The Pumpkin Patch

OK, I am finally getting up the nerve to post a few of my pics on here. These were taken last weekend at the Pumpkin Patch, it's a get together a local Church puts on where they sell pumpkins and and have lots of kids activities. These are a few picsof my girls.

I am trying to make myself learn to shoot manual. These were at about 2:30pm with not a cloud in the sky. Having trouble controling not blowing out the highlights even though I thought my exposure was dead on.

Please feel free to critique as I want to get better. Let me know what I did wrong...or right only thing I know is there mother likes them. That has to count for something!!

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Let me the 1st to say nice work. Thanx for sharing!!!

Great shots. I really like the soft lighting and I'm sure Mom loves them. Gotta say I'm not an Arkansas fan, but the soft light and stark contrasts of foreground and background make me think better of the Pig Sooie (sp) nation lol.

You had two beautiful models, and you did rather well considering the conditions.
Did you use fill flash on the first one? There is a light shadow across the womans face in the first photo, that is a little distracting.
The third photo would have done well with a reflector on the girls left side to light the shadows on her face.

I really likethe first one.

Hi, thanks for sharing! I like them, especially 3, but I have to be honest, I think I would like them more without the blurring effect. What did you do to blur them??

regards,

Rob

Thanks so much for the feedback everyone. Really appreciate it.

rmwhitti wrote in post #2109309
Great shots. I really like the soft lighting and I'm sure Mom loves them. Gotta say I'm not an Arkansas fan, but the soft light and stark contrasts of foreground and background make me think better of the Pig Sooie (sp) nation lol.

LOL, Well normally the whole family doesn't go out wearing Razorback gear but this was taken within about an hour after the Arkansas/Auburn game and we had been to a watch party with some friends. From your location I would assume your a Ole Miss fan? If so I think we will have our annual get together with you guys in a couple weeks should be fun. Thanks for commenting Arkansas people aren't all bad

Greg

Chris71 wrote in post #2109513
You had two beautiful models, and you did rather well considering the conditions.
Did you use fill flash on the first one? There is a light shadow across the womans face in the first photo, that is a little distracting.
The third photo would have done well with a reflector on the girls left side to light the shadows on her face.

Thanks Chris, No flash on any of these. Haven't decided if I should purchase one now or wait, I have barely figured out how to press that shutter thingy that take's a picture Actually saving money to get either the 430 or 580ex. Not sure which way to go here. At this point in my learning curve I am thrill to get a picture that is in focus, but yes the shadow bothers me to and agree this pic would look much better with some fill. On the third pic yes I really needed some light coming from that direction as the sun was blasting the right side of her face. Another thing to put on my Christmas want list. Thanks for reminding me.

Greg

Rumrunner wrote in post #2109633
Hi, thanks for sharing! I like them, especially 3, but I have to be honest, I think I would like them more without the blurring effect. What did you do to blur them??

regards,

Rob

Thanks Rumrunner, After converting from Raw I ran the Midnight Sepia Action and then did some selective burning on the top and bottom pics. I had just downlaoded the action and after staring at the pics for some time I sort of like the look the action provided. On the middle pic the sky behind her was totally blown out so I did a BW conversion and then a soft light filter from the 55mm plugin set. I can never seem to get my B&W's to pop like some people can. I wish I knew the secret. Maybe to much PP on them, but I am a sucker for pictures using a softlight on little girls and brides! Thanks for the feedback

Greg

these are good pics and you said Mom was happy with them.. so that's what really counts... the olny thing is #3 maybe should have been facing the sun just a litte so you wouldn't have gotten the shadow..

I think all three are excellent shots. GO HOGS!!
Were you at the pumpkin patch in Grady? There are a lot of photo ops there! Obviously you took advantage. Great work!

On your original question ... if you hit your exposure dead-on (which it looks like you did) then there really isn't anything you can do about the blown-out highlights.

If a scene has a dynamic range that exceeds the abilities of your medium (sensor, film, whathaveyou) .... then you are SOL.

Bill

ilovemycamera wrote in post #2110425
I think all three are excellent shots. GO HOGS!!
Were you at the pumpkin patch in Grady? There are a lot of photo ops there! Obviously you took advantage. Great work!

No not Grady, these were taken in El Dorado, Thanks for the compliments and yes GO HOGS

Bill Ng wrote in post #2110467
On your original question ... if you hit your exposure dead-on (which it looks like you did) then there really isn't anything you can do about the blown-out highlights.

If a scene has a dynamic range that exceeds the abilities of your medium (sensor, film, whathaveyou) .... then you are SOL.

Bill

Thanks Bill, I was hoping someone could tell if I was doing something wrong with the exposure here. You are saying there is not much I can do if I expose for the subject then the sky (if bright that day) could be blown out behind the subject? Also should I be using the spot meter function of the camera or the evaluative metering ( hope I said that right. One looks at a much smaller area than the other) Thanks for the input

Greg

g-money wrote in post #2110229
Actually saving money to get either the 430 or 580ex. Not sure which way to go here.

I have the 430EX, but in hindsight I should've purchased the 580ex. If I had, then I could've saved a little again and bought the 430 and could use it as a slave. Now, I have to save a bit more to get the 580. OR - Make a decision on a stand type lighting system.

Don't get me wrong, the 430 is quite versatile. But, I think I should've gone the other way around.

BTW, I like the pics. Nice job on the PP!

g-money wrote in post #2111514
Thanks Bill, I was hoping someone could tell if I was doing something wrong with the exposure here. You are saying there is not much I can do if I expose for the subject then the sky (if bright that day) could be blown out behind the subject? Also should I be using the spot meter function of the camera or the evaluative metering ( hope I said that right. One looks at a much smaller area than the other) Thanks for the input

Greg

Yeah, the only thing you could have done to avoid blowing out the highlights was bring the exposure down a bit which would have underexposed your subject which obviously is the wrong move. The only thing you can really take out of here is to remember that scene, and in the future, try to remember that a similar lighting situation will have the same outcome and if possible, move to an area with less dynamic range (an alley or under an extremely large tree ... somewere where the sky is not in the scene).

As far as the metering mode ... that's up to you. If I remember correctly, evaluative metering meters off of 9% of the total view, concentrated in the center. Spot metering works off of a 4% or something like that. Either should work just fine for most people if used correctly ... the "used correctly" is the tough part. Remember to get your exposure metered off the correct area and use the AE/FE lock button to lock it in. Then recompose your image to get the desired framing and fire before the AE locks wears off.

Bill