I took this photo last night. When I got it to my computer it was seriously under exposed. Thankfully I have learned to always shoot in RAW. I adjusted a few settings and this is my final result. I am by no means a professional photographer (me and the word professional probably shouldn't even be used in the same sentence) just a guy that has a passion for photography like the rest of you all. This shot proves two things to me, one it has proved me wrong about having to do all of the magic in the camera, and the other thing is that I am capable of taking a good picture. So I am giving this to you all to please critique it for me, I do see some things wrong with it like it’s not crystal clear like some of the shots on here that I have saw, but I do not know what to do different to get that clearness.
The depth of field works really good with this. I am not a portrait shooter, but perhaps as mentioned above, some fill flash or a reflector to brighten the face up a bit. However, it's a real nice shot
I agree with the above comments. As far as the focus, try to shoot with autofocus off. I was getting so frustrated that I couldn't get the focus crystal clear where I wanted it. I realized that my camera was trying to focus on so much at once that everything that was "in focus" was a little fuzzy. If the situation permits, I shoot with manual focus. It allows me to get it sharp, where I want it. If you miss it somehow, a sharpening filter helps in some situations.
yeah clone out the leaf at the top left corner but the composition is great as well as the depth of focus. not sure about the lighting its a little dull. but i cant quite put my finger on how to improve the lighting.
What program do you use for post processing? You need to selectively raise the shadows. You've done all you can on the overall image, just need to work on sleected parts of the face to lighten them
Well if you have photoshop, there are two things you can do.
1) Use Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights. Leave highlights near 0%, but bump up shadows by 20-30% maybe. Play with the Shadow "Tonal Range" and the Midtone Contrast sliders (you may have to check the "More Options" to see this. Check/uncheck the Preview checkbox to see before/after as you're playing with the sliders.
2) Or (easier), create a curves adjustment layer. Click a point in the middle and drag up to lighten the image, or use the "Lighter" preset from the dropdown. You will have a white mask next to the curves adjustment. Use the brush tool, select black and a soft brush,and paint on the mask all around the background and shirt, everything but the face, so the curve only brightens the face, not the whole image. You can then drag the point on the curve up and down, or adjust the opacity of the layer if it's overdone.
@mikew Thank you. So are you saying to do this while i still have the raw file open, or are you saying to do this to the jpg, or dont it matter? I don't have much experience in photoshop as far as photos go.
Just another quick question and this may or may not be the place to post this, if it's not I am sorry. I seem to have trouble with manual focus. I have been trying to use only manual focus lately to practice but it seems like can't get crisp photos. I am a big fan of the view finder so that's what I mainly use, but when I think I have achieved sharp focus and look at the picture on the computer it is still pretty blurry. So my question is can someone please offer me tips or point me to somewhere I can read some about manual focusing techniques.
I meant in photoshop after you finish with RAW. Click Open, open it in photoshop and try the steps I listed.
In RAW you can do similar things with the "Adjustment Brush". Hard to explain here, but you could probably find help on the Net. You'd want to use the adjustment brush and set the exposure higher, then paint in the face (which will paint in higher exposure, so will brighten the face)
Manual focus. DSLR cameras don't usually have the focus screens the old film cameras had. If you want to persist with manual focus, you can buy a split circle focus screen, or similar. This makes it easier to be sure you're in focus. The focus screen in the camera isn't ideal for manual focus.
Your camera probably has a focus lock indicator, a green light or something that lights up when the camera believes focus is achieved. Mine (Nikon D90) has a green light that comes on, even when I manually focus, when the current focus point detects the subject is in focus.
I would suggest you use auto focus, but learn how your camera's focus points work. For example, mine has I think 19 different focus points, and the camera decides what the subject is and which part of the image should be in focus. I turned that off, and use a single center point. I focus using that, hold down the shutter halfway to lock focus, then reframe. AF is very accurate if you use it correctly, probably better than you can do manually focusing. Unless you're doing still lifes or something. If so, you can manually focus and use Live View/LCD maybe.
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the lights good but could do with a fill flash to brighten the eye area.
try and brighten the eyes and teeth a bit .
otherwise id cut out the leaf on the top left.
great shot :)
but id leave it as it is
@mikew
All that I used for this shot was adobe's camera raw to correct the exposure, and photoshop to reduce noise.
1) Use Image > Adjustments > Shadows/Highlights. Leave highlights near 0%, but bump up shadows by 20-30% maybe. Play with the Shadow "Tonal Range" and the Midtone Contrast sliders (you may have to check the "More Options" to see this. Check/uncheck the Preview checkbox to see before/after as you're playing with the sliders.
2) Or (easier), create a curves adjustment layer. Click a point in the middle and drag up to lighten the image, or use the "Lighter" preset from the dropdown. You will have a white mask next to the curves adjustment. Use the brush tool, select black and a soft brush,and paint on the mask all around the background and shirt, everything but the face, so the curve only brightens the face, not the whole image. You can then drag the point on the curve up and down, or adjust the opacity of the layer if it's overdone.
Just another quick question and this may or may not be the place to post this, if it's not I am sorry. I seem to have trouble with manual focus. I have been trying to use only manual focus lately to practice but it seems like can't get crisp photos. I am a big fan of the view finder so that's what I mainly use, but when I think I have achieved sharp focus and look at the picture on the computer it is still pretty blurry. So my question is can someone please offer me tips or point me to somewhere I can read some about manual focusing techniques.
In RAW you can do similar things with the "Adjustment Brush". Hard to explain here, but you could probably find help on the Net. You'd want to use the adjustment brush and set the exposure higher, then paint in the face (which will paint in higher exposure, so will brighten the face)
Manual focus. DSLR cameras don't usually have the focus screens the old film cameras had. If you want to persist with manual focus, you can buy a split circle focus screen, or similar. This makes it easier to be sure you're in focus. The focus screen in the camera isn't ideal for manual focus.
Your camera probably has a focus lock indicator, a green light or something that lights up when the camera believes focus is achieved. Mine (Nikon D90) has a green light that comes on, even when I manually focus, when the current focus point detects the subject is in focus.
I would suggest you use auto focus, but learn how your camera's focus points work. For example, mine has I think 19 different focus points, and the camera decides what the subject is and which part of the image should be in focus. I turned that off, and use a single center point. I focus using that, hold down the shutter halfway to lock focus, then reframe. AF is very accurate if you use it correctly, probably better than you can do manually focusing. Unless you're doing still lifes or something. If so, you can manually focus and use Live View/LCD maybe.