My life...just not on the road I expected (but it's still dang good).

 

Periodically, I'd like to end off the week by critiquing a photo submitted by a past student of The Photographers' Workshop.

I'll be critiquing each photo in the same manner and using the same criteria I use when evaluating photos in my workshops and that includes composition, camera settings, exposure, focus, white balance and lighting.

My evaluations will be written in a manner that my past students can follow (since they've taken the course) but my hope is that all of you will be able to follow along to some degree as well, depending upon your current level of photography knowledge.'

This week's photo is from Carrie Alley, who just happens to be close friends with Rachel Chaney (a past student turned close friend) and as you can see, they share a common thread of being great photographers.  The image below is of Carrie's 8 year-old daughter, Lily.

Nikon D700, Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 at f2.8, 1/250th, ISO 250.

Composition: The location, the colors and the total delight and energy on Lily's face are what 'make' this shot for me. I also love the green foliage on either side of her that really adds some nice color and texture and creates a nice framing element in this shot.

The tree directly behind Lily could have created a merger problem with her head, but because you're using such a long focal length (200mm) in this shot, your depth of field was shallow enough to blur that tree to the point that it doesn't create a merger problem at all.

Lily's placement is really great here. She's perfectly centered from right to left and you were able to avoid any border mergers with her hands or her foot, which makes this shot look really strong and intentional.

I wouldn't change anything compositionally.

Camera Settings: Your shutter speed (1/250th) was able to freeze Lily's motion in this shot suprisingly well. That said, 1/250th is kind of an 'in-between' shutter speed for this kind of movement because while it will be fast enough to freeze the movement of your subject in some of your images, it will be too slow to freeze the movement in others, resulting in soft focus.

Because of that and because there was plenty of light here, I'd rather see you use a faster SS (at least 1/320th, but preferably 1/500th) in order to ensure that you could prevent subject movement in a high percentage of your shots.

In order to accomplish that in Full Manual Mode, you'd need to increase your SS to 1/500th (ONE stop faster) and your ISO to 500 (ONE stop higher) in order to maintain this same exposure.

So your final settings would be: f2.8, 1/500th, ISO 500

And your camera handles an ISO of 500 just fine, so you wouldn't run into any problems there.

Exposure: Nice, vibrant, fleshy skin tone. Looks great.

Focus: This is very sharp on her eyes. (I magnfied it at 100% in Lighroom to check.)

White Balance: Due to the surrounding colors and the fact that many Nikons tend to shoot a little yellow/green, Lily's skin tone is pretty yellow/green in this shot. To fix that, you could create a Custom White Balance setting or, since your White Balance was alredy quite close to accurate, you could just adjust it in editing. (In the shot below, I adjusted the Temperature Slider in Lightroom to -9 and the Tint Slider to +16 to add more blue/less yellow and more magenta/less green.)

Lighting: There's not a ton of light in this exact location, but there's enough to illuminate Lily's face and eyes quite well and since she's in an evenly shaded area, the light is nice and even and flattering (without any dappled light.) And I love the warm glow in the background!

As usual, nice shooting Carrie - I'd have been happy if I had captured this one!

And while we're here, I also wanted to mention that registration for the next Photographers' Workshop opens up this coming Tuesday, February 18th at 9:00 a.m. Pacific time.

This workshop runs from March 31st through June 8th, 2014 and registration is on a first-come, first-served basis.

To register, all you need to do is:

1. Go here at 9:00 a.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, February 18th.

2. Fill out the registration and choose a Regular Seat or an Auditing Seat. (Regular Seats are $395 and Auditing Seats are $245 for new students. Auditors can ask questions, post comments, upload photos, complete assignments, read my evaluations written for other students, etc. and have access to everything Regular Students have access to. the ONLY difference between Regular and Auditing students is that I do not provide evaluations on Assignments or Photo Critiques for Auditing Students, though Auditors can opt to sign up for Peer Group Evaluations or for a telephone/Skype consultation with me if they'd like to have their work evaluated. In general, the Auditing option is ideal for anyone who wants to work at their own pace and/or anyone who wants to save a little money.)

