Questions, Questions, Questions

[ashleymcnamara]

I know this is probably not the best place to ask these questions...as this is the people forum...HOWEVER, I have seen some amazing pictures from most everyone here and could not think of any better people to ask.

I am an aspiring photographer, I have had many "clients" I quote the word client because I have yet to charge anyone. I feel extremely uncomfortable charging people because I am not secure with my "skills" yet...I MAY be to critical of myself but probably not. (Ill show you examples)

I have exposure and lighting issues. I have a 5in1 reflector and even when I use it I get bad results...which tells me I am doing something wrong.

My clients are babies and children, I have done one engagement shoot but it was my sister so I don't count her.

Anyway, not to drag this on forever...I am having trouble understanding my exposure and f/stop settings. I try my darnedest BUT am just not getting it.

Can someone PLEASE dumb this down for me?

These are a couple shots I have gotten I think just from these few its apparent what my downfalls are.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/nic780/5-7-20061-31-04PM_0264.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/nic780/IMG_2056.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/nic780/photoshop3.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/nic780/ribbon4.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/nic780/_MG_4290.jpg

[ashleymcnamara]

couple more
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/nic780/6-13-20061-28-48AM_0149.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/nic780/6-13-20061-30-39AM_0175.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/nic780/6-22-20062-11-31AM_0029.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/nic780/7-19-20063-31-42AM_0140.jpg

Ok I think you get the picture...No pun intended. lol

[ashleymcnamara]

hummm one more thing. I am also having problems focusing in on more than one person...example-
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/nic780/canon/7-9-200612-11-54PM_0052.jpg
My sisters engagement shoot.

[Refemall]

Edited... wrong information, too late at night.

[ashleymcnamara]

Thanks a bunch. I have read that the proper portraiture aperture is 5.6 so I have been using that a lot lately.

[Wildewinds]

Let's start with shutter speed. The slower the shutter speed, the more light gets in to the sensor. Thus, if you take a photo in low light (like inside a room) with a really fast shutter speed (let's say 1/1000), chances are that it will be very under-exposed because not enough light was let in to the sensor. Therefore, you slow down the shutter speed until enough light is allowed to get in to expose the photo properly. If you slow it down too much, however, you'll get a blurry picture because either you moved the camera while the shot was being taken, or your subject moved. A simple rule of thumb for a handheld shot is that you don't want your shutter speed to be lower than the focal length of the lens you're using (e.g. with your 50mm lens, you shouldn't try shooting at less that 1/50 sec). Typically, studio portraits are done at around 1/125 sec. Outdoor photo shutter speeds are dependant on the light available.

Aperture (f-stops)... this is a bit more complicated. The first thing to explain is that a "larger" aperture is actually a smaller number. On your 50mm 1.8 lens, the largest aperture is the 1.8 setting. The smallest is like 22 or 25 (can't remember). That being said... Basically, aperture affects a photo in two ways. Firstly, it changes the "depth of field" of your shot. Depth of field means the distance that in focus. A large aperture (1.8 ) has an extremely slim depth of field. A photo of a person four feet away taken with your 50mm 1.8 at the 1.8 setting has a depth of field of one and a half inches. Thus, the eyes may be in focus, but the nose and ears would be out of focus. A smaller aperture, let's say 8.0, has a wider depth of field. At four feet, using the 50mm lens set at 8.0, the area that's in focus is a bit less than seven inches. More than enough to get a whole face in focus.

The other aspect of aperture is that a larger aperture allows more light in. So, in a low light situation, you'd probably have to use a large aperture to get the right exposure. The trade off is that the large aperture will give you a slim depth of field, so you'll have to make sure your subject(s) are in focus.

That leads to your last issue with getting more than one person in focus. The problem was that your depth of field was too narrow. Thus, you needed to use a smaller aperture.

For portrait work, you need to use an aperture that allows the correct depth of field for the distance from which you're shooting. Sometimes you want it really narrow to get the nice blurry stuff in the background/foreground, but sometimes you want it wide enough to get your whole subject(s) in focus. To give you an idea of how the aperture affects the DoF, here's an online calculator you can play with http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html. For portraits with studio lighting, an aperture of 8.0 is most commonly used. Outdoors is more variable.

[krista]

I'm not the most technical person but I think Refemall mis-typed it. You want a smaller aperture - so a larger number f stop for a group. f5.6min. but I'd go f8 or so if there is a group or spread out. I am in love with wide open aperture (2.8 or so) but have to watch out for this with group shots.

