OH dear, this was interesting. I think I did something wrong as far as the composition. I tried to do close-ups like you told me to Rachelle, but I'm not sure this is what you had in mind. haha. Are they too close? I tried to do that top right or left focal point thing. HOWEVER I am pleased, I think with the sharpness of at least the eyes which is what I was going for. Should her hair be more in focus? Does it matter?
f/3.2
1/400
iso200
50mm
Okay I like these next 2 of Trevor because I like that his eyes are in focus but his face looks really smooth and creamy. I'm hoping they're not overexposed. On 2nd thought maybe he looks washed out? What do you think...I also like how in the first one his shirt is out of focus.
f/2.8
1/400
iso200
50mm
I'm not really sure why I posted this one...his cheeks look grainy...?? Maybe too sharp? How'd I do that?Same info as above.
Alyssa wouldn't take her baby's head out of the picture...sigh. And for the life of me I couldn't get them to do something cute like a smile, heaven forbid. :-) She also looks...grainy, too sharp, something weird. Why? Also, why is the middle of her forehead out of focus, but the sides of her forehead on her hairline are in focus?
f/2.5
1/500
iso200
50mm
f/2.5
1/500
iso200
50mm
These were inside and she was laying on the floor. Not the best pics but again, her eyes are in focus and look sharp to me which is what I wanted to see. :-)
f/1.8
1/160
iso800
50mm
So, what do you think? Any more composition tips? Should I not even worry about that right now?
Nice sharpness! I don't have any tips, but I wanted to point out that I don't think the pictures that you thought were grainy look grainy--I think it's just that they're really clear and his face is a little dry :). That would be something you could smooth out and make "creamier" in photoshop or that other noise program that Rachelle has (am I right on this Rachelle or way off?) I'm guessing.
ReplyDeleteThey look great, even the compositions are fine (except the one that you chopped Trevor's chin). It's nice seeing their eyes on the top of the frame, rather than right smack dab in the middle. You did great getting focus right on their eyes, and it even seems that you got both their eyes in focus. A lot of people really like how the edges of the face and hair get blurry. It's just a personal preference, the only important thing is getting the eyes in focus, which you did! Most people want BOTH eyes in focus, but some are fine if only one eye is in focus, but it needs to be the eye closest to you.
ReplyDeleteSome basic composition rules are eyes on top 1/3 of the pic. no limb or ear chops. Don't chop at joints or right at the waiste or right at the feet, etc. If you're going to tip/rotate a pic in the frame make sure the person is leaning into a tree, for example, and not tipped the other way. Then there are leading lines . . . and other jazz. And of course, photography is an art, so all rules are meant to be broken. Oh, one more composition rule: a person should be looking into the frame and not out (like if their head is turned a little one direction or if they're looking off to the side). One example of breaking the rules is if you took a picture of someone looking up, then it could be fun to chop their face and have their eyes at the bottom 1/3 of the frame instead of the top 1/3. They would still be looking into the frame, but their eyes wouldn't be at the top 1/3.
I can't tell for sure if his cheeks look pixely, or what. I don't think it's noise. I think his dry cheeks make it worse. I always recommend to my clients to put lotion and chap stick on their kids and always keep wet wipes and kleenex handy. Yes, people think we can edit anything and everything, but the less editing the better! But I do think there is something going on with your pics and it's probably related to sharpening. Did you try sharpening them for web before you posted this time?
ReplyDeletethe picture of Alyssa: the reason her forhead is blurry and not the sides of her hair is because you have to think of whatever is at the same plane as her eyes. Her forward sticks forward from her eyes, so it will not be in focus, but the hair along the edges of her forehead ARE on the same focal plane with her eyes. If that's not a look you like you can make your aperture small and get her whole face in focus. The closer you get to your subject, the shallower depth of field you'll have. If you take a step back their whole face might be in focus. That's why it's good to take all kinds of shots to understand how it all works together and how different things affect each picture. Next, you could try keeping your settings the same, but taking a close up a 3/4 shot and a full body shot to see the difference.
ReplyDeleteThe settings and exposure look good. I also really like those two of Trevor. One reason why he might look washed out is because of the white balance, it is on the cooler side. See how the ones of Kylie in the house are really warm? That's just a difference in your white balance. Some people choose to change their white balance setting in camera to flash or shade, which will add warmth.
ReplyDeleteOh, one more thing . . . about composition: these are probably a little too close, which I do like to do sometimes (like the one of Kate on my blog), but you'll probably like them better if you pull back a little. And, it also best not to chop right at their hair line, but either a little before or beyond it.
ReplyDeleteRachelle, I didn't do anything to the pics such as sharpening them. Everything is SOOC (look at me using photography lingo)
ReplyDelete