Photo help question?

[nativescrapper]

Hi!
Im not sure where to post this. So I will ask first
I have a photo I took last week by the lake. I need help seeing what I did wrong. Should I ask for help here or at Flickr group?

Okay!!...I took this photo last weekend. (Im still learning how to use my camera)

I wanted to capture the sparkling water and the sun glow on the water. I also wanted the sun on her back to give a glow also. But she is kinda of flat. I wanted more color to her. Im not sure if I set my settings right. Here is the photo:



Shutter Speed 1/200
Apeture 5.0
ISO 100

[KerryMac]

I think either place would be good! I know I'd throw in my 2 cents and I"m sure others would, too.
Can you link us to it?

[nativescrapper]

I had my 55-250 lense on.
I had to make it smaller to fit in the screen.

[katrinak]

Cheryl, can you share your settings with us?

[esther_a]

That is a tricky shot to get right with the bright sparkling water in the background and her face in shadow. I'm no photography expert but I'm quite practiced at fixing up my shots in PSE! I'd probably have trouble exposing both areas just right. I'd end up with a photo a bit like what you have then I'd edit it in Photoshop
- lighten the face by duplicating the photo, changing it to screen blend mode and erasing out the water
- darken the water by duplicating the photo, changing it to multiply blend mode and erasing out the face.
Like this:

But the water was still too overexposed to bring it back any more than that (but I rather like the effect! )

[nativescrapper]

Originally Posted by katrinak

Cheryl, can you share your settings with us?

TV
Shutter Speed 1/200
Apeture 5.0
ISO 100

[nativescrapper]

I have several other ones too. I have one were Im across the lake and the family is on the dock and I took a picture of them. Looks like a siloutte a little but when i played around with it in my photo impact it looks like a dense fog...kinda of cool. But I was just wondering if I set the setting different it would of came out more color?

[nativescrapper]

Love the colors you did with the photo Ester! Its so cool what you can do to a photo enhance them

[nativescrapper]

This is what I got off the info of the photo:

Shooting Mode Manual Exposure
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/200
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.0
Metering Mode Evaluative Metering
ISO Speed 100
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF-S55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS
Focal Length 146.0mm

[KerryMac]

That is a tough scenario for anyone to get just right
One more question from me...do you have any kind of flash?

I love backlighting and I can see what you were going for here. I think the camera, using the evaluative metering mode, picked up so much of the light coming from the water and mostly exposed for that while leaving her face underexposed.
One fairly easy solution for a situation like this one is to use some fill flash. That would add some light into her face.
You could also try spot metering on her face, take a couple of shots and then maybe adjust the exposure a bit so the water wouldn't be completely blown out.
Esther, you did a great job on Cheryl's picture.
I hope that helps a bit, Cheryl! And I know other people (Katrina!) will have more to add!

[esther_a]

I was reading Scott Bourne's PhotoFocus blog yesterday and he was predicting future camera features. One he suggested was in-build High Dynamic Range - so I guess in the future you could take a single photo much better exposed both for the water and the face? Probably not much help now, though!

[simple_chi]

I also suggest a fill flash. I just started using it when taking photos outside of the kids and it made a huge difference. If you use a fill flash, the camera doesn't need to let in as much light off the water either, so it might not be as blown out. I played with the photo you posted in LR2 and reduced the overall exposure and added some fill flash - I'm not sure it made much difference, but if you shoot in RAW rather than JPEG, you should be able to do more....



There's a website called Clickenmoms which is for professional and amateurs and they can provide a lot of feedback on photos. I think it was $30 for 6 months, but my photos have gotten a lot better in just a couple months of reading the 'Hard Core Critiques' and posting a few of my photos.

[simple_chi]

I like the bw because the original has good contrast.

[katrinak]

I too would do like Kerry has suggested and use spot metering. I'd expose for her face and then underexpose just one third stop to pick up a little more of the background.

Everyone is right about this being a tough situation to shoot in. I'd also shoot in Manual mode to have more control over the exposure than shutter priority is going to give you. In back lit situations Shutter Priority will misread the light available.

[nativescrapper]

Kerry, I dont have any flash except what the came with the camera on top. Most of the photos I took with the kids in the water are like the photo I have here. The sun was just to bright. But I just had fun taking alot of photos of them.

