Hand-held low-speed

Norah (larger)

My next roll was my hand-held, low light roll. ISO was held at 400 for this roll, but I wanted to see if shooting at f/2.8 and 1/30th was going to work out. Norah’s picture above was (if memory serves me) f/2.8 at 1/30th.

Let’s start by discussing what I think went well in this picture:

1. Clarity
   I’ve very happy with the overall clarity of the picture. I’m quite enjoying medium format.
2. The eyes.
   I’m also happy with the reflection in her eyes. I’m very happy to report that the reflection was quite intentional and I moved around to get it. Now, you can scoff and think to yourself “well, duh” but I’ll tell you that it’s not easy for me to remember all the little details when shooting.
3. Blur isolation
   I also like the blur of the lens that the aperture provided. Granted, I chose the aperture for exposure reasons, but nonetheless, I’m still happy with the isolation it provides.

Things that could have gone better:

1. Dust, dust, dust.
   Dust spots are still a major problem. I spent a considerable amount of time in Lightroom removing dust. I’m working on it, but I’m still not sure where it’s all coming from and how to mitigate it effectively. Aaargh!
2. Overall composition.
   It’s not bad, but it is just a grab shot. While nothing to be ashamed about, I’d still like to strive for better.

Stella on fire (larger)

Of course she’s not really on fire. I just think the rim lighting of the sun makes her hair look like fire. I don’t remember what speed I was shooting here, so I don’t know if this qualifies for my “hand-held low-speed” shooting or not. Still like the picture though….

Technorati Tags: photography, norah, stella, mamiya, c330, tmax, 400, tmy, children, b&w, black, white

Lighting and Portraits

I feel like I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately, photographically speaking. I really have had a hard time seeing anything interesting to capture. But, since I did get a light meter a few weeks ago I wanted to practice with it. Stella has been very cooperative lately so she’s been my main subject. I did manage to get a few pictures of the other girls, but they were a bit more on the “hostile model” side.

The first photo is Stella in front of a backdrop in the basement. The main light is a Canon 430EX strobe shooting into a bounce umbrella. The background light is a Vivitar 285HV shooting directly into the background, but angled down to get the differential exposure that I wanted around Stella’s head. Since the flash unit is on the ground, the bottom is brighter than the top. I’m not sure how I like that effect, but it’s not a bad picture. I’m trying to remember to pose, get the hands occupied, watch the height of the light so the catch lights line up correctly, etc.

The second picture was taken outside, in the shade. I wanted to try lighting from behind to get a bit of a rim light on Stella’s hair, and use a reflector to provide the main light. So, the setup was a snooted Canon 430EX shooting behind Stella and into a silver reflector. The reflector was angled to provide the main light source.

I think that it worked okay, but only okay. It seems a bit flat to me. I may have to play with it some more. A major flaw here (in my opinion) is the lack of distinctive catch lights in her eyes. There is a bit of reflection, but just not enough for my taste.

Technorati Tags: photography, child, children, portrait, portraiture, lights, lighting, stella

Stella on a Swing

Stella on a Swing

This is a picture of my third child, Stella, on a swing. I shot this by pre-focusing to a set distance on the lens and then just waiting until I though she was in focus. This picture is several weeks old now and I was initially disappointed with the results due to the lack of sharpness. While I didn’t expect miracles I can still hope, right?

Anyhow, I’ve just recently purchased Lightroom and have been making the transition from Aperture to Lightroom. Last night I was importing my scans into the library and had just watched a tutorial on split toning in Lightroom. So I figured I’d play a bit.

I can say that I like this better than I did initially, but I’m still not sure about it.

Here’s the original un-toned negative scan:

Technorati Tags: photography, stella, efke, 100, film, b&w, black, and, white, LIghtroom, Aperture, split tone

Stella and the Bogeyman

Stella

Technorati Tags: photography, stella, lighting, kids