Son of 'All hope abandon ye who enter here' (2)

sevillafox wrote in post #5204755
Ok kitten....

#1 has a deep shadow under his chin. I'm guessing that you used your pop-up flash. Nice snapshot but not overly portrait-y to me.
#2 does nothing. It looks like you snapped a pic of a kid sitting on a bench.
#3 looks over-esposed and you chopped off his hands.
#4 could work with a closer crop but you amputated hands again this one.

AngryCorgi wrote in post #5205065
I agree, #3 looks a tad over-exposed and overall framing is the dominant issue.

Jeff Allred wrote in post #5205096
Play with the DOF a little bit. These all look too much like a p&s. The colors are flat as well.

Damn, talk about a hard croud to please

Jon wrote in post #5205220
#1 - if you're using RAW, punch up the saturation some (could help any of them, actually - you may be a little overexposed). A fill reflector (silver car sunshade will do in a pinch) on his right could help even the lighting a bit.
#2 - a little fill flash (maybe 2-3 stops under) would let you keep the backlight but expose for the outside light instead of washing it out.
#3 - black tape to kill the orange. Maybe an off-camera flash to boost his face a little. I have a REALLY old flash but currently no way of using it off camera
#4 - definitely some fill flash here.

#1 - reflector under his face to help kill that chin shadow. Compositionally, I like this one.
#2 - Nice and moody - play with the saturation and a tighter crop
#3 - This cries for portrait orientation. Remember, you can turn the camera, even without a grip. I did turn the camera sideways (for some)
#4 - again, could use a tighter crop.

Keep at it.

Wow, finally some actual advice. Thanks Jon.

I guess I could try touching them up a bit but I want to do as little editing as possible

I gave some actual advice.

It's a Vivitar? Which model? You can get a hot-shoe to PC adapter for your camera and a PC cord to connect them, or a digital slave (those run from $50 up) so your pop-up can fire it. Then you just need a way to mount it (Gorilla Pods can do in a pinch).

Jeff Allred wrote in post #5205251
I gave some actual advice.

There wasn't much I could do about the F-stop on many of them without having them TOTALLY blown out no matter how much I wanted to blur the backgrounds

Jeff Allred wrote in post #5205251
I gave some actual advice.

Awww... need a pat on the back?? Good boy!!

Pick a different time of day along with location to shoot in then.

Jon wrote in post #5205257
It's a Vivitar? Which model? You can get a hot-shoe to PC adapter for your camera and a PC cord to connect them, or a digital slave (those run from $50 up) so your pop-up can fire it. Then you just need a way to mount it (Gorilla Pods can do in a pinch).

The front says, "Vivitar 283" about in the middle and below that is some round dial that says, "auto thyristor". That rotates to change the flash power (I think). I might be able to just get a regular off-camera hot-shoe cord but because I don't really know how to use this flash I haven't delved into that type of photography too much

I've got one of those - the color settings on that dial match the flash ranges on the calculator dial on the hinge. It'll need a digital slave, a hot shoe to PC adapter or a dedicated Vivitar PC cord to connect it to something else. A digital slave will give you the most flexibility. If there's too much available light at ISO 100, use a polarizer for a couple stops light cutoff.

Jeff Allred wrote in post #5205275
Pick a different time of day along with location to shoot in then.

Possibly, I was shooting these around 1 in the afternoon

Jon wrote in post #5205302
I've got one of those - the color settings on that dial match the flash ranges on the calculator dial on the hinge. It'll need a digital slave, a hot shoe to PC adapter or a dedicated Vivitar PC cord to connect it to something else. A digital slave will give you the most flexibility. If there's too much available light at ISO 100, use a polarizer for a couple stops light cutoff.

Ok, I'll look around to see what places might have a slave. I could probably use the polarizer but that means I would have to shoot with my 50/1.4

Yeah that light can be difficult to work in, but if that's what ya got, that's what ya need to adapt to. For the situation, I think you did well. A bit of PP will bring the colors out more.

Jeff Allred wrote in post #5205327
Yeah that light can be difficult to work in, but if that's what ya got, that's what ya need to adapt to. For the situation, I think you did well. A bit of PP will bring the colors out more.

Uh huh, well like I said when I first posted, I haven't touched them except to resize

Here is just something quick.

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Jeff Allred wrote in post #5205341
Here is just something quick.

Looks a bit too dark on his arms