Me and my girl went to the beach this past week and I took a few pictures with my new sb-800 flash to test it out a bit. Any feed back would be nice.

she has excellent...posture.

The what now?
Sorry, I was distracted.

Those are some bluuuuuuuuuuuuuue eyes.

Pic 1: could just be the lighting but it looks kinda blurry/fuzzy
Pic 2: Looks good to me I'm no pro though.
Pic 3: Looks fuzzy as well.

Good lookn girl

first good job with the girl, second i like the middle pic the best. I like how you caught the waves in the shot, and good focus on the girl.

The ones on the beach were tricky. The wind wasn't going to cut me a break for nothing so I just went with it. I think the first one needs some retouching around her eye due to lack of sleep

#1: Does look a little soft around the eye. The key issue I see, though, is the angle of her eyes to the camera exposing too much of the white part of the eye. This tends to make things appear disproportional.
#2: Obviously the hair in the face is a problem. The best of the three but perhaps better as a horizontal shot w/o cutting off part of her body.
#3: Definitely out of focus. A bit slow of a shutter speed for the focal length you were using. Maybe increase ISO to 320 or 400 to get a faster shutter speed. It can be fixed a little in PS.

nice, but over exposed the last two.. photo shop can clean it up.

try bracketing if your camera allows it.. maybe a 1/2 or 1 full stop under what it is now.

Way above my level technically - I just wanted to comment about how I wish I was 18 again.

Or. as George Burns used to say...

At a bar down in Dallas
An old man chimed in
And I thought he
Was out of his head

Just being a young man
I just laughed it off
When I heard what
That old man had said

He said, I'll never again
Turn the young ladies heads
Or go running off into the wind

I'm three quarters home
From the start to the end
And I wish I was eighteen again

I wish I was eighteen again
And going where I've never been
But old folks and old oaks
Standing tall just pretend
I wish I was eighteen again

Now time turns the pages
And, oh, life goes so fast
The years turn the
Black hair all grey

I talked to some young folks
Hey, they don't understand
The words this old man's got to say

I wish I was eighteen again
And going where I've never been
But old folks and old oaks
Standing tall just pretend
I wish I was eighteen again

Lord, I wish I was eighteen again

Very pretty woman, your a lucky man

Quoted: Very pretty woman, your a lucky man

Thank you

you're a lucky guy!

good pics BTW. the first one is a little dark, the second is great and the third has a little blur to it.

Quoted: over exposed the last two

I disagree. The histogram looks fine on the last two. In fact the second shot has a great histo.

photo shop can clean it up.

This I agree with. A simple curves adjustment will remove the color cast that makes #2 a bit flat. If you don't want my sample posted lemme know and I'll be happy to remove it.

         

jax-

I'm not on a calibrated monitor at the moment, but it looks to me like you actually added a yellow cast. (maybe just need some saturation?)




that second pic is pretty good use of fill flash, but I would have exposed the b/g a little more.

umm, pics like that, and you want feedback on the picture taking?


Nice pics man!

TXL

Quoted: jax- I'm not on a calibrated monitor at the moment, but it looks to me like you actually added a yellow cast. (maybe just need some saturation?)

Well what do you know? I missed a step. What can I say? It was late.

Better?


In this 'after' shot I did about a +1EV adjustment.


I'm not on a calibrated monitor right now, either. And it's a LCD to boot.

Quoted: Quoted: jax- I'm not on a calibrated monitor at the moment, but it looks to me like you actually added a yellow cast. (maybe just need some saturation?) Well what do you know? I missed a step. What can I say? It was late. Better? images.digiproimaging.com/arfcom/DSC_0150_corrected.jpg In this 'after' shot I did about a +1EV adjustment. images.digiproimaging.com/arfcom/DSC_0150_corrected_p1.jpg I'm not on a calibrated monitor right now, either. And it's a LCD to boot.

much better

1st pic:  A little too dark for my taste and while I like warm photos, this is a little warm for me.  Good composition though and the focus looks good on the face.  It is sometimes tough to nail the important features on a Shallow DOF shot like that, especially if it is dark.  Well done.

2nd pic:  Looks like you got what you were going for.  It looks nice, if a little cool for my taste.  If you are using the BL setting on the SB-800, don't forget to try knocking the flash exposure down 1/3 - 2/3 sometimes.  The flash may be a little harsh than it needs to be.  Leading space is large.  Maybe a little (slightly more) space behind the subject so that most of her arms aren't cropped out?