You have some great shots - love the belly with the ribbon shot especially. Only critique I may have is something I am learning too - to watch your black and whites are actually black and white and not grey & grey - the one of the little girl for example (with the pink flower). Play with curves on that one and it'll make it pop!

[Curtis N]

Try adjusting the aperture one or two stops larger (smaller f number), and then try again. This will give you a larger area of focus to work with, especially if the people you're trying to shoot aren't the same distance away from the lens.Sorry,

That's backwards.

Smaller aperture (larger f/ number) will give you more depth of field, as long as focal length and distance remain the same.

[ashleymcnamara]

Wildewinds,

Thank you very much I already knew that a larger aperture was a smaller number but I guess didn't get how to put everything together...I set the f/stop then I set the exposure and something is always off.

You explained A LOT!!!! Thank you SO much!

[Dimitry]

I personally think that other than the technical aspect which you have down pretty good already and which can be easily improved, you take good shots. And it's what shots you take the probably make 2/3's of what a good photo is with the 1/3 being how properly the shot was taken. At least that's how I see it in my books.

[barP]

these online forums are an amazing treasure trove of knowledge. i spent several hours shooting some stuff yesterday, and was pretty disappointed with my totally amateur results. a lot of my issues have been with depth of field, and i can't seem to get it thru my head that using the nifty fifty at "full throttle" is dangerous! i was thinking..."i wonder if there's a chart or a way to create a spreadsheet that shows the dof range?" and even considering shooting pix of a yardstick at different f-stops, blah, blah, blah...then i see this dof master website and it's as if choirs of angels suddenly lit up the heavens!!!

THANK YOU!

wp.

[Dimitry]

and it's as if choirs of angels suddenly lit up the heavens!!!

THANK YOU!



*And the doors from Heaven have opened and the flood of knowledge came down upon all POTN'ers and they danced and triumphed and sang ""Hallelujah...O Great Lord of the Great Fstop-eth and we shall rejoice forever in the L presents thy provide-eth to us."*

[ashleymcnamara]

*And the doors from Heaven have opened and the flood of knowledge came down upon all POTN'ers and they danced and triumphed and sang ""Hallelujah...O Great Lord of the Great Fstop-eth and we shall rejoice forever in the L presents thy provide-eth to us."*


LMAO!!!!!!:lol:

[Lord_Malone]

PM sent, Ashley.

[ashleymcnamara]

Lord malone-Back at ya

[Kristy]

I'm popping in here, just because newborns and maternity are totally my favorite thing to shoot. :) Since you have a similar intereste I thought I'd give my 2-cents...

Great advice on the aperature/shutter speed info... don't forget that you can use your ISO also to get a better exposure... higher ISO means more noise/grain in your photo so be careful, but with natural light, sometimes there is no other choice...

Check out a book from the library called "Understanding Exposure", by Bryan Peterson. Should help to make things more understandable, and it goes into metering which I have found very useful.

Your photos are really great.. :) I can see your concern about focus, which is probably related to your aperature setting. Stop it down a bit and you'll be suprised at the difference... I shoot around 4.0 a lot of times and it has helped me bunches. It takes practice to use a very shallow DOF because your focus has to be spot on... I'm still practicing. :)

On your belly photos... I would venture to say that you should crop them a little wider so you can see all the curves of the body. I love to see the full shape of a belly and it seems that your crops are a bit tight for myt taste, but we are all different so you may just love them that way.

Your B&W are a little gray looking.. A really easy fix it to bump up the contrast/brightness a bit and you'll feel better about them. IF you do this on an adjustment layer, it will give you more control. I always add a warm tone to my B&W's because I feel like it brings out depth in the image... My personal preference and not everyone likes this look. Here's just a quick edit one of your photos to show the end result of these quick adjustments.

[ashleymcnamara]

Thanks Kristy!

[Refemall]

Sorry,

That's backwards.

Smaller aperture (larger f/ number) will give you more depth of field, as long as focal length and distance remain the same.

Lmao, my bad. That's what I get for posting at 1:30 am after a long day.

I kind of had the feeling what I was typing wasn't making sense.

Cheers.

[pakololo]

nice

[ashleymcnamara]

Lmao, my bad. That's what I get for posting at 1:30 am after a long day.

I kind of had the feeling what I was typing wasn't making sense.

Cheers.

I understood anyhow ;)