focal length is....I was wondering what you consider to be acceptably "short" in terms of your statement "if you use a short focal length, that (dof) shouldn't be an issue"
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Randy A. Myers |
I'm not sure which photographers you watch, but I would like to see a back lit portrait of a group that looks good without added light from a flash or reflector. If the added light is used correctly, no one should know unless they are real familar with photography. No light means no catch light and usually dark eyes. Light in the eye adds life. I know some here disagree with me and that's fine. Different strokes for different folks.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
Does it have to be a group?
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Randy A. Myers |
Well, the original question was about a family, so.... but no, it doesn't have to be a group. The single portrait would have a better shot at being decent without added light, but the majority of the time it will look better with correctly applied fill. You can disagree, and that's fine. Like I said, different strokes for different folks. I know what works for me.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
There's this link from above: http://www.uniquelyyouphoto.com/index2.php?v=v1#/gallery1/4/ There's this picture 
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