Friend of mine...

[berrylish]

help me! took some shots of a friend today. don't know anything about lighting/composition and um......many other things....so please point me in the right direction. blow me away with criticism!
1:
http://www.berrylish.com/forum/J2small.jpg
2:
http://www.berrylish.com/forum/J20small.jpg
3:
http://www.berrylish.com/forum/J16small.jpg

[schmoelzel]

Hey, pretty nice shots! One thing I would suggest is to use flash (fill) when you are outdoors under bright sunlight. In the first pic the camera metered on everything and the face is left in a shadow. Your composition is really good! The 3rd pic is the best because the exposure and skin tones are bang on...........and you get points for focusing on the eyes, which many forget about and it makes all the difference in portrait shots. I like them.......which camera and lens did you use?

[berrylish]

Hey, pretty nice shots! One thing I would suggest is to use flash (fill) when you are outdoors under bright sunlight. In the first pic the camera metered on everything and the face is left in a shadow.

So....could I use the flash thats in the camera body? Or do you mean the extra flash that i'll have to purchase? I'll have to figure out how to use the one on the body. I only know how to use it when it pops up by itself :o .


and you get points for focusing on the eyes, which many forget about and it makes all the difference in portrait shots. I like them.......which camera and lens did you use?

Focusing on the eyes was not intentional :o. But I'll remember that! I'm using the 18-55 lens. thanks for your comments.

[guitarman3]

I think if you used the built in flash that it would be too much light but of course that depends on how close to the subject you are. The pros would probably say to use the accessory light you have to buy ( and, I do too!!) to get a better fill. All in all good shots berry. The background could have been better (less busy??) in the first one I'd say, but remember, I probably couldn't do much, if any, better! Keep posting!

[berrylish]

I think if you used the built in flash that it would be too much light but of course that depends on how close to the subject you are. The pros would probably say to use the accessory light you have to buy ( and, I do too!!) to get a better fill. All in all good shots berry. The background could have been better (less busy??) in the first one I'd say, but remember, I probably couldn't do much, if any, better! Keep posting!

thanks, could you tell me the name of the accessory light that you speak of?

[Mike2005]

Nice shots! I really like #2. B&W complements his expression very well. I'd crop it a bit making it tighter on both sides.

[mgbeach]

good start! The simpler backgrounds are better. Watch out for things growing out of people's heads like the blue sign in the first one. The second is the best of the bunch, but try not framing your subject quite so centrally. If there were more space to his left it would be better.

As far as fill goes, try out the built in flash on your cam to get a feel for it. It will go a long way towards making these tyes of shots really great. But, the 420EX flash is the best accessory purchase I have made to date. There was an immediate spike in the quality of my shots.

You're definitely on the right track! Keep on posting.

[Nabil-A]

Photos 2 & 3.. are great.. for me the black and white shot stands out more.

[mbze430]

#1 street sign, bad. Sticking out of his neck double bad.

The others are good.

[Titus213]

berrylish,
Before you buy more equipment here's a simple suggestion - try partial metering. Not sure how on the 20D but expect it's a setting (AE lock on the 300D). Meter off the subject, the face at this range. That exposes for just the light on the face.
-or-
Use the built in flash. It's not that bad for fill.

Oh, and I really like #2. #3 is OK, and I think the subject in #1 is underexposed. All in all not bad.

[Andy_T]

I concur with titus ... the built in flash is pretty usable as fill flash in bright conditions.

It's only dark conditions where it is better to bounce an external flash.
I also like #2 and #3.

Best regards,
Andy

[henleg]

thanks, could you tell me the name of the accessory light that you speak of?

Try the compatability of the Speedlite 550EX. That's the one I use. I only have an EOS300D, so it's more than my camera needs, but it was the same price as the 420EX, so as if I'm going to say no to that!!

By the way, I like the last photo the best. The black & white seems to take away from the darkness of his eyes in contrast to his skin.

Keep it up!

Henny.

[tim]

Nice shots :) Like people have said partial metering or flash fill would probably help. The onboard flash will probably do fine for that, you might like to use FEC to reduce the strength of the flash a bit, maybe -1. Another suggestion is to have people a little bit further in front of the background, for #3, that way your DOF will make it more blurry and pleasent to look at. Also, especially for black and white, it's sometimes nice to have a light source to one side, not too bright, as shadows give depth to a picture. Hope that helps :)