Working on photographing people with main focus on light

[Tiffany Paradis]

Hi there. Pretty new to the project. One of my goals this year is to work on photographing people, how they interact with the light around them and also really in the moment, or candit shots. Love some feedback on this one I shot this week

[kali]

there are three dots under the photo which is where the embed code is to be found, click once in the box and the words turn blue, copy and paste here.

cute photo, love how her hair interacts with the light, you got that one!

[Tiffany Paradis]

@kali66 Thank you!! Got the picture here :)

[Rob]

Love backlit ones like this. I have loads of my children as the light on the hair is lovely. You do suffer with shadows to the face etc so I tend to exposure compensate for this, but that can lead to a blown out background. I hear the answer is a reflector but have never used one. You can also play will fill flash but that can look unnatural.

[Taffy]

I recommend following Ruth aka Newbank Lass @newbank
Her work with her children's portraits in natural setting is quite stellar, and her handle on lighting is worthy of study.

[Newbank Lass]

Thanks Taffy! That's very kind! Tiffany it comes with practise. I have got some good shots but a lot of dud ones on the way. I have never used flash or reflectors. Always natural light for me.....which does mean I tend to shoot a lot more in the spring/summer. Practise, practise, practise and practise some more. I'm not great at indoor shots unless in daylight as I have taken to editing only in b and w for personal preference and find that tungsten despite being white val

[Newbank Lass]

Balance corrected never creates a pleasuring result. Enjoy your learning process. @taffy

[Drt Nbn]

I think its lovely but i wish I couldnt see the chair cord and blanket in the back ground.

[Tiffany Paradis]

@drtnbn Agreed. Candid shot. This is the way it was, and only lasted a split moment. Could have cropped a little tighter to get rid of the background clutter..

[Kathy Burzynski]

Adorable and I also love photographing people. As for suggestions to make it even better I think cropping out or getting rid of the background clutter would take a really nice shot to an even better one. Also I agree with adding a little light to the face. Using a reflector is super easy but you need some type of light to reflect. Using a flash works well and I love using it bouncing it off the ceiling or using a defuser makes the light less harsh and just fills in the shadows a little more. Sometimes using your actual camera flash but turn the power down a stop works nice and isn't as harsh either. I always use to say I was a natural light or ambient light photographer but that was because I really didn't know how to use other light sources.

But bottom line, the children are adorable and you caught them being themselves in a fun moment you will treasure forever.

[Sheila]

Do you use an editing program? I use Photoshop Elements, I would do a slightly lower crop then a lose selection around the background clutter and blur it , maybe making repeated slightly different selections to really graduate the edge of the blur, then darken down any bits of the light blanket that stand out with either clone stamp.... or sometimes the blemish remover works well in blurred areas. The beautiful halo of light in her hair would them look more prominent and be the attention grabber the clutter just draws my eye too much at the moment. Candid shots of children often have unwanted items in the frame I have no qualms about editing them out because as soon as you put a child in a tidy surrounding and expect them to pose naturally it all goes pear shaped!