Some Photos, my problems and now I need some advice and critique

Hi All,

I recently went on a shoot a couple of days ago, now whilst I do try to take regular pictures, I find that I really do need to take photos more frequently so that I can get better, and now a friend has offered me that chance and I decided to take the opportunity.

I usually do a lot of reading up before the day, do some research etc, but yet I find that on the day, things just dont go as planned, as feels as though the read ups, and numerous youtube videos are in a different planet, and when I am doing my shoots, pictures just dont look flattering.

I will appreciate some constructive feedback here, secondly from what I have read up, it looks like I could benefit from a light meter. I am considering the Minolta Auto meter 3.


This picture was taken at a park which had a bridge, now with my limited lens kit. I took this photo from this angle, it was on a sunny day, albeit at 5pm. this one just feels dark, and the sky is washed out, although it wasnt blue on the actual day, there were also no trees to try to cover the direct effect of the sky

The first few are way too dark on the subjects and the are dead center frame. Learn "Rule of Thirds". The last one is OK, but it looks like they are bobsledding down the hill to the right.

The one of just her is ok, but be aware of the background. The arial antanna hurts it. It's perfectly in line with her. She needs to be off center frame too.

I have issues with the compositions in all the photos; you could have avoided cutting off legs simply by turning your camera into portrait orientation or using your outer focus points.

#2 and #5 are backlit so you would have needed to use a flash to equalize the exposure. The trick is to expose for the background; underexpose whatever reading the camera gave you by about one stop, then add flash to light the subjects correctly.

PixelMagic wrote in post #16768687
I have issues with the compositions in all the photos; you could have avoided cutting off legs simply by turning your camera into portrait orientation or using your outer focus points.

#2 and #5 are backlit so you would have needed to use a flash to equalize the exposure. The trick is to expose for the background; underexpose whatever reading the camera gave you by about one stop, then add flash to light the subjects correctly.

Lessons learnt here

* Need to master the rule of thirds.
* Improve on compusure
* Know when to use flash.

One question I have is that, do you always have to capture top - bottom of a subject ?
Secondly, are there cases where its fine to position a subject in the middle ?
When shooting outdoors, any rule of thumb on when to use flash ?


"using your outer focus points"

Can you please shed some more light on this ?

A "rule of thumb" for flash might be if your subject is darker than the rest of the image, a flash might be helpful...

I notice that you were out shooting in the evening around dusk. All that beautiful, warm, golden light and your couple was in the shadows! ARGH! Just letting that sunlight hit them would've gone a long way... That should be an easy one to remember, get your subject in the light!

I'd say you need to recognize light; you had gorgeous ambient light for these photos but you didn't really use it.
Its not absolutely necessary to always capture the full body but in at least two of these photos the subjects are cut off exactly at the knees; giving the impression that they are amputees. The general rule is not to crop subjects at their joints.

In the final photo you needed to instruct the subjects how to pose; you should avoid having your subject(s) aiming their limbs directly at the camera.

You will learn a lot about using flash by reading this blog: http://neilvn.com …h-photography-techniques/

#4 might've been a real good one, at least the light was nice on her face, and with reasonably soft shadows. For that one, a tighter crop and losing some distracting background elements (tree, pole) and it would've been a bang up shot

Here are two quick edits, I didn't spend much time since these are low-resolution images. You'd get much better results from the raw file.

Content Aware Move to reposition the model away from the tree trunk
cloned out the flagpole
tighter rule of thirds crop

Ok thanks very much for the edits and giving me an idea on things that can be easiy done. One thing I am not sure of is this, will my photos be better if I had a light meter ?

Also when I use the camera meter to meter the light, with the light at the background, it usually comes back with an over exposed reading, do I just need to reposition them so that the light falls on them instead or I need to meter correctly ?

Thanks in advance.

There are a few issues but the one that stands out for me is the way in which you haven't included the feet in some of your shots. When you aim your camera, have a look round the viewfinder to check your framing.

Also, watch out for distracting backgrounds- In #3 you could have easily waited for the passers by to get out of the frame.

Photography is all about compromises. If you position your models with their backs to the light (common referred to as backlit) they will invariably appear as dark silhouettes. To get them to appear normal you need to compensate by lengthening the exposure time; this of course will result in your background becoming overexposed or "blown out."

So to make balance the light on your subjects while keeping the background properly exposed you need to add a flash. A light meter isn't so useful for simply measuring ambient light; however when using flash it will give you a quick, precise reading to set your camera.

I'd suggest reading Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson; it will answer this and other questions you might have. The website I linked earlier will also be helpful but given these questions it might be a bit too advanced for you at this stage.

platforminc wrote in post #16769492
Ok thanks very much for the edits and giving me an idea on things that can be easiy done. One thing I am not sure of is this, will my photos be better if I had a light meter ?

Also when I use the camera meter to meter the light, with the light at the background, it usually comes back with an over exposed reading, do I just need to reposition them so that the light falls on them instead or I need to meter correctly ?

Thanks in advance.