3. Complete the checkout process. (You will receive a confirmation email once registration is complete.)

4. Eagerly await March 31st. (I'll be mailing these out the First Week of March.)

If you'd like to read some comments and feedback from past students you can do so here, here and and in the comments section here.

And I'd really like to give away a few Auditing Seats in the workshop, but I'd like to do it a bit differently this time...

This time, I'd like to offer three free seats in class, but only to people that would otherwise not be able to afford the workshop. (So I'd just ask those of you who can afford the workshop to not enter the drawing this time.)

To enter, just leave a comment in the comments section below to enter yourself or someone else in the drawing and I'll list the winners on Monday. (Please be sure to leave an email address along with your comments so I can contact you.)

Hope your weekend is great.

 

Periodically, I'd like to end off the week by critiquing a photo submitted by a past student of The Photographers' Workshop.

I'll be critiquing each photo in the same manner and using the same criteria I use when evaluating photos in my workshops and that includes composition, camera settings, exposure, focus, white balance and lighting.

My evaluations will be written in a manner that my past students can follow (since they've taken the course) but my hope is that all of you will be able to follow along to some degree as well, depending upon your current level of photography knowledge.'

This week's photo is from Deanna Makas, who had twin boys (Oliver & Greyson) since taking the workshop!

Nikon D90, Nikon 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 at f9, 1/320th, ISO 800.

Composition: I love that you shot this candidly (rather than asking them to pose and smile) and you managed to capture this at just the right moment (when their bodies were not merging together.) I also love the sticks in hand and the overall simplicity of this shot.

Looks like you were pretty low to the ground, but I think getting even lower yet would make this composition really dynamic. Also, getting lower (and moving a step to your right) would allow the greenery to completely cover the background house, which I think would look great, as it would simplify the image even more. Additionally, getting lower would make the strong shadow lines in the lower right corner of the viewfinder less noticeable.

Camera Settings: It looks like you shot this at 18mm (the widest focal length on this lens), but just remember that longer focal lengths are always more flattering to human subjects, so I'd back up as much as you could to use the longest focal length possible (then, as they walked towards you, you could zoom out to wider focal lengths.) Also, using a longer focal length here would result in a more blurred background, which would look good as well.

Other than that, I'd open your aperture wider (probably to f5.6 since that is the widest this lens will open to when zoomed at 200mm) and by doing so, you could also set a lower ISO setting for better image quality, while maintaining the same shutter speed of 1/320th.

Exposure: Tough call here. If you properly exposed for their faces (which are a bit dark) then the greenery would be totally blown out. If you properly exposed for the greenery (which you did here) then their faces are too dark.

Since this is kind of a moody, candid, golden-hour image, I'm totally ok with their faces being a bit dark and think it's more important that the greenery not be blown out in this situation, so given that - I think your exposure is fine.

Focus: Focus is pretty good here for this large of a camera to subject distance, though a lower ISO setting would result in less noise and more apparent sharpness.

White Balance: It's just a little yellow/green on account of all the greenery (and from my experience with Nikons, they shoot a little yellow/green anyhow and that has to be corrected for in editing.)

Not sure what White Balance setting you were using here, but for candid, outdoor shots at this time of day, I'd use the Daylight or Cloudy setting.

Lighting: The lighting works great here with none of it hitting their faces in a distracting way. (There's a sliver of direct light on your son's face that is closest to you, but that totally works for me.)

As you can see, the face of your son that is in the background is more warm and illuminated because he is looking towards the bushes on the right side of the viewfinder and those bushes are acting as a natural reflector. The face of your son in the foreground though is not warm or illuminated because he is just facing a shaded area that provides no illumination for his face.

Of course, with planned portraiture, you have control over where you place your subject (and can place them in a way that they can benefit from natural reflectors/ideal lighting/etc.) However, with candid subject's you don't always have this luxury.

If you had captured this shot when they were still a few steps back, then both of them would have been illuminated by the natural reflector (the bushes) on the right, but at this spot in the path, your foreground son has passed those natural reflectors and his face is not illuminated as a result.

So capturing him a few steps back or waiting to shoot until you were further down the path and in a location with another natural reflector would have been ideal.

