Ad astra per aspera
The problem I see here is more about including the light appliance. It adds a "hot spot" on DSLRs cameras that are not so good on extreme values (as can be seen here with the posterisation effect) ! No, the real drawback of such a framing with the light appliance is that it fools your metering system (matrix, average, spot ?) by trying to find a mean value between the very dark shirt (dress?) and the very white hot spot ! As it can't, you loose all details in the shadows AND in the hot spot...
Framing without the appliance would have given at f/1.4 and with a "normal" speed an ISO value that would have kept the shadows correctly illuminated and less noise even at a higher ISO...!
Then there is the focus problem with the shallow DoF (what settings for AF do you use ?) that might have been corrected by manual focus... :-) "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
I do find with the 50mm that I have more trouble focussing it on AF than with other lenses. But when I switch to manual focus I always mess it up even if it looks right in the viewfinder. Ad astra per aspera
The lighting is horrible - mixed tungsten and flourescent as far as I can tell - I can't colour correct is properly.
Why didn't you use a bit of flash? It's a pretty formal portrait.
It was actually an opportunity shot. I was taking a photo of her talking to someone and she saw me and turned around to face the camera. Ad astra per aspera
Direct flash goes with harsh shadows (and sharp pictures)!
Anyhow, once you're tagged as the "Gal with the camera" and after a few minutes, indirect flash won't surprise people too much, while direct flash can (and even hurt people with eye problems)! "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
I'd suggest this more Capaesque cropping would have been better, the Guinness poster is a bit distracting, and, as it's incomplete, looks accidental. She is the subject but you still have the dark Guinness thing on the wall suggesting a pub. Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner - that I moved to Nice.
While the second one is with spot metering on the shadows with an even light (backlit), 20mm, f/2.8, 1/80th, 180 ISO
"What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
Did you focus these on manual? I've tended to spot meter everything, along with the focus, and haven't experimented enough with the different metering settings on the camera.
I seem to be able to improve one aspect of technique at a time, then I look back later on and realise that I'd ruined a shot because I hadn't exposed it correctly or thought about increasing the aperture or changing the ISO... Ad astra per aspera
Spot metering is not what I would have chosen for a shot like that. What did you meter off? Or do you mean the matrix metering?
Any useful summary for me to bear in mind on metering? Ad astra per aspera
Matrix metering isn't good when its voodoo guesses wrong - back-lighting is a classic, though with D-lenses (that tell it where they're focused) it can do some magic. Lots of light or dark areas in the frame can confuse it too. Snow, sand, etc.
One recent example that occurs to me is shooting a small stained glass window from inside the church.
The camera decided it was really dark because the window only took up a relatvely small amount of the frame, while I really wanted to expose for the light outside the window, which made the interior stone black but showed the colours of the window nicely. In that case I spot metered on the window.
when its voodoo guesses wrong
Exactly... :-) "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
I manual focused because it was a 50mm Nikkor-S that is about thirty years old :-) The second shot was with AF (20/2.8 AFD).
The first picture isn't really sharp (and the subject was speaking so his chin is more blurred then the rest), but acceptable in small sizes, while the second picture can be blown up at decent sizes !
On the D200, matrix metering is quite good for most cases (apart when you have a direct light in the frame), because I started shooting a long time ago I'm more familiar with centered average metering, as I know what I will get. I usually keep spot metering for peculiar cases, as in the second picture with the big white diffusing background...
Don't worry about improving one aspect at a time, it'll soak in :-) Apart from very specific shoots (macro, astronomy, stills, etc.) you shouldn't have to "think" too much, meaning the basics (composition, settings, etc.) should be more on the instinctive side... But to get there, most of us ruined kilometres of good film :-) "What can I do, What can I write, Against the fall of Night". A.E. Housman
I think the problem here is that there's not enough front lighting and rather odd backlighting, so the face is partly in shadow.
I've brightened it, Color Balanced and sharpened here a little, which brings it out slightly, but flesh tones are always going to look a bit odd with the vivid colour mix in the background and that Pub Lamp of God backlight effect.
This crop is possibly a bit sterile because it's lost the hands, but it highlights the thirds, and also removes the chairs which are a bit cluttery.
Anyway - it's a different take on the scene, so I thought I'd try it this way to see how it worked out.
Interesting blue eyes now too. (The spice...must flow...)
I want to put together an exhibition for my 30th birthday, towards the end of the year. The idea is that I get lots of friends and colleagues together who I haven't seen in ages, celebrate my birthday, fundraise for my charity with the event and give myself a challenge for the year to produce an exhibition.
But I know I'm not good enough yet. I also have no idea what theme to have, nor how to put an exhibition together.
Any advice is welcome!
tzt as well, how do you put your exibitions together? Ad astra per aspera
But I'm a total newbie. You have a normal feeling for a moment, then it passes. --More--
