Christmas at Home

[cargo]

Just thought I would upload these from Christmas Day at ours. I used flash on camera bounced and would be open to all advice on how to improve or if there is a better way to take images in small/normal sized rooms at family gatherings.

Group photo is tripod flash bounced to cieling/wall.
Josh image light was bounced against wall top I have by back pressed up against wall to try get some bokeh in (thats the tree lights).
Kirsty was taken by Josh which is the red blur you see, as he stood in front whilst pressing the shutter. I was letting him press the shutter in order to sneak a photo of "Josh" of him.

Gaz

Family Group

Josh

Kirsty By Josh

 

[Kodiak Qc]

•
Great collection of cool people and happy faces… cool takes!

 

[reheat module]

Nice family shot in No1 - perhaps tilting the camera down just a little, reducing the headroom whilst keeping all feet in, may have shown in the viewfinder.
Great shot of josh, liking that expression.
Kirsty looks relaxed and has a lovely smile.

 

[Morbid]

Nice family shot in No1 - perhaps tilting the camera down just a little, reducing the headroom whilst keeping all feet in, may have shown in the viewfinder.
Great shot of josh, liking that expression.
Kirsty looks relaxed and has a lovely smile.

I agree with RM, and on the first perhaps a slight turn to the right to get more of the fireplace and less of the curtain/sofa. Lovely shots of happy times, well done.

 

[cargo]

•
Great collection of cool people and happy faces… cool takes!

Thank you.

Nice family shot in No1 - perhaps tilting the camera down just a little, reducing the headroom whilst keeping all feet in, may have shown in the viewfinder.
Great shot of josh, liking that expression.
Kirsty looks relaxed and has a lovely smile.

Thanks Paul. The most basic of mistakes I guess of which there is no real excuse other than me getting carried away with making sure there was enough light reaching us and using some settings that let enough ambient in to still feel cosy/homely ( if that makes sense). I did have all the feet in when I framed this up without me in the photo. That said it would have been still tight when I clearly had enough head room to play with.

I agree with RM, and on the first perhaps a slight turn to the right to get more of the fireplace and less of the curtain/sofa. Lovely shots of happy times, well done.

Cheers Ian. Good point ! Yep that turn would have been a good move as I would have got in more of the reflection from the mirror too which I quite liked.

Gaz

 

[mrtoad]

your no 2 is very good...a stand out shot with those bouquet lights in the shot
all your shots show that christmas is not just for children
wot an appy lhat

 

[cargo]

your no 2 is very good...a stand out shot with those bouquet lights in the shot
all your shots show that christmas is not just for children
wot an appy lhat

Cheers Geof. Thanks for stopping by and leaving some feedback.

Happy New Year fella.

Gaz

 

[juggler]

Lovely!

I'd crop the first one to something like 16x9 and lose the ceiling, feet, mirror and LHS - and tweak the white balance slightly.

 

[cargo]

Lovely!

I'd crop the first one to something like 16x9 and lose the ceiling, feet, mirror and LHS - and tweak the white balance slightly.

Hi Simon. Yes I was gonna ask about the white balance issue but then just assumed it was due to the bounce off thoses pale coloured walls. I shoot raw but set the wb to flash when taking. I know I can adjust the wb in raw to anything. The group one looks creamy somewhat to my eyes and the Kirsty photo too, Josh looks a bit more tungsten lite ? That said because they looked warm n cosy this looked best to me.
My eyes could be wrong though and i'm not sure I could adjust them to anything better.
If you didnt mind you could maybe have a go ?
Can send larger file over raw/jpeg.
It's no bother if not just a bit of fun/guidence.

Gaz

 

[juggler]

Hi Simon. Yes I was gonna ask about the white balance issue but then just assumed it was due to the bounce off thoses pale coloured walls. I shoot raw but set the wb to flash when taking. I know I can adjust the wb in raw to anything. The group one looks creamy somewhat to my eyes and the Kirsty photo too, Josh looks a bit more tungsten lite ? That said because they looked warm n cosy this looked best to me.
My eyes could be wrong though and i'm not sure I could adjust them to anything better.
If you didnt mind you could maybe have a go ?
Can send larger file over raw/jpeg.
It's no bother if not just a bit of fun/guidence.

Gaz

Did you gel the flash to match the tungsten? I'm guessing not. It's worked well in the closeup of Josh, his skin tones look good and the background does look naturally cosy.
It looks as though the flash has made less of a contribution to the others so they're both quite warm.

I like the warmth - tungstens are quite orange - so I wouldn't try to remove the cast altogether. I'd probably use the Lightroom white balance dropper on an area which is pure white - e.g. the fireplace - and then pick a temperature and tint halfway between what you've got here and what LR suggests - and then sync those settings across similar images in the set.

I can have a go but you'll probably die of boredom while you wait for me to get round to it

 

[cargo]

Did you gel the flash to match the tungsten? I'm guessing not. It's worked well in the closeup of Josh, his skin tones look good and the background does look naturally cosy.
It looks as though the flash has made less of a contribution to the others so they're both quite warm.

I like the warmth - tungstens are quite orange - so I wouldn't try to remove the cast altogether. I'd probably use the Lightroom white balance dropper on an area which is pure white - e.g. the fireplace - and then pick a temperature and tint halfway between what you've got here and what LR suggests - and then sync those settings across similar images in the set.