And...You could always get them to move a few steps back by saying something like, "Hey boys, I think you passed by some really cool rocks back there on the path!" And that's a win/win because they are excited to go back to look for some cool rocks and you're excited because you get a second chance to get this shot with them both illuminated by the light reflecting off of the bushes.

As for the lens flare, I think it looks interesting and works as a great leading line that draws the viewers eyes to your foreground son. Had that same flare landed on his face, it would be a distraction, but positioned where it is, I think it looks great!

Thanks for sending in this shot Deanna!

 

Two weeks in a row...I'm on a roll.

Periodically, I'd like to end off the week by critiquing a photo submitted by a past student of The Photographers' Workshop.

I'll be critiquing each photo in the same manner and using the same criteria I use when evaluating photos in my workshops and that includes composition, camera settings, exposure, focus, white balance and lighting.

My evaluations will be written in a manner that my past students can follow (since they've taken the course) but my hope is that all of you will be able to follow along to some degree as well, depending upon your current level of photography knowledge.'

This week's photo is from Tammie Olson. (Hi Tammie!)

Canon 7D, Canon 50mm f1.2 at f5.6, 1/180th, ISO 800.

 

Composition: I love the simplicity of this location, and the colors she's wearing, and the soft expression on her face here. You also did a nice job of keeping the strong background line nice and straight.

Several thoughts compositionally, that I think would make this stronger:

1. Here, she's not really centered, but she's not really off-centered either, so I'd do one or the other to make this composition look and feel more intentional. Here, because the chair is facing towards the right side of the viewfinder, I'd off-center her to the left, leaving all of the open space on the right.

2. I'd like to see more of the chair to make its inclusion look intentional. If you choose to include something (like the chair) in an image, you want to include enough of it that it doesn't leave the viewers eyes wondering 'what' the object is. So here, I'd just want to see the seat of the chair and a smidge of the chair legs as well.

3. The tree merging with her head ends up being a distraction here, so I'd:

- Reposition her.

OR

- Move to your left, which would allow you to place the tree at her right, so it wouldn't be merging with her.

OR

- If the above two options weren't possible for some reason, I'd crop into the top of her head to avoid the tree merger. (In this situation, you COULD apply one of the above options, but occasionally, when I'm shooting candidly and I have a head merger like this, but can't change my position for some reason, I've resorted to cropping into the top of my subject's head to avoid the unwanted merger.

I attached the shot the way I might compose it - the black area indicates where I'd leave more open space (to show more of the chair and to more strongly off-center her.) I didn't want to crop into the top of her head in this shot (because I didn't like how it looked) and though the tree merger is less noticeable, I'd still clone it out in editing (but preferably, I'd have repositioned her or myself to avoid it like I mentioned.)

Camera Settings: Of course, there will be situations where you have no choice but to increase your ISO to 800 or higher, but here, if you opened your aperture by ONE stop (from f5.6 to f4 is ONE stop), you could then cut your ISO by ONE stop (from 800 to 400 is ONE stop) and you'd have better settings, but with less noise. So your final settings would be f4, 1/180th, ISO 400.

Exposure: This is about ONE stop underexposed. I increased the exposure in Adobe Lightroom by one stop in the attached shot to show you where I'd want the exposure to be, but anytime you increase your exposure in editing, you ADD digital noise, so your goal has to be to get your exposure correct SOOC (Straight Out Of the Camera.)

Focus: Looks like the focus fell on the bottom of her dress rather than on her eyes.

White Balance: Overall, this is pretty good. It is a bit warm for my preference, so in Lightroom, I adjusted the Temp. Slider to -10 in the attached shot.

Lighting: As photographers, we often hear that we should be shooting during the Golden Hour (an hour before sunset) and while this lighting IS quite pretty for experimenting with more candid, artistic shots, there typically is NOT enough light at this time of day for 'traditional portraiture' unless you happen to find a really good natural reflector.

The problem is that anytime the eyes are prominent in an image, there is an EXPECTATION for tack sharpness, catchlights and proper illumination and if you can't meet all three of those expectations (and you couldn't here because there is nothing bright in front of her to illuminate her eyes) then you need to AVOID the eyes, going for profile shots, candid images, artistic photos, etc. - basically, any kind of shot where the eyes are not prominent.

