is it the spotty shadows?

[MidKnight]

I dont really like these shots, is it how theres spotty shadows? ive used a 550 speedlite on a 10D in aperture priority mode, metering centre weighted.

Comments, suggestions please.

thanks





http://www.midknight.com.au/temp/CRW_2815.jpg
http://www.midknight.com.au/temp/CRW_2819.jpg

[Don Ellis]

The thing I notice immediately is that there's no true black in the photo, but there probably should be with her black ponytail band. I simply set a black point on that and cropped a bit to put a little more focus on her face (and in one case to eliminate the light band at the top)...

http://www.kleptography.com/dl/fm/crw_2815de.jpg
http://www.kleptography.com/dl/fm/crw_2819de.jpg

Cheers,

Don

If you're not familiar with black and white points, let me know.

[chops]

The originals look much better IMHO.

[MidKnight]

ya i far prefer my own there actually

[Don Ellis]

ya i far prefer my own there actually

Fair enough, but the black point was intended as a starting point, not a final photo. I've never seen "film fog" help a shot but then we all look with different eyes.

Cheers,

Don

[BOBinsane]

I think the shadows didn't help. If you did want to make this come out better I would bring a large reflector to give those dark areas some high lights, therefore the shadows can stay in the background, and with both combinations, you'll get a photo with a lot more depth.

http://www.naturephotographers.net/gs/gslitedisc.html