I was thinking it was me all this time thats why the photos are coming out like this...I guess its the SUN's fault..lol.

Would it have turned out the same way if I shot it earlier in the afternoon. So the sun is on top of us, instead of behind them?

I guess I need to go try that out tomorrow. I have been mostly taking photos in the shade, inside the house, and even when the sun is hiding(overcast).

Simpli Chi, that is cool what you did with the photo too! I was thinking of trying it out in BW to see how it comes out...I think I like it better that way too.

We should have more discussions like these

Thank you all for your info's!!

[katrinak]

We should Cheryl Think its time for a photography chat!!

Your best bet is with the sun lower in the sky. With it higher above her you would get crazy shadows on her face.

[anxela]

Originally Posted by nativescrapper

Kerry, I dont have any flash except what the came with the camera on top.
Most of the photos I took with the kids in the water are like the photo I have here. The sun was just to bright.
But I just had fun taking alot of photos of them.

Fill flash is just using the built-in (or external) flash to "fill out" light when you have a backlit subject (like in your case).
Because the face is in shadows, the flash will help you get to balance the bright background and you will get a picture with better overall exposure.
Sunlight is one of the few situations where I actually use my flash (I don't have an external flash yet) - to avoid harsh shadows and dark faces.

If you have a subject that will cooperate and stand still for a couple of moments, you could try HDR photography,
which basically means taking 3 shots from the same situation, one where you underexpose, one with "normal" exposure, and one where you overexpose.
Then you can merge these photos in Photoshop using a simple command. Check out this tutorial by photoshopcafe.com for more info on HDR photography.

Many D-SLR cameras have a setting for taking three photos in a row with different exposure settings. Check your tutorial for info.

[KerryMac]

A photography chat sounds excellent, Katrina!

[nativescrapper]

Originally Posted by anxela

Fill flash is just using the built-in (or external) flash to "fill out" light when you have a backlit subject (like in your case).
Because the face is in shadows, the flash will help you get to balance the bright background and you will get a picture with better overall exposure.
Sunlight is one of the few situations where I actually use my flash (I don't have an external flash yet) - to avoid harsh shadows and dark faces.

If you have a subject that will cooperate and stand still for a couple of moments, you could try HDR photography,
which basically means taking 3 shots from the same situation, one where you underexpose, one with "normal" exposure, and one where you overexpose.
Then you can merge these photos in Photoshop using a simple command. Check out this tutorial by photoshopcafe.com for more info on HDR photography.

Many D-SLR cameras have a setting for taking three photos in a row with different exposure settings. Check your tutorial for info.

Hi Anxela, Thank you for the link, I will definetely check it out. I went to bed last night after reading this and I was like what did she mean about the fill flash....It kept me up for several hours thinking about it. This was a question I was going to ask when I got here....thank you for explaining that to me.

Im not sure I could get a child to stand still for a few seconds. They are on the move ...lol.

[nativescrapper]

Originally Posted by katrinak

We should Cheryl Think its time for a photography chat!!

Your best bet is with the sun lower in the sky. With it higher above her you would get crazy shadows on her face.

Im going to try to get the side from the side of her face also...going to try different angles....plus when the sun is a little lower too.

Would love a photo chat...during the day. Its hard to get her in the evenings.

[KerryMac]

Oh! I'm sorry, Cheryl! I should have explained fill flash to you...I robbed you of sleep!
Thank you, Anxela, for filling in where I left off!
Cheryl, if you have any more questions about that, pm me! I'd love to help. Especially knowing that I initially confused you!

[nativescrapper]

Originally Posted by KerryMac

Oh! I'm sorry, Cheryl! I should have explained fill flash to you...I robbed you of sleep!
Thank you, Anxela, for filling in where I left off!
Cheryl, if you have any more questions about that, pm me! I'd love to help. Especially knowing that I initially confused you!

its okay, it got me thinking of alot of things with flash...what i could try and maybe it could come out like this or that...lol. Almost like scrapping in you head when youare suppose to be sleeping..lol.

I will be sure to PM you if I have other questions. Thank you

[anxela]

Originally Posted by nativescrapper

Im not sure I could get a child to stand still for a few seconds. They are on the move ...lol.

Yeah, I know what you mean

[katrinak]

I do have a flash tutorial in the store as well Cheryl It explains fill flash too!