Inspiring Photo: Karen #13653090

Karen

Uploaded: January 15, 2013

Description

A candid shot of my niece. Image shot in dimly-lit Cellar Bar, Mevagissey, Cornwall.
1/60sec; f4.5; ISO 400, 75mm fl
On-camera flash activated beyond its normal maximum effective range.

Exif: F Number: 4.5, Exposure Bias Value: 0.00, ExposureTime: 1/60 seconds, Flash: fired, compulsory flash mode, ISO: 400, White balance: Auto white balance, FocalLength: 73.00 mm, Model: Canon EOS 50D

Comments

Stephen Shoff January 15, 2013

I think pushing the flash beyond its range limits probably helped this picture. It looks to me like you got good lighting without noticeable flash shadows. #1509114

Jeff E Jensen January 15, 2013

Yeah, this is really nice, Peter! #10516845

Dale Hardin January 15, 2013

In total agreement with the guys, Peter. Had you been closer it probably would not have been as good. Really looks good. #10517250

Rita K. Connell January 16, 2013

lighting is great but I alittle confused with beyond its normal maximum effective range. to me that says why did you use it? please explain! #10517748

Debbra Bailey January 16, 2013

The lighting does look good, but I am as confused as Rita about what you meant by "activated beyond its normal effective range..."

Also, the top of the head looks odd to me... did you work on the background or something? The top left of her head (from our perspective) and her sunglasses seem to sharply cut out in places. Does that make sense? #10518430

Beth Spencer January 16, 2013

The light does look good, but I too am totally confused about the normal maximum effect thing?
She is very pretty and that is a nice candid shot. #10518529

Teresa H. Hunt January 16, 2013

The lighting looks great . . . especially since you used a flash. :)

I think the end of her nose looks a little funny. Almost like you applied a gaussian blur for the background and forgot to erase it off her nose. #10518996

Rita K. Connell January 16, 2013

now I have taken a closer look I see what debbra and teresa is saying about the blur especially on the nose #10519103

Debbra Bailey January 17, 2013

Yup. I saw the nose thing too, but forgot to mention it before! #10519652

Peter W. Marks January 17, 2013

Thank you gentlemen; I appreciate your kind comments.
Ladies! What can I say? If ever we meet face to face you will be pointing out that my smile is slightly lopsided; that my right ear sticks out more than my left one; there's a tiny chickenpox scar on my forehead and all the other little defects that make me just that bit short of handsome perfection.
So, having got that off my chest let me address your concerns.
1. 'activated beyond its normal effective range' I am not sure what you are not understanding there but let me try to make that clearer. "activated "In other words the darned thing popped up because of the low light for the chosen ISO, aperture and shutter speed and that is what I wanted.
"effective range"is exactly that. A flash depending on its size and power will only give sufficient light for a correct exposure at a certain distance. I was shooting at ISO400; f4.5 aperture and 1/60sec and 15ft is that maximum effective range for those settings. As Karen was 20ft from me I knew that the image would be slightly underexposed and I was happy with that as it would eliminate bright hotspots and I could use PSE to lighten up her face. I think you might find a chart in your camera owners handbook which will tell you the effective range for various camera settings.
Now, let us address the blurry nose, weird hair, sunglasses etc. Guilty as charged your honors! With Karen facing the camera, her nose looked too large, so yes, I attempted to do some cosmetic surgery and the results should make folk glad I am not a surgeon. And Debbra, yes to every thing you said about the glasses and top of her head. They are perfect examples of my 'what the heck' approach to Ps of which I am not proud so don't mind you folk pointing out my sloppy editing but usually just let it go because my images won't go beyond BP.
You are right Teresa I used gaussian blur to get rid of all the background junk and I think I wanted to lower the shine on her nose but ....that didn't work too well did it! I will try to download the pre-cropped and worked-on image just for comparison.
But now I have a great idea. Move your chair back so that the face on the screen is the same size as the subject's would be sat across the room from you. Now you can't see all those faults can you! Oh, go on, laugh with me!
#10519694

Peter W. Marks January 17, 2013

The pre-cropped image.
#10519696

Rita K. Connell January 17, 2013

thank you for the information in my mind I thought that is what you meant but there was just a little question if I was right or not....
I am LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL because I did as I was instructed and it works....LOL! #10519701

Dale Hardin January 17, 2013

If you really want to know how to get rid of those shiny spots on a nose, let me know Peter. Always glad to help out an old friend, and God knows, you need help. :o) (calm down, you know I'm kidding) #10519937

Peter W. Marks January 17, 2013

Of course I do Dale. Then I will go out and see if I can find someone else with a shiny nose.