So if I wanted portraits, I'd have started shooting earlier in the day, saving the Golden Hour for my artistic images, where I could feel free to experiment with lens flare while avoiding the eyes.

As for the flare, I think there either needs to be MORE of it (to make it's inclusion look intentional) or NONE of it (to make it's exclusion look intentional) and typically (not always) I'd recommend keeping it OFF of your subject (like you aberration you see on her right jacket pocket) UNLESS it's a REALLY cool looking aberration. (This aberration isn't very 'interesting' looking and therefore, it looks accidental rather than intentional.)

Love the way her hair is lit up here and how golden the sky is in the background - the background bokeh is really pretty as well!

Again, the shot below reflects a ONE stop increase in exposure, a slight cooling of the White Balance, and a slightly different composition. (The black areas indicate where I'd leave more open space.)

Have a great weekend.

 

I'm not sure exactly how this is going to work out because truth be told, I sometimes lack follow-through. That said, I'd like to try to end off each week here on my blog by critiquing a photo submitted by a past student of The Photographers' Workshop.

I'll be critiquing each photo in the same manner and using the same criteria I use when evaluating photos in my workshops and that includes composition, camera settings, exposure, focus, white balance and lighting.

My evaluations will be written in a manner that my past students can follow (since they've taken the course) but my hope is that all of you will be able to follow along to some degree as well, depending upon your current level of photography knowledge.

And without further ado, the very first Critique of the Week is a really lovely photo from Jennifer Hewitt:

Nikon D700, 50mm f1.4 lens at f3.2, 1/2000th, ISO 800

Composition: This shot just has a really sweet, classic appeal to it - and you can probably attribute that to the piggytails, the babydoll, the chalk on the ground and the red trike in the background. I also love that she's not looking at you because I think that adds to the sweet, candid, moodiness of this. You also did a great job of keeping the vertical lines created by the door nice and straight.

Whenever there are strong line (like the lines created by the front steps) in an image, I tyically do one of two things because it makes the composition look and feel more intentional.:

1. Position myself so my lens is PERFECTLY parallel to the strong lines.

2. Position myself at a STRONG angle to the lines.

Here, you were at a 'soft angle' to the front steps and I think the composition would look more intentional if you were standing PERFECTLY parallel to them, which would require you to move to your right, while pivoting the camera slightly to your left. In doing so, I think you could also prevent the background bikes from merging with her body because that ends up being a bit of a distraction here.

Other than that, I can see a tiny sliver of your reflection in the glass door and I'd either like to see MORE of that reflection or NONE of it so that it's inclusion or exclusion looked intentional. (I think seeing YOU in the image would really 'add' to this story though, so my vote would be to show MORE of you.)

I attached the shot (below) the way I might frame it - the black area indicates where I'd leave more open space (to show more of your reflection.) Again though, I'd position myself so my lens was perfectly parallel with the front steps.

Settings: Since there was plenty of light here, I think narrowing your aperture down to f3.2 was a great idea. Your ISO was unnecessarily high though at 800, which decreases image quality. If you were to drop it by TWO stops to ISO 200 (From 800 to 400 is ONE stop and from 400 to 200 is TWO stops.) then you would need to have your shutter speed TWO stops slower at 1/500thm which is still plenty fast enough. (From 1/2000th to 1/1000th is ONE stop and from 1/1000th to 1/2000th is TWO stops.) Then, you'd have the exact same exposure with the following settings, but and better image quality:

f3.2, 1/500th, ISO 200

Exposure: Perfection. Nice, fleshy, bright, vibrant skin tone.

Focus: I magnified this at 100% in Lightroom and it looks like the focus is sharper on her hand than it is on her eyes. That said, it is still adequately sharp on her eyes.

White Balance: This ended up being a bit on the warm side. I'm not sure what WB setting you were using, but here, I'd probably use the Daylight setting on my Nikon (probably the Cloudy setting on a Canon) or I'd Custom WB. In Lightroom, I moved the Temp slider to -25 and the Tint slider to +7 to get the WB in the image below.

Lighting: Indirect porch light like this is always a favorite of mine. Nice, even, flattering lighting and you've got catchlights too!

The image below shows how I'd frame the image to include your reflection and how I'd cool down the White Balance.

Hope your weekend is great.