New to photography

ttbest

Hi-
Although I have tons of pictures on smugmug and have painstakingly created a website for myself within smugmug, I call myself a beginner. So here is a question from a beginner using an XTi rebel, 1.8 50mm, 1.4 50mm, silver/white round reflector, and a lightsphere with flash (a little clueless on the flash usage as well). I have a beach shoot of a group of people. THey do not care if the sun is setting in the pictures so what is the best position for the sun in beach photos? I have limited accessories and no assistant to hold any kind of large reflector so I'm soo concerned about shadows and silhouettes. Any advice would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

shatch

With the equipment you have, it looks like you have a couple of options. I would recommend you take some test photos of your kids or a friend even in your own yard. Place the sun at the back of your subject and shoot into the sun using your reflector for fill. Also try using your flash on camera for fill on another sample. Move the shot so the sun varies behind the subject up to 45 degrees from directly behind.

Then try the same thing with the sun directly to the side of your subject. Use the fill (reflector) directly oposite the sun. Try some other shots with fill from your flash.

I think the key is to experiment until you find an angle you like. You will find that some angles casts an overly strong sunlight pattern on your subject. But directly behind creates an amazing rimlight experience.

Shoot, shoot, shoot, all while taking notes of what you did so you can evaluate the outcome with what you did.

Also, one other thought...look at examples of what you do like. Study the shadows to determine where the light came from. Also look in the eyes for clues to light sources and positions. When you find one you like, try to replicate it.

Good luck and make sure to post the results!

BTW, I stopped over to your site...some very cute photos.

pathfinder

What flash unit?

Is this an EOS flash unit? 580ex or 430ex or 580ex II? If so, using the camera in Av mode, and the flash for fill in ETTL mode, with the setting sun for the main light can create pretty nice images. Whether the sun is from the side, or from the front at an angle, or even from the back sometimes. Very late afternoon, near sunset will be better to balance with flash.

These shots can all be done with the flash in totally manual mode also, but it is a significantly more involved on the shooter's part, to balance the ambient with a manual flash.

LiquidAir

Shatch's suggestion of shooting with the sun to their back and using the reflector to kick light back into their faces would be how I go on the beach during the day time. Your battery powered strobe will be somewhat limiting during the midday sun because it doesn't have enough power. There are brackets which let you put a relfector on a stand. Its less than ideal and nigh useless in the wind, but it can work.

If you can wait until sunset when the light levels are lower you'll have a lot more options with your strobe. You'll need some way of getting the flash off camera and practices matching the strobe power to the ambient light. Here's how. He uses and umbrella; with your lightsphere is much smaller so you will need to get it in closer.

ttbest

Thanks
Thank you to all who replied about my beach shoot. It was a huge disappointment but I learned a lot. Not like you'd think.... see I went at 2PM to avoid a storm at 4PM. It was overcast for the first 20 minutes which was a blast to shoot in. Got some great photos. THen the sun popped out really bright to the point where I could not get anything without major squinting. I did not have any shade for them. They asked me to stay....until sunset!! ANyway, five hours later I was watching the sun set on the beach without both families. They were stuck in traffic as they decided to go out to dinner and be back in time for pictures. At 8:10 I started shooting like a mad woman. Not the best photos but for a new photographer, I learned a lot about sitting fees, family sizes, and boundaries. Thanks again to all and I hope to use the suggestions next time!

Scott_Quier

ttbest wrote:

Thank you to all who replied about my beach shoot. It was a huge disappointment but I learned a lot. Not like you'd think.... see I went at 2PM to avoid a storm at 4PM. It was overcast for the first 20 minutes which was a blast to shoot in. Got some great photos. THen the sun popped out really bright to the point where I could not get anything without major squinting. I did not have any shade for them. They asked me to stay....until sunset!! ANyway, five hours later I was watching the sun set on the beach without both families. They were stuck in traffic as they decided to go out to dinner and be back in time for pictures. At 8:10 I started shooting like a mad woman. Not the best photos but for a new photographer, I learned a lot about sitting fees, family sizes, and boundaries. Thanks again to all and I hope to use the suggestions next time!

WOW - they really ran you through the wringer. I'm hoping you spent the 4 or 5 hours waiting for 8:00PM shooting other things and not just sitting at hte beach (though that can be fun as well).

I'm guessing one of the things you learned is not to schedule a shoot on the beach at 2:00PM without adequate lighting equipment to handle the very, very strong sunlight!

Do you care to share a couple of the successful photos? Of, in the spirit of those that can't turn from a traffic accident, a couple of the not so successful ones?:D

ttbest

Pictures attached
I'd love to attach some photos but I can't figure out how to shrink them. Yes, I know that's basic but I use the software that came with my camera (Zoombrowser) and it shrinks them for email purposes but theyr'e still rather large (3-400KB). Does CS3 compress images? How does you do it?

Scott_Quier wrote:

WOW - they really ran you through the wringer. I'm hoping you spent the 4 or 5 hours waiting for 8:00PM shooting other things and not just sitting at hte beach (though that can be fun as well).

I'm guessing one of the things you learned is not to schedule a shoot on the beach at 2:00PM without adequate lighting equipment to handle the very, very strong sunlight!

Do you care to share a couple of the successful photos? Of, in the spirit of those that can't turn from a traffic accident, a couple of the not so successful ones?:D

Scott_Quier

ttbest wrote:

I'd love to attach some photos but I can't figure out how to shrink them. Yes, I know that's basic but I use the software that came with my camera (Zoombrowser) and it shrinks them for email purposes but theyr'e still rather large (3-400KB). Does CS3 compress images? How does you do it?

CS3 has a function "Save for the Web" (CTRL-ALT-SHIFT S) that will allow you to save to any size/quality you like.

The best way, though, is to get a SmugMug account and link to your hosted files - really rocks! (or, you could host them somewhere else, like Flickr).