Yesterday's photoshoot (attempt)

[InvaderGIR]

Some you you may have seen my thread asking for some info and help with doing portrait/model photos, well yesterday I rearranged my room, dug out some white sheets and hung them on the wall and did a photo shoot using my girlfriend as the subject.

Due to the space available, and the light I was using it didn't go brilliantly, but it went a lot better than I though it would.

I also purposefully didn't iron the sheets as I think it provided quite a good backdrop as they were...but ideally she'd have been 4-6 feet if not more from the backdrop, and not the 1-2 feet that she was, but again that was due to space. One of my mates reckons I should have used ironed sheets and created the 'infinity backdrop' which would also have been good, but again ideally more space needed between her and backdrop for that...and more lighting, which I don't have.

I couldn't use the tripod as I had to sit/stand/kneel on the bed due to lack of space, so the tripod would have been no use. It wasn't particularly sunny, so without the flash there was a lot of shadow on the non window side of her...this shows in the first couple images.

I then chucked the flash on and set it to 75º which reflected well of the ceiling, providing better lighting, and not too much light. Ideally I would have had the gun on the non-window side, but it's a camera mounted one or not used at all.

As said before, she's been to a pro shoot a few years back, so she had some idea as to what to do, but was uncomfortable to start off with (as I think is shown in some of the first few pictures). After a while she was more at ease with it, and I was being my usual self of making silly jokes etc. and getting her to laugh, unfortunately my hand is not steady and so I sucked at taking the ones of her laughing and smiling.

Once she saw the pictures in Lightroom (so all naff and unedited) she was a lot happier about the whole thing and is now a lot more confident about doing it again...which is good as I want to get more practice doing it as it is something I enjoy.

Anyway, on to the pics, C+C welcome of course.

I've selected a few (15) of the better ones of the 250 I took.

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7)

cont...

InvG

 

[InvaderGIR]

...cont

8)

9)

10)

11)

12)

13)

14)

15)

I also found my kit 18-55 too short on zoom, but the kit's 55-200 too long. I think my next major investment for the camera will be something like 20-70.


InvG

 

[InvaderGIR]

I never really paid much attention to the backdrop due to faffing with colours and stuff in processing, but yeah I agree a plain (ironed) backdrop would have been better.

I would have used the plain white wall, but I know it would have thrown light around badly, so went for the sheet option...but didn't bother/think to bother about using the iron.

It's all about learning though, and I certainly have learnt a lot doing it.

I think if I'd got her further from the wall, even with the non-ironed backdrop it may have worked, due to it then being out of focus...but still, next time I'll use ironed sheets.

InvG

 

[InvaderGIR]

Most of your shots were taken at ISO 100 and 1/13". Increasing the ISO would have helped the sharpness. I did some test "studio" photography on my girlfriend and it was great fun but it is hard first time. Im going to try again at some point, keep at it and share what you learn

ISO etc. are something I'm not 100% on what to use...which I'm sure doesn't help my shots at all...so need to read up more on it.

I'll probably be trying again in a couple of weeks, but I will not have as much space, so it could prove to be a right pain setting it all up etc.

I may see if I can source some cheapish lights etc. for next time, then I can worry less about lighting and more on what settings I'm using.

InvG

 

[InvaderGIR]

That's due to the window being on the right (her left).

Problem I find is that they have a bit too much shadow on the left (her right) side, which is a pain. I think in my processing I did overexpose some of the shots though.

InvG

 

[InvaderGIR]

You seem to be suffering from central-autofocus-pointitus

Yeah, it's a major problem, it always focuses on the nearest item, and I'm sure the camera's manual said to roll the command wheel to the side/focus point you want...but it does nothing when I do that...guess I need to read it again.

You seem to understand where you're being limited which is good... to sort the background you either need to blow it with a light/strobe (which you don't have) or move your model further away from it (which you couldn't).

I want to do both. And think I will invest in some lights, even if just some cheap ones, some is better than none.

InvG

 

[InvaderGIR]

Directional pad, innit?

I was using the wrong thing.

Ah...it only does it on auto modes...not on P,S,A,M.

InvG

 

[InvaderGIR]

Yeah, D40x...from the looks of things it is set to closest point for focus, but only in those modes, tried it with other modes and it was happy to change the focus point.

It was on closest...which would be better, dynamic or single?

InvG

 

[InvaderGIR]

no offense like but is your gf from eastern europe?

None taken. Nope, she's born and bread in the South West of England.

robmiller - I've set the camera to single (did it before your reply ) much easier to play with focus areas, and it doesn't faff around nearly as much as before. Cheers

Mint_Sauce - I knew about higher ISO creating more noise, but didn't fully grasp the relation to shutter speed. Thanks.

InvG

 

[InvaderGIR]

The problem I have with the rule of thirds is it often leaves a lot of the frame empty and it is (in my view, on portraits) wasted space.

None of the pictures have cropping, and I know someone of them could really do with it, which in some cases, will bring them into the rule to thirds.

I will be trying again in a few weeks, and will use what I've learnt (just from doing it) and from everyone's C&C to try and improve my images.

I want to take more shots now, but she isn't back till the weekend, and when she is I have to pack my stuff up and move back to Bournemouth, so next chance will be a while.

InvG

 

[InvaderGIR]

f8+ for a shoot of a model like that? I'd have thought get the F number down to 4 or less to throw as much of the background out of focus as possible and get her popping out of the scene with a shallower DOF?

Which is what I wanted to do...but with distance and my inability to set the camera up correctly couldn't do it.

InvG