Sean Lewitts wrote: Can someone help me please. So I'm trying to work on my natural lighting portraits and was trying to photograph someone in front of an old covered bridge as the sun was coming up. The problem that I'm facing is the portraits when I look at them on computer are soft from my model moving. With it being somewhat dark out, my exposure time was nearly 4 seconds with ISO set at 800. I don't want to go much further up with my ISO and my aperture was set at f/11. Although I did open it up to f/5.6 in a few shots, but didn't seem much difference.
There must be a trick to getting sharp still shots using just natural light, even when not much of it? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Sean
Sean Lewitts wrote: Can someone help me please. So I'm trying to work on my natural lighting portraits and was trying to photograph someone in front of an old covered bridge as the sun was coming up. The problem that I'm facing is the portraits when I look at them on computer are soft from my model moving. With it being somewhat dark out, my exposure time was nearly 4 seconds with ISO set at 800. I don't want to go much further up with my ISO and my aperture was set at f/11. Although I did open it up to f/5.6 in a few shots, but didn't seem much difference.
There must be a trick to getting sharp still shots using just natural light, even when not much of it? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
Sean
garyrhook wrote: <forehead hits keyboard>
Okay, now that that's out of the way...
Why are you using f/11 in low light?
Why are you using f/11 for a portrait?
Why are you using f/11?
Option: get over "natural light" and learn to use a speedlite in these situations. "Natural light" is becoming a term to describe lazy photographers that don't understand light. Don't be that guy. (This comes from personal experience, not just an opinion.)
Leilanee wrote:
In a scene where the lighting is poor to begin with, yeah go nuts with the flash, but natural light simply looks better when there's enough of it and generalizing it to say that a flash is always superior and that people who appreciate what you can do with natural light are just lazy and unwilling to learn makes you look like such a tool.i take huge offence to that. Natural light simply looks better in most cases, and certain equipment can come in handy for certain situations, but compare the catchlight in an eye of a naturally lit scene to the catchlight of a flash (which eliminates reflection and reduces the light caught to one ugly white dot), and the flash is just a waste of time. Natural light can also come to a wonderful advantage for softer looking skin.
garyrhook wrote:
Leilanee wrote:
In a scene where the lighting is poor to begin with, yeah go nuts with the flash, but natural light simply looks better when there's enough of it and generalizing it to say that a flash is always superior and that people who appreciate what you can do with natural light are just lazy and unwilling to learn makes you look like such a tool.i take huge offence to that. Natural light simply looks better in most cases, and certain equipment can come in handy for certain situations, but compare the catchlight in an eye of a naturally lit scene to the catchlight of a flash (which eliminates reflection and reduces the light caught to one ugly white dot), and the flash is just a waste of time. Natural light can also come to a wonderful advantage for softer looking skin.
I'll begin by suggesting that you re-read what I actually wrote, not what you think I said.
I did not generalize, I said don't rely on natural light; I should have added "in every situation." I did not state, much less suggest, that flash was superior; it is neither inferior nor superior. It is a tool, unlike me. I did not say that those that only use natural light are lazy, I simply pointed out that, based on my observations, it's become a "nom de lense" for photographers that don't understand light. I didn't even suggest they were unwilling to learn. I believe that the term is garnering a negative connotation.
You've seen my work, so I think you know perfectly well what I'm capable of, both with and without a flash. I'll stand by my remarks, I don't think I was insulting, and I hope that the OP has something to think about. Besides, aside from perhaps oversharing, I did address the questions raised. Didn't I?
Oh, and with respect to catchlights, if the light is terribly diffuse, you kind end up with no catchlights at all. I'll take those produced by a flash over none.
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