Beginner couple of my son

Mmm....you've made things a little awkward for yourself by taking these in shade but with sunlight in patches on his face. Both shots are nice and sharp, and the backgrounds are nicely OoF.

#1 looks underexposed, but if you increase the exposure in post you'll get a very bright/blown highlight on his forehead. On the plus side he's not bang in the centre and almost on a third (rule of thirds).

#2 the light is better, and it looks better exposed. You could maybe go a little higher with the exposure.

What metering method were you using? Try spot metering and take the reading off the subject's face. Doing it this way you're telling the camera which area you want correctly exposed, rather than it using an average of part or all of the image.

Hope this makes sense!
 
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Hi morbid yes does make sense, it was on spot metering. They where a bit of an off the cuff shot as we was walking back, perhaps i should have took a little more time finding a place to take. ive struggled in the past for them to look sharp an to get the right dof so am happy they are better. Think i need to go have a practice an see if i can get better lighting.

Thank you
 
Sounds like you know what to try next. It just takes practice and with digital cameras there is no cost in taking loads of shots and seeing what works. And you can even view the EXIF data to see what settings you used.
 
dazzlers82 said:
ill have a play do you recommend using flash for portrait shots?
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Use whatever is appropriate. The great thing from your first practice is now you understand the pitfalls of mixed lighting.

Shade is great, in fact as a starting point, open shade is the easiest lighting to deal with. But it's a bit flat, so it's great for a dozen consistent groups at a wedding, but boring for a head and shoulders 'character' study. 2nd easiest is windowlight, and that'll teach you about inverse square law and how that can affect contrast ratios. Then you can add a reflector to that.

Once you've learned how windowlight works, you can think about flash, but by then you'll know that on camera flash isn't as versatile as a window, so you'll have to put some thought and effort into using the flash, whether keeping it on camera and bouncing it, or getting it off camera.
 
Thank you Phil sounds like i need to do a lot of research on flash an lighting, i do have a 430 ex so can use that on an off the camera. I am looking at perhaps aquiring some bits for a minature studio set up in a spare room i have.
 
dazzlers82 said:
Thank you Phil sounds like i need to do a lot of research on flash an lighting, i do have a 430 ex so can use that on an off the camera. I am looking at perhaps aquiring some bits for a minature studio set up in a spare room i have.
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I wouldn't do that just yet, get an idea of all the natural light stuff I mentioned first.
 
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