Hey Rita, Life is fun, ain't it kid? We just learn not-to-sweat-the-small-stuff; never to look into the kitchen of a fastfood joint; truly believe that red wine will make you live longer and lettuce and other green stuff will probably kill you because they warn you on the bag to wash them throughly and then you forget to sanitize you hands.
Now I am going to have a beer as that's good too. Cheers! #10519958

Debbie E. Payne January 18, 2013

I'm not sure how I missed getting my two cents in -- thought I wrote something on it earlier this week but I guess it "went away"! Anyhow, what I said was I liked it and considering the original I haven't seen yet, I like the original even better. You did "right" to crop in so close. And about the light - I about half-way understood but then, I am just now venturing out with any kind of lighting. Not exactly a "student of light" just yet.

#10521843

Peter W. Marks January 18, 2013

Thanks for the tutorial Dale. It might be a while before I get around to trying it but I do follow what you suggest and like what you did with Karens image; a real improvement.

And thank you Debbie Here's a tip that you might find useful with your portrait work. If you look at my Karen cropped image close up and then close up on the other version before I made adjustments, you will see that I have given her a very subtle smile. I achieved this by using PSE9 but I have no idea which other programs have what I am about to tell you.
So, what I do is click on Filter>Distort>Liquify. Now select a brush size from the options on the Liquify page and change its size to approx the size of the subjects cheek and place it over the corner of the mouth, click and hold as you gently pull the lips up to create that sweet smile! (I learned this from the Elements Technique magazine and as they warned, go real easy on the amount you pull the corners up or the result will look like the Joker in the Batman movies!
I hope this might be of use to anyone who has Liquify. #10521946

Jeff E Jensen January 18, 2013

That's a great tip, Peter. Also works well for some Photoshop plastic surgery. #10522329

Peter W. Marks January 19, 2013

Oops! I forgot the final step. It should be Filter>Distort>Liquify now select the brush size AND click on "Warp" which is the topmost square on the left side of the screen and it is a tiny drawing of a index finger pushing into flesh (I guess). Now do the drag thing I mentioned above
Sorry I forgot that! #10523363

Debbra Bailey January 21, 2013

Just catching up on this post. DIdn't mean to sound too critical Peter! Sorry about that.

If you do ever want to edit a lot in the background, I usually duplicate the image in layers. Then I work on the background and can softly erase it off of my person wherever it looks weird. #10526089

Peter W. Marks January 21, 2013

No problemo Debbra! The top of her hair and glasses are a mess. I did use layers but have forgotten what sort of masking or selection I used. I sometimes feel I should buy a tablet so that I could use a stylus to make my selections as I can't get any precision with the mouse and I am too impatient to make more than a couple of quick attempts. Perhaps I should take up a different hobby! #10526206

Debbra Bailey January 21, 2013

You are too funny Peter! #10526696

Peter W. Marks January 21, 2013

OK, I finally got around to trying Dale's very detailed tutorial that he mailed to me.
But perhaps I need more help; what do you think?

#10526751

Peter W. Marks January 21, 2013

And I couldn't ever get that right.
So try again and hope my niece never sees this!
#10526768

Dale Hardin January 21, 2013

Perfect! I knew that tutorial was just what you needed. :o) #10527021

Beth Spencer January 22, 2013

I am starting to see a family resemblance! #10527996

Peter W. Marks January 22, 2013

And I thought I was the comedian in this club! #10528046

Rita K. Connell January 22, 2013

thank you for a great laugh with my hot choc this morning and feels like -8 degrees. You are a comedian alright #10528056

Susan M. Reynolds January 26, 2013

The last one was too funny for words :)
Despite the areas that were blurred on the original post, I like the fact that you can see her eyes clearly even from the distance of about 20 feet away. Most of the time I can't get that clarity two feet away!
Just got my eyes checked though and now just need to save up to buy the new specs as there was a pretty big change ~ #10539037

Peter W. Marks January 26, 2013

Thank you friends; having a laugh will make the cold, cold days pass more quickly. And in addition Susan good to see you back in force this weekend. U.P. #10539052

Elaine Hessler January 27, 2013

Sorry I've been out of it-school started and I missed all of the excitement! And entertainment :)

You better not show your niece the goofy shot, she will NOT be happy!

She sure is a pretty gal though Peter. #10540307

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