Keeper or am I pushing it?

4 years 11 months ago #641904 by Emilie-Smith
Did I get it or should I try again next time?



Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D750
Lens: 35.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
ISO: 250
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 1/4000 sec
Captured: Sat, 27 Apr 2019 11:43am
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D750
Lens: 35.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
ISO: 250
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 1/3200 sec
Captured: Sat, 27 Apr 2019 11:43am
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D750
Lens: 35.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
ISO: 250
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 1/3200 sec
Captured: Sat, 27 Apr 2019 11:43am


Attachments:
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4 years 11 months ago #641913 by Nikon Shooter
Why did you need such a fast shutter speed, Émile?
I know kids may well be very turbulent but that fast?

And, given that the whole family was the subject, why
— if they were not at the same focal plane — did you
chose ƒ2,8?

The focus point was not appropriately chosen either
as I see it and, compositionally, the vertical frame was
not the best idea.

I see no way to bring these to more receivable shot IMO
though the high key rendition is you own privilege and
artistic intent.

Emilie-Smith wrote: Did I get it or should I try again next time?

I think you should try again! :P

Light is free… capturing it is not!
Photo Comments
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4 years 11 months ago #641922 by Emilie-Smith
Thank you for replying Nikon Shooter!

I decided to shoot in aperture priority due to the children constantly moving. Looking back it's hard to say why I opened up to 2.8. It was very sunny.

Thank you for pointing that out.


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4 years 10 months ago #641995 by Sara Miles
Highlights are blown too . 


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4 years 10 months ago - 4 years 10 months ago #642011 by Troponin
I saw this thread yesterday and wanted to reply, but didn’t have time. I felt like this needed a little more attention. 

First, let’s talk about what you did right. Right now, denims, whites, and pastels, are in fashion and perfect for spring. The bright, “airy” feeling is nice. I also like the depth you were trying to achieve with the foreground and background. This is a really great location as well. Love the candid shots!

Now let’s talk about some technicals. Family portraiture can be challenging because of the depth of focus. You need to start thinking more about the focus plane and how shallow larger apertures are(going down in numbers) vs smaller (going up in number). 2.8 is still very shallow for groups at those distances, especially when they aren’t organized in to a nice, tight, group. If you’re group is staged like the above, you might need to be as small as f/10! The little girl wandered out pretty far and ended up completely out of focus and completely blocked by the other family members. In fact, even at f/10, still not sure she would be in focus in a couple of those. Get some staged shots so that you can practice this. This way, you can control the environment better. Then get some candid shots once you feel you got some good shots. For instance, you might be around 2.8-4 if you had them lined up in two tight rows, but three + rows, even 2.8 is way too shallow. 

So, let’s forget about the blown highlights for a moment. Reason why is that, in some cases, as long as the subject has proper exposure, blown highlights elsewhere could be completely acceptable. Make sure they aren’t distracting from the subject or in general, they are part of the scene (sunburst, backlighting, bright sky that’s balanced with other parts of the photo...). What I see in this photo that is more of a distraction than the blown sky are the patches of highlights on their clothing. More on that another time.

Let’s take this a step at a time. Two objectives here; Proper focus by either organizing your group on your plane, and/or adjusting aperture much more to increase depth, while maintaining good exposure on your subjects. You can work on the other issues after you become more proficient at these two, very important aspects of photography. Once you get those, the rest won’t feel so overwhelming. 

On a final note, I noticed your ISO was 250. I would keep your ISO on auto in these cases. Perhaps set the max at a point where the image starts to experience noise so that you will see it maxing it out and indicate you might need a change in lighting. Otherwise, all ISO does is bump your shutter speeds and adds unnecessary noise if it’s not needed. That comes in handy with low light though. If your light is low and shutter speeds are too slow, use your manual ISO settings to get shutter speeds up to around 400 or so due to children and their fast movements. 


Photo Comments
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4 years 10 months ago - 4 years 10 months ago #642030 by Troponin
AND ANOTHER THING!

Actually, I just wanted to add one more thing. Negative space and compositions. Some of your crops get really tight on what seems like should be a landscape shot. Don’t be afraid to back up and give yourself a little more room for crops and different compositions in post. Some of my favorite portraits are a gorgeous spring scene with the family composed to the side so we can appreciate both the beautiful family and landscape at the same time. Remember, balance though. Your scene would work because it’s not busy. If the scene is busy, it will distract from the models/subjects. 

Example of negative space and more of the scene. So, I really hate post links to other photogs, but I want to be up front about two things. 1. A lot of my advice here is based off of the experiences of others. I am a very technical shooter and my family portraiture experiences are very limited. (Just want to be honest) 2. I am a visual learner when it comes to composing etc. This is why I post links. Here is an example of how to compose a shot when you want a shallow DoF and negative space in a landscape type of shot. Notice the family is tight together. Not only does this help with focus, but it also makes it feel like the family is close emotionally too! 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/85427724153300561


Photo Comments
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4 years 10 months ago #642176 by Aaron Rogers
Wow! These are really good pointers. 


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