Alisa - Part 2 (large files)

[Alex]

Ok here is more from Alisa's photoshoot. Critique please.

Thank you
Alex

[Big Red]

my picks would be the first and last equally as they both look more natural to me.

[Manta]

I like the composition of them but the saturation is a bit much.

[birddog114]

#3 is nice others are overexposed.
IMO the 50 is too short for this type of model shoot, the 85 should be in better range.

[Tommo]

Not sure why, but the shots look too "bright" to be, overexposed (whether it be from the flash or not..). Other than that, the composition of the shots looks great

[Nnnnsic]

I'm going to have to say that your second is the best image here.

I have no doubt that these were taken during the same set as your last images of the girl as she's wearing the same thing and in the same sort of setting... and you're exhibiting the same sort of issues that are marring these images.

DOF seems to be a bit of an issue here, and that's what stops the last image from really working.
If you wanted that to really work, you'd have wanted a better DOF with the entire hand in view, not half the hand with it out of focus.

I think your saturation on all of these is a big strong.

You've got to remember that in viewing an image, you want the person looking at it to view (usually) what's in the foreground, but bright highlights and loud and dynamic colours, especially in images that don't have much depth, will usually scream to the user to look at the background more.

Good shot in number one with the exception of the composition. Good job there.

Number two works well, but the background is too bright for its own good.

Number three has way too bright a background and not enough balance on the colour of the girl, as well as having that flash bounce visible on the nose.

Four is actually nice and doesn't have all that bad a DOF... what I find distracting about this image is the flash bouncing in the face... it's like she's staring at the sun or a very bright light source.

Five is nice, but suffers from not being all that sharp in the face (it looks like the focus point was centred around her cheek and hair) and the composition is lacking.

Six has similar issues as five.

And seven, I've already mentioned about the OOF hand... the expression and sharpness as well as DOF with the background seem to work, but the saturation still seems way too vibrant on her shoulder for the rest of the image, you have a nice hair poking up in the blurred OOF background that could do with some cloning... and then there's that hand.

As I said in the other thread, composition is a skill you're going to need to work on... but these are a fairly good first effort.

[shutterbug]

The images all are too hot. Was the model under shade or in full sun? From the images, it looks they were taken under shade. What flash/camera setting was used?

[birddog114]

The images all are too hot.

shutterbug,
Did you remember: Alex said she's hot in another thread?

[shutterbug]

The images all are too hot.

shutterbug,
Did you remember: Alex said she's hot in another thread?

That is what I mean My wife would be coming with me too

[Tommo]

After re-looking at the shots, the shirt sometimes look pink, sometimes red. There's too much of a focus on the shirt for me... rather than her beautiful face However, I couldn't do better,so well done none the less.

[marcotrov]

Colour rendition and exposure are still an issue alex but overall IMO this improves on the first serties. I think the last had you included all the hand and pehaps posed it along the left arm in a manner to frame the face even further. I really like the eye contact the model has made with you
cheers
marco

[Alex]

Thanks, Marco and Tommo. Yes, too much flash in many and tones do not match from one shot to the next.

Leigh: thanks again for a very detailed analysis

Manta: I didn't use saturation, but used curves in LAB which were overdone, I think. Thanks for picking it up.

Thank you all for your input. There will be more to come in near future.

How would you go about reversing the effect of flash?

Alex

[Alex]

The images all are too hot.

shutterbug,
Did you remember: Alex said she's hot in another thread?

Very hard concentrating on photography. I can't work under those conditions.

Alex

[Sandy Feet]

I like the last shot best, it just appears to be the most natural pose

Cheers
Rod

[yeocsa]

Alex's camera tend to over-exposure. Why i don't know as my D70 did not have this tendency. But i think Alex can always put -1/3EV as default.

The over exposure was worst when spot metering was used. Exposure was better when switch to matrix metering. Spot metering needs careful selection of the right area for exposure. Flash was used for fill effects as the session was in the morning and under shade. Even with -1EV on the flash, exposure on was the bright side when i compare them on my 20D. I was shooting jpeg and normal flash setting.

The pictures that Alex posted are over-exposured partly due to his preference to have a light skin tone of the model. The model has a dark skin tone. In doing so, the background are overly overexposed. Of course, to correct these, you can always do so in photoshop.

I can see that Alex was pretty excited. I noticed he would take 2 to 3 pictures at one go. He probably has the first correctly exposed and subsequent ones slightly underexposed (thanks to the extra external battery on the SB800). So i was observing closly how his finger would trigger the shutter button ... well he did okay without causing camera shake.

I had more fun using the 50 f1.4 on his camera though. Very nice smooth focusing ... a bit too smooth.

regards,

Arthur

[Alex]

Alex's camera tend to over-exposure. Why i don't know as my D70 did not have this tendency. But i think Alex can always put -1/3EV as default.

The over exposure was worst when spot metering was used. Exposure was better when switch to matrix metering. Spot metering needs careful selection of the right area for exposure. Flash was used for fill effects as the session was in the morning and under shade. Even with -1EV on the flash, exposure on was the bright side when i compare them on my 20D. I was shooting jpeg and normal flash setting.

The pictures that Alex posted are over-exposured partly due to his preference to have a light skin tone of the model. The model has a dark skin tone. In doing so, the background are overly overexposed. Of course, to correct these, you can always do so in photoshop.

I can see that Alex was pretty excited. I noticed he would take 2 to 3 pictures at one go. He probably has the first correctly exposed and subsequent ones slightly underexposed (thanks to the extra external battery on the SB800). So i was observing closly how his finger would trigger the shutter button ... well he did okay without causing camera shake.

I had more fun using the 50 f1.4 on his camera though. Very nice smooth focusing ... a bit too smooth.

regards,

Arthur

Arthur,

Thanks for showing me manual focus on 50 mm, it is much better than AF. More accurate focus as you said.

I suspect that part of problem with the overexposure is in-camera curve I am using which is P&S4.1 curve that gives +0.5EV. I will change to +0.3EV curve or use no curve at all next time. Now that I think of it I can re-tag the curve with curve surgery software and see if it helps in re-processing photos.

Exposure was my main problem, I think this time.

Thanks
Alex

[yeocsa]

Alex,

As you are shooting raw, you don't need in-camera curve. In fact, you don't even need to tell the camera what amount of in-camera sharpening or saturation etc.. as you will be doing them on the computer.

Also, use the batch processing function so that you get consistent white balance and exposure for all the pictures taken under the same lighting conditions.

regards,

Arthur

[Alex]

Hi Arthur,

I use in-camera curve to make it easier to do post processing as the curve will be already there. but you may be right, may be the in-camera curve makes it more complicated. I tried doing batch process in NC but it's too slow on my PC

[Matt. K]

Alex
The images are pretty good but could be improved in my opinion.
Firstly...the background has too many radical tones....even though it's out of focus the tones are still a distraction. I would look for a overall darker background with less highlights.

Second...The purple top she is wearing is far too loud and overly dominates the image. Try those again and ask her to wear a white with fine checks or pattern top, or something light coloured with fine detail...and see the difference. Your use of flash is pretty good but I would go for - 0.7 exposure and flash fill to give the image a bit more "mood". Also...a tad more jewelry might help.

[Alex]

Thanks, Matt. I know what you mean by the background. Those blown highlights in background mixed with greens are very very distracting, as many like yourself and Leigh have said.

Exposure is another thing to watch, I think I'll get rid off in-camera curve.

Alex