Bridals 07-18-07

[Toogy]

Alicia

I don't know what to say that already hasn't been said, I think they are much better than your last attempt, but I would seriously listen to Jamie's advice on posing. It's excellent advice.

[italianfemmy]

Jeff, did you look at the ones on the link? They are all posed so different. I have some where her head is turned to one side, some with it turned to the other.. some where I shot from above.. some where I shot straight on, some at waist level, some from 45 degrees to her side, some from futher than that.. some where I shot from below. Some where I shot from up and over. I tried a little of everything.

[LeesaB]

Jamie advice..ditto that.

These are alot better...Yah!!!

Tell her, for me sometimes her expression cracks me up...I can almost read her mind. LOL

I do the like the gallery better...you've heard that 100 times now.

She does appear stiff...and posed, but I think that is what you are doing, is posing her, with out someone next to her to interact, sometimes it just easy to be a statue.

Try this..next time out...joke around..get her to pose then talk to her..about fun or funny stuff...get her to laugh, get a few with her not posing, just being. and see how that goes too.

Just go out and have some fun...

[picturecrazy]

much better than the last! congrats! What kind of focusing techniques did you use this time?
Again, there is nothing additional I can add to the 3 pages of posts!

[italianfemmy]

Well, I took the AI servo off and put it on one shot like ya'll suggested. I also put the focus beep back on which helped a lot. I still chose some individual AF points some times and put on her face for ones with lots of background and used the manual af points for ones where her face filled most of the frame. I also shot in P this time so I could control my exposures better. Then towards the end of the shoot, I switched to manual and used a variation off of what P was telling me to choose for shutter speed and aperature.

This shoot was simply to get better with my exposures. Now that I have done that, I will work more with posing techniques and facial expressions. Although, I really love her facial expressions in most of these. Latanya, (like myself) has very chipmunky cheeks when laughing or smiling too big and it causes the cheeks to looks huge and rest of face to look smooshed between them when photographed. Which is why her and I both like to do the sly smile (lip slightly tilted) and try to smile with our eyes instead.

I am glad everyone thinks these are much better than the last ones. I strive to get better each time. But.. much better is a great accomplishment.

[JJacula]

You're so lucky to have someone willing to model for you! My husband just yells and ducks when he sees the camera come his way and my daughter has photographer's child syndrome, it's hard for me to even get her to look at me when there's a camera in my hand!

With that said, I really like #5 in your gallery. Most of them, though, are too centered for my liking. Try to remember the rule of thirds (you can incorporate this even if there's limited space). Some more depth of field would have been nice in a lot of these - just positioning her farther away from the brick wall, or using a smaller aperture, would have made her pop and made the background disappear a little. They all feel a little soft, but I bet with some proper PPing, they could really be beautiful.

Some of it *could* be the camera. I know well the limitations of the Rebel ... I was getting SO frustrated with mine before I bought the 30D, seemed like I couldn't nail the focus to save my life. Could be that mine was getting old - had to replace the shutter around Christmas time after 150,000 or so exposures - but I'm so much happier with the 30D.

I hope you don't mind, but I stole a couple off of your gallery to play with. I'll take them down if you want. The first action is Christy's Rose B&W, the second is Christy's Colour Popper 1 - Christy has a great set of colour and black & white actions - http://littlemoments.typepad.com/actions/

[italianfemmy]

Hey Jennifer. I think it is the Rebel too. But, I keep telling myself it is me because.. well.. I can't afford my camera of choice right now. So.. I am going to save up for it. I used a 5D once at a store and I swear every picture I took with it was tack sharp. I can't get this camera to do that for me. But.. instead of blaming it on the camera, I keep pushing myself to do better.

Well.. yes she is willing to model for me because I'm not finding much help elsewhere. Plus half of the 6 or so grand put into equipment thus far came from her pocket because she believes in me. So.. she wants to make sure I get practice. It doesn't hurt that she's so beautiful.

I will check those actions out later. Are they free? Right now, I am playing with some things in photoshop and lightening some of them up a bit and adding a glamour touch to others, adding catchlights to eyes.. etc. Quite time consuming. lol

[JJacula]

That's so awesome that she's so supportive of you! My husband kicked in some money for my 30D, but I think it was just because he was sick of hearing me lust over a better camera. LOL!

No, unfortunately, they're not free. I was lucky to get them when she just started selling them, I think I got the colour, black & white, special effects as well as an extra Defog & Exposure set for around $24. I see now she's not offering them as a group anymore, but they're still pretty reasonably priced.

There are lots of free actions out there, and I have and have tried a lot of them, but I prefer Christy's, she set them up to be easy to adjust to your personal preferences. I tend to like my stuff darker than what the actions are set to by default, but they're really easy to adjust and the actions stop for you to be able to play with the settings. http://www.atncentral.com/ has lots of free actions.

Brenda's actions are really nice, too - http://www.brendaacuncius.com/actions2.html
I haven't bought them yet and am not sure I will, but they're on the possibles list.

[jamiewexler]

I know a lot of people have complained about the Rebel, but my XT focuses fine. Most of the photos of my son on my blog I shot with the XT. I'd like to check out your AF technique in November...maybe we can figure out if the camera is to blame or if you can improve your technique...

[italianfemmy]

Yeah Jamie.. that's why I am trying not to blame the camera. lol. I think it could very well be me. But.. what I don't get is why I didn't have this problem with the 5D I used in the store but do have it with my own camera. That's the one thing that makes me wonder if it is me. But.. sure you can check out my equipment any time you like. Don't go booking a wedding on Nov. 3rd!

[JJacula]

Jamie, I really think the XT is the best model in the Rebel series. The paper I used to be the editor of uses XTs and I liked them a lot better than my original Rebel, focusing was definitely better. I haven't played with the XTi a lot but everyone I've talked to who has one seems to complain about it. Have you experienced the same?

[jamiewexler]

So I had a chance to follow the link...There's some nice stuff in the gallery.

My three faves:

#2 - that's the pose I was talking about on the brick wall, but make her turn her head more towards the camera.

#7 - Super flattering pose for her - really great shot. I would probably ask her to turn her head a bit more, though...

#14 - another very good shot, executed very nicely!

[jamiewexler]

Jennifer, I've never played with an XTi...mines just a plain old XT. It's a great, lightweight, carry anywhere camera, though, and I did use it at weddings the first year I shot them...

Ohh, I see what you're saying, Alicia has an XTi, not an XT. Hmm, that is puzzling. It should have the same AF system as the 20D/30D/5D...

[wilky95]

Originally Posted by jamiewexler

I know a lot of people have complained about the Rebel, but my XT focuses fine. Most of the photos of my son on my blog I shot with the XT. I'd like to check out your AF technique in November...maybe we can figure out if the camera is to blame or if you can improve your technique...

I lent my 350d to a mate at my last wedding so that he could have fun taking candid shots and I could not believe the difference between the 30d picture and the 350d picture of the same subject ok I had a 17-55 on board and he had the tameron 28-70 2.8 even so it was very distinct when viewed side by side.

Martin

[jamiewexler]

Not sure about your experience Martin, but my Tamron 28-75 couldn't AF worth a dang at wedding receptions. It would be interesting to see the results if the lenses were reversed.

When I shot with a 20D and the XT, I could never really tell which images came from what camera...