I just keep trying with my CANON

[bellavue-photo]

Hi all,

Las sunday I had a photoshoot with a very nice girl and beautifull hair.
I like the result, but I keep strugeling with the lightning.

On some photo's you see that parts of the background are over exposed.
I am glad that it is the background and not the model, but I never seem to get that part completely right.

Is there a technique to fix this?

Anyway I hope you like the pictures.

On this first Image you see what I mean with the background. It does not realy bother me, but how can I prevent this from happening in the future?
Please also judge me on the picture itself.



http://www.bellavue-photo.com/001.jpg


The second Image:



http://www.bellavue-photo.com/002.jpg



And the third Image:



http://www.bellavue-photo.com/003.jpg



Hope to get some response

Kind regards,

Jean-Paul

[Molydood]

these look like great shots to me.
reagarding the blown highlights, i think that is just life in that you are always limited by the dynamic range of the camera. One technique that people use however, if you can be bothered, is to take two shots of the same thing with different exposures, then blend them together later. but in your case it looks like just small problem areas which could probably be cloned out on phtoshop quite effectively and easily.
I'm not an expert, so you may want to wait for some other responses before you run out and try it ;-)

[dphoto]

Hello there,

In my opinion, these are great shots! The colors are very rich. As for composition, I would probably crop some off of the top of the first two to bring more attention to the subject. As for the blown out highlights, because they are not really within the DOF anyhow, it didn't bother me at all, and if I were you, I wouldn't worry about it. But, since you are the photographer, you get to decide. :D I have a lot of trouble shooting outside, and the biggest challenge seems to be choosing a location that does not have too much contrast in light. So, that being said, next time you could try to avoid shooting with something that bright in the background. Likewise, you could try to illuminate the subject more with flash. Also, people have suggesting shooting in RAW mode to give you a little more dynamic range. Finally, you can also shoot a single shot using RAW mode and then use two different exposure compensation values to get two different images, one exposed for the subject and one exposed for those blown out highlights. Then blend those two images together.

Good luck to you, and once again, great shots!
-Deva

[jukas]

Very nice shots! The other posters covered how to handle the blown highlights. The main thing I wish for in this image however is to see her eyes. Without seeing her eyes, I can't seem to "connect" with her in this series.

[BDM]

As others have mentioned, the key to contrast control is to adjust the lighting ratio between the main subject and the background.

That means more light on the main subject compared to the background. But direct flash is probably not the answer for this type of subject. It would probably result in a different color balance, flat lighting and a set of unnatural shadows.

This is the type of shot that to do right really requires an assistant or two to hold large white or possibly gold foil reflector screens to shine additional light on the subject. The advantage is that you can immediately see the effect on the subject. The disadvantage is the additional help it requires. You could try to set the reflectors by propping them on light stands or other objects. However you do it, the idea is to project more light on the subject without altering the essential color balance or shadow pattern that is already there.

You will have to experiment a bit to find the ideal ratio. Essentially you want to cut down the exposure until the background highlights are no longer burned out and then increase the reflected light on the main subject to compensate for the reduced overall exposure so the density of the main subject remains unaltered.

Bruce