3rd pic:  The camera back focused on you.  In this shot that is probably not what you were going for.  Notice that her hair around the neck and back to perhaps her ears appears well focused?  Sometimes cameras don't quite nail the focus, and there are a few things that the operator can also do that causes this.  You selected a shallow DOF which is good.  Maybe it is a little too shallow, but maybe that is the look you were going for.  I often take pictures where much of the head is out of focus, and it can look really good, IF your features are focused!  Usually I get the best focus when I focus on the tip of the nose or the corner of an eye.  Focusing on hair, especially hair that is moving can confuse the sensor.  Also small movements of your body can cause the DOF to move forwards and backwards on the subject.  It is hard to remain standing (especially with wind) in a perfectly upright position.  Some body sway is inevitable, and it's effects become pronounced with a shallow DOF.  Solution?  Get to know where your lens likes to focus when shooting faces like that.  Use those spots that give you better accuracy.  Shoot many shots, at least 3-4 at a time on continuous mode.  That can eliminate hand shake and it can also help cut down on the effects of body sway.  Shoot 3-4 sets of photos as well.  Refocus between sets.  If your camera focuses badly for one set, refocusing the second set may fix the problem.  You only need 1-2 good ones out of a bunch, so increase your chances of getting more good ones.

If you find yourself plagued by focus difficulties with shots like this, try closing your aperture down a stop or two.  That will give you more margin of error.  Also, check the focus accuracy of your lens by shooting at a grid or ruler turned away from you at a 45 degree angle.  Mark a dark focus point in the middle, open the aperture, and shoot a few shots focused on that point.  Look at the photos at 100% magnification and see if your focused area extends to both sides of your focus mark.  In theory, your picture should feature a focused, focusing point and tick marks getting blurrier on either side of it along the grid or ruler.

If the lens is WAY off, you can always get it repaired, but most of the time, under test conditions, a lens that you thought may have had a problem actually tests well.

Quoted: And that step would be? We even have a photoshop tips thread for you pro's to post them in!

And give away all my secrets?

Actually, me thinks I have a video tutorial that already discusses this so let me confirm before I reinvent the wheel.

How does one "increase the iso to 320?"

Read the manual and see how you increase it for the camera you own.

fuckin showoff  

so, go take more pics will ya!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I checked the video and I didn't mention it there, either. When using a curves layer to make adjustments, change the blend mode to luminosity. If you don't you'll introduce color shifts as evidenced by my first sample.

Quoted: Ok, I checked the video and I didn't mention it there, either. When using a curves layer to make adjustments, change the blend mode to luminosity. If you don't you'll introduce color shifts as evidenced by my first sample.

Excuse me but..........um.........what in THE fuck did you just say???  

Thank God. I was hoping nobody would know what the hell I was talking about.

What the heck? I think I still have everything setup to make the videos. Seems like my last one was done in '05 and I sound like a dork. I don't mind lending a hand if you post more pics. Maybe I can freshen up the material. I've got one on exposure adjustments that I think is pretty good. I forget off the top of my head what other stuff I did.

Quoted: Niiiiiice...errr, uh...camera work.   I think somebody gets the luckiest boy in the world award on top of that.

ha, i figured this would make the boyfriend happy, so,
thank you for all of the compliments on the pictures of me.
i appreciate it, even if i dont totally agree.

Welcome to the board.

Quoted: ha, i figured this would make the boyfriend happy, so, thank you for all of the compliments on the pictures of me. i appreciate it, even if i dont totally agree.

Your sneaky = ]]

Quoted: ha, i figured this would make the boyfriend happy, so, thank you for all of the compliments on the pictures of me. i appreciate it, even if i dont totally agree.

Welcome to the site!

Quoted: Quoted: ha, i figured this would make the boyfriend happy, so, thank you for all of the compliments on the pictures of me. i appreciate it, even if i dont totally agree. Oh... right... and we're supposed to believe you now?   If I were him I'd be pissed other guys were looking at my GF.  Yes... people say I'm jealous... And they are all 100% RIGHT

My plans of a SIIHPAPP have been seriously ruined.

My only question is, does she know you placed her on the world wide web?  

Very nice pics.

Nice touch up job on them also.

BigDozer66

So, um, bump for more pics???    

Quoted: So, um, bump for more pics???

I will put more pictures up soon. = ]] for you guys to "Critique"

Quoted: SIIHPAPP huh?

google it bro

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: So, um, bump for more pics???     I will put more pictures up soon. = ]] for you guys to "Critique" Are you trying to torture us all now?

HAHA

Quoted: ha, i figured this would make the boyfriend happy, so, thank you for all of the compliments on the pictures of me. i appreciate it, even if i dont totally agree.

Welcome !

Keep up the good work and just ignore the knuckle draggers.

BigDozer66

height=8

Quoted: My only question is, does she know you placed her on the world wide web? heand i dont like any of the pictures. and i feel stupid with a camera in my face all the time. but im getting use to it.

hes definitely a jealous type,
and easily intimidated.
but hes a showoff
and he also has a ego.

Quoted: hes definitely a jealous type, and easily intimidated. but hes a showoff and he also has a ego.

Well in that case let him show off more pics of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get in front of that camera right now!!!!!!!!!!

is this the same spartacus from teamspeak?   bf2 ?