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Archive 2016 · Signs of spring

  
 
dknodt
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Signs of spring


Hello everyone. I'm a new member and this is my first post on FM. I'm very much a novice in all aspects of photography but I'm really enjoying the learning process. I got my first DSLR almost a year ago, but due to a demanding job I don't get to shoot nearly as often as I'd like. I'm still trying to figure out which avenues I'm most interested in, so I'm going to post some different things that I've tried so far. I've got thick skin and I'm here to learn, so please don't hold back!

First up are two recent images of two very special girls sitting in the crook of a large cherry blossom tree.

Thanks for your time,
Derek






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Apr 14, 2016 at 07:50 AM
beavens
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Signs of spring


Hi Derek and welcome to FM!!

I'm glad you're bringing some images right out of the gates and thick skin always helps swallow some of the critique.

You shouldn't worry too much about the thick skin, as this place is pretty awesome about being constructive with criticism and explaining WHY they think the way they do.

Your D750 and 50mm is a great way to kick off your adventures into photography - that focal length is very versatile! What editing software do you have at your disposal?

Two things stand out to me from the get-go - f/8.0 and your subject being top-lit. Is there a particular reason you decided to choose this aperture? If you opened your lens up more then you will create a shallower depth of field which will lead to both better subject isolation and more pleasing backgrounds. The subject themselves are a bit underexposed due to the lighting here. When shooting in these kind of conditions it will definitely help to employ the help of a reflector or flash to help give you some fill light to give the subjects more pop and nicer, more even lighting.

Images look nice and sharp, so no worries there! And you've got some great subject to work with to boot.

Gave a quick little rework below on #1: tightened crop, adjusted Levels (set white/black points and tweak gamma), increased contrast, reduced blue channel (was seeing this in the pants/legging - I assume from the sky?) and cloned out the pole in the background.

#2 might even be a stronger candidate if you recrop so the blossom cluster is in the upper-left and then there is a nice leading line to the subjects.

Just my $0.02 and again, WELCOME!

Jeff







Apr 14, 2016 at 10:14 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Signs of spring


Welcome to FM, Jeff covered it so I will just say welcome and comment on a different image.


Apr 14, 2016 at 10:45 AM
dknodt
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Signs of spring


Hi Jeff, thanks for jumping in.

beavens wrote:
Your D750 and 50mm is a great way to kick off your adventures into photography - that focal length is very versatile! What editing software do you have at your disposal?

Two things stand out to me from the get-go - f/8.0 and your subject being top-lit. Is there a particular reason you decided to choose this aperture?


I actually started with the D3300 and the 18-55 kit lens. The 750 was a gift from my wife a couple months ago and I love it! It's so much better at night. Going from the zoom to the 50mm was difficult at first because I was relying on the zoom too much. Once I started using my feet to get the composition I was looking for I fell in love with the 50. As for editing, I started off using Affinity photo, but have recently switched to Lightroom and Photoshop. I've watched hours of tutorial videos on Lightroom and would say I have a basic knowledge of it. I've only opened Photoshop twice so far. I figured I'll tackle that one after I'm very familiar with LR.

The aperture was a conscious choice, but possibly an incorrect one. I wanted the depth of field deep enough to use the flowers as a second subject. I've read that you shouldn't have competing subjects, but ignored that here. I do love the bokeh the 50 1.8 allows, and I think I should've taken multiple shots trying out different apertures. I tried multiple compositions but I never changed the aperture. Lesson learned!

I like the rework you did. I think the flowers still make enough of a presence with the tighter crop, and it does much more justice to the people. I was able to follow your tweaks except for Gamma. I've seen that mentioned in several posts but I have no idea what it is. I'll make sure to Google it, but feel free to enlighten me if you wish.

Thanks again for the welcome and the critique!

Derek



Apr 14, 2016 at 04:39 PM
beavens
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Signs of spring


Sounds like you are hitting the same stops that all of have us visited throughout our photographic journey with getting bit by the bug, upgrading gear, learning the pros and cons of primes, processing, etc. It's GREAT!

No worries about the aperture! I am more pleased that it's something you're actively thinking about as opposed to just winging it. The flowers are pretty close to your subjects, so you would still get them in the image but they would have a nice pleasing blur about them.

Personally I find myself using LR for the majority of my images and I will use PS for certain tasks.

I probably need to work on my OWN workflow a bit because I love Levels in PS and Gimp, and as far as I know you cannot access this the same manner using LR. You can set a white point and then use the Black and Whiter sliders to adjust accordingly, but I think this may move more than just those point. You can also try leveraging the Tone Curve in LR, but I haven't played with that much myself.

http://www.the-graphics-tablet.com/image-files/lev-good-histo.jpg

In the image above, you see the white point (2), black point (1) and midtone/gamma (3). Adjust the midtones accordingly and you'll get a richer image.

Cheers!

Jeff



Apr 15, 2016 at 10:39 AM





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