One from Halloween, first time shooting people at night

[ppuga]

All comments will be helpfull. This was from a halloween party last weekend.

I used my 20D with a 420EZ Flash, thats not compatible with digital, so I have to use the camera in Manual mode all the night as the same with the flash, put all data manually on it.

F/6.3
ISO 100
1/160

http://ppuga.smugmug.com/photos/42832453-S.jpg

[Steve]

Thats a nicely exposed picture both from the flash and the camera. Considering it was all done in manual modes you have done well with the settings. The main problem with this shot is that both subjects are posing but not for you, why is there no interaction between them and the camera?

[ppuga]

Thanks Steve.

Yes, they where posing for a friend of them. I have another ones posing for me, but I don't like it. I don't know why. I prefer this ones more like "candid' I will post one of the same girls but interacting with the camera, could be helpfull your opinion.

thanks :D

[ppuga]

Here's another one...

but I like the first one.

http://ppuga.smugmug.com/photos/42847151-S.jpg

I want to learn more about how to shoot people, so all the comments are helpfull.

[CT]

The first shot is really nice - I like that a lot. Why so small? I'd be inclined to crop behind the heads to concentrate attention into the frame..

http://www.thephotographyforums.com/albums/album23/42832453_S.jpg

It would probably benefit from a crop along the bottom too.

You've done exceptionally well there with a manual flash. A lot of the older flashguns which just preceeded full TTL flash were automatic in that they had a number of automatic apertures (usually the larger ones) which worked really well within a given range. You can identify these flashguns as they have a sensor on the front which received the bounced light back from the flash and quenched it before over-exposure occurred. Not as convenient as modern TTL flash but pretty good all the same.

The only thing which slightly mars the shot is the hard shadows from the flash, but that's the price you pay for the convenience of flash mounted on the camera. It would be pretty easy to clone out those shadows, and well worth doing.

[Arkady]

That can be partially overcome by using a longer shutter speed to allow more ambient light in - with practice you can hand-hold up to 1/4 second as the flash provides enough 'freezing' to stop your main subjects blurring whilst giving a soft, blurry background.

Like this, taken at 1/8 sec wide-open on a 17-24mm f/2.8 at 125ISO

http://www.thephotographyforums.com/albums/Kosovo/Op_MERCIA_02_024E.jpg

[CT]

Top tip Ron! So it's hand-held slow flash sync really. I never thought about trying that other than on a tripod, but I can see how that would work well as long as you didn't go too long with the shutter speed.

[Arkady]

With a little practice you can go very slow indeed as long as you use a wide lens. The wider the better. With the 14mm, I can 'get away' with speeds down to 1 sec - though they'll never be as sharp as images taken at higher speeds.
Sometimes the atmospheric look is worth the loss in image quality.

Do I have to remind everyone of the rule of using reciprocal shutter speeds to focal length to avoid camera shake? Thought not.

[ppuga]

Thanks CT, very helpfull! I like a lot how you crop it, and you get rid of that hand that was bothering me jeje, I will clone the shadows and post a bigger one to get the final result. Lets see. :D

Arkady, I wil try that, think it needs a lot of practice not to get blurry pictures, but sounds nice. But you need to be stand still that time, and that the person be very quiet too.

have to try some day. ;) thanks for the tip

[ppuga]

The first shot is really nice - I like that a lot. Why so small?

because I link directly from my smugmug gallerys, and I have 3 choices, Small, Medium and Large. I usually use medium, but some times medium excedes the size (kb) for posting photos, not the size in pixels. So to avoid breaking the rules I put the small one jeje, but i will post a link to a larger one, when i finish the clone of the shadows.


:thumb:

[ppuga]

Well, here it is:

http://ppuga.smugmug.com/photos/42972016-S.jpg

If you want to see a bigger one, go here:

http://ppuga.smugmug.com/photos/42972016-L.jpg

or the original size:

http://ppuga.smugmug.com/photos/42972016-O.jpg

Again, ALL comments welcome. Thanks.

:thumb:

[SammyC]

That's way better. Good work chap!
:thumb:

[CT]

Well done! You should really get rid of the shadow from the other girl's nose too. :)

[ppuga]

oops, I forgot that! I'll do it!

Thanks!