I can have a go but you'll probably die of boredom while you wait for me to get round to it

Great reply Simon.Thanks for this. You are correct I did not use any gels on the speedlight.I just set wb to flash and bounced speedlight behind and up to cieling corner/wall camera was smack up against the wall (as close as tripod would allow). You are also correct that I tried to get as much Christmas glow in off the tree lights as poss so settled on these settings.I would have liked more glow on the tree but couldnt manage it. As I still had to light everyone else up too. Maybe I missed a trick there ?

Group photo
1/40 F8 iso 1600 (Manual)

Josh and Kirsty settings were 1/160 F4 Iso 1250 (Manual)

Fireplace is limestone but the plaster picture rail is white. Am not a lightroom user but do have it installed.

No problem re having a go I did put you on the spot there and wished I hadnt whilst having a cuppa

Gaz

ps: Should I have had cto on the speedlight and wb set to tungsten ?

 

[juggler]

ps: Should I have had cto on the speedlight and wb set to tungsten ?

It depends..
When the flash is just for fill then yes. However, a common technique is to arrange for the flash and ambient light to have different colour temperatures and setting the WB for the subject - that lets the background go blue, or orange, or whatever you like, which is what has happened in the shot of Josh.

Here's a video which shows the technique:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho3LxOxLHrI

 

[cargo]

Cheers Simon. It's a long time since I viewed a video from this guy. I do seem to have a mental block on the whole colour temp thing. As I am still not getting what you mean re Josh. Cameras set to flash (wb) which lights Josh (mostly I am guessing as you mention fill meaning in the group photo) then background as more ambient so is warmer by nature ?

Gaz

Sorry for being a muppet !

 

[XFile2708]

Nice set of christmas pics Gary - as others have said I would crop the first - it also appears to me that its tilting to the left unless its just the angle taken or my failing eye-sight lol

Love the 2nd shot (pick of the bunch for me) and the 3rd nicely captures a great expression

 

[juggler]

Cheers Simon. It's a long time since I viewed a video from this guy. I do seem to have a mental block on the whole colour temp thing. As I am still not getting what you mean re Josh. Cameras set to flash (wb) which lights Josh (mostly I am guessing as you mention fill meaning in the group photo) then background as more ambient so is warmer by nature ?

Gaz

Sorry for being a muppet !

I think you've got it, actually, and I've just confused you. At the risk of confusing things further, and considering just the shot of Josh:

Forget what the WB is set to on camera or in the raw files - the actual flash light on Josh is cooler* than the tungsten light on the background. The background will always look warmer* than Josh regardless of what the WB is set to.

Then.. you've set the WB to make Josh's skin fairly neutral, consequently everything else is an appealing orange. That make sense?
Conversely, you could set the WB to make the background neutral - and then Josh would look blue.

Or you could put a CTB (blue) gel on the flash. If you then set the WB for Josh to be neutral then the background would come out an even stronger orange.
If you put a CTO (orange) gel on the flash then both Josh and background would be lit with light of the same colour temperature.

*Note: colours we think of as warm - i.e. oranges & reds - actually have a lower Kelvin value than those we think of as cool - e.g. blues. When I say warmer, I mean a lower Kelvin value.

 

[cargo]

Nice set of christmas pics Gary - as others have said I would crop the first - it also appears to me that its tilting to the left unless its just the angle taken or my failing eye-sight lol

Love the 2nd shot (pick of the bunch for me) and the 3rd nicely captures a great expression

Thank Marcus. Really appreciate you taking the time to comment. You most likely right the image maybe tilting as the tripod was in such and small awkward place plus camera was tilting down I'm pretty sure I just framed up best I could.

Gaz

I think you've got it, actually, and I've just confused you. At the risk of confusing things further, and considering just the shot of Josh:

Forget what the WB is set to on camera or in the raw files - the actual flash light on Josh is cooler* than the tungsten light on the background. The background will always look warmer* than Josh regardless of what the WB is set to.

Then.. you've set the WB to make Josh's skin fairly neutral, consequently everything else is an appealing orange. That make sense?
Conversely, you could set the WB to make the background neutral - and then Josh would look blue.

Or you could put a CTB (blue) gel on the flash. If you then set the WB for Josh to be neutral then the background would come out an even stronger orange.
If you put a CTO (orange) gel on the flash then both Josh and background would be lit with light of the same colour temperature.

*Note: colours we think of as warm - i.e. oranges & reds - actually have a lower Kelvin value than those we think of as cool - e.g. blues. When I say warmer, I mean a lower Kelvin value.

Thanks Simon. You really have helped here I just did a bit of testing and see what you mean. Unfortunately I think it is going to be one of those things, that if I know I'm gonnna be playing with this technique I would have to recap before hand. That is unless I did it regular which wouldn't be the case really as I take images in frequently.

Fab info and very appreciated.


Gaz

 

[cargo]

Lovely!

I'd crop the first one to something like 16x9

Just cropped the first one to see the differance. Left feet in as I prefered the chaos and Dad's huge socks Liked some of the reflections in the mirror too.
Does look way better though.

Thanks again.

Gaz