The Waianae Coast Shoot!!

DeuceFour

A casual day on the beach..a sick fiancee...and it turns into a gorgeous unplanned photoshoot...never go anywhere without your gear! I hope you all enjoy these..please as always..any c&c is highly appreciated!!!


<br/>#1<br/>#2<br/>#3<br/>#4<br/>#5<br/>#6<br/>#7<br/>#8<br/>

Scott_Quier

These are some gorgeous shots of a very pretty lady. I am loving the light you got from the sunset. I think my fav is going to have to be #5 (if I counted right).

BTW - it would be a lot easier to view, and comment on, your post if you put a blank line or two between your image tags and if you would also number the photos.

speedsk8r

like the scenery not so much the glasses lets see those eye's.

Dooginfif20

Brandon awesome shots my friend!! I am in the process of getting a 70-200 lens so I can do some portraits work. Is this just an external flash?

Scott_Quier

Dooginfif20 wrote:

Brandon awesome shots my friend!! I am in the process of getting a 70-200 lens so I can do some portraits work. Is this just an external flash?

Looking at the shadows, it would appear to be an un-modified flash of some sort - positioned to camera right.

Agnieszka

I agree!!! Great shots!!!! But she needs to get rid of those glasses (for the photos anyway). She also seems to tend to stick out her forehead .... I think #6 is more flattering. Beautiful fiancee you got here, and that scenery is just gorgeous!!! I need to move to Hawaii :cry - I've seen some of the nicest sunsets when was there on vacation ... in 2001 :cry

Nikolai

Nice light balance between the flash and sun!

Scott_Quier wrote:

it would be a lot easier to view, and comment on, your post if you put a blank line or two between your image tags and if you would also number the photos.

+1

I also agree that losing the glasses would probably help.

In several pictures she carries the same hard head tilt slightly forward and to the camera's left. It's cute, but it gets old fast.

Next time try to get sun behind her head. She's blond, this usually works great by creating a nice hair halo.

Also these settings are simply calling for silhouette captures - don't forget to turn off your flash from time to time, this way you'll get a greater variety from the same scene.

And congrats on the unexpected shoot!

DeuceFour

Dooginfif20 wrote:

Brandon awesome shots my friend!! I am in the process of getting a 70-200 lens so I can do some portraits work. Is this just an external flash?

Yeah this is just a Canon 580EX with a stofen omni bounce diffuser...triggered with Pocket wizards on a light stand...just one flash very simple.

DeuceFour

Thanks everyone for the great comments!! I know the sunglasses get a little old, but wasnt expecting this shoot, and she was not feeling well at all, but she wanted to get out of the house for a while, and her eyes were sensitive to the light at the time. She did amazing for how she felt. I plan on reshooting this again, same area. Its almost a perfect sunset every single day here haha..Sorry to rub that one in lol. Oh and I was only using my 17-40mm Canon L series lens.. If anybody was wondering!! Thanks again for all the wonderfull feedback everyone!!!

DeuceFour

Scott_Quier wrote:

BTW - it would be a lot easier to view, and comment on, your post if you put a blank line or two between your image tags and if you would also number the photos.

I agree and sorry I forgot to do this the first time!!! I fixed it!! YAY!!!

heatherfeather

I love #5. The star burst is really fun and I like the pose. The only think that I think could be better is her expression because she looks like she is about to say something rather than having her mouth "at rest".
Very sweet lighting.

Nikolai

DeuceFour wrote:

I was only using my 17-40mm Canon L series lens..

Next time you definietly wanna use something longer for this type of shooting. I myself would be using my 70-200/2.8 in 100..200 range.

anonymouscuban

Nikolai wrote:

Next time you definietly wanna use something longer for this type of shooting. I myself would be using my 70-200/2.8 in 100..200 range.

Nik... can you explain why? I asked in another thread but no reply?

DeuceFour

Ya i have that lens but I felt the 17-40mm was working just fine...I wasn't really looking to get any shallow depths or anything. But your right, I usually use that baby for portraits!

DeuceFour

heatherfeather wrote:

I love #5. The star burst is really fun and I like the pose. The only think that I think could be better is her expression because she looks like she is about to say something rather than having her mouth "at rest".
Very sweet lighting.

Thanks Heather!!

Nikolai

DeuceFour wrote:

Ya i have that lens but I felt the 17-40mm was working just fine...I wasn't really looking to get any shallow depths or anything. But your right, I usually use that baby for portraits!

All things considered, 17-40 is a bit on wide side for this application, even on APC side sensor. Female portraiture benefits greatly from a longer focal length.

Ann McRae

Nikolai wrote:

All things considered, 17-40 is a bit on wide side for this application, even on APC side sensor. Female portraiture benefits greatly from a longer focal length.

Okay Nik - I am gonna :poke you to elaborate on this. You present it as a truism, but I want to know WHY.


ann

Nikolai

Ann McRae wrote:

Okay Nik - I am gonna :poke you to elaborate on this. You present it as a truism, but I want to know WHY.
ann

Dear Ann,
the reason is pretty simple.
Imagine you want to take a head shot, and you have two lenses. One is 16mm (rectilinear) and another is, say, 100mm.
To fit the head a shoulders into the 100mm frame you'd have to be at least 6 ft away from the subject. Any distance difference between facial features (say, ears and nose) would be no more that a few inches, and, as such would not be noticeable relative to the total distance.
To get the same frame filling - head and shoulders - with 16mm you would have to be about 1ft or closer to the face. Every fee mm of distance difference is relatively huge. Trunk noses, elephant ears.... Our mind usually can rerender those things in real time and we don't notice the difference, but the cameras can't do that, so it looks.. uhg, different. You often can use that effect for so called "artistic purposes", but for a general portraiture, which suppose to flatter the subject, it's not acceptable.
Does it make sense?

Mike J

heatherfeather wrote:

I love #5. The star burst is really fun and I like the pose. The only think that I think could be better is her expression because she looks like she is about to say something rather than having her mouth "at rest".
Very sweet lighting.

Love the starburst! I don't think I've seen the sun in 4 weeks :cry
Would love to see the reshoot!

DeuceFour

Thanks Mike, I know how you feel buddy, I lived in Seattle for 4.5 years before I moved out here. So I know how long it can go with overcast skies...but it can also be the most beautiful place ever up there in the northwest when that sun finally does show itself!!!

Dooginfif20

Ya right now its flooding everywhere and I think the sun has been out once in the past week! Brandon you ever coming back up here on a det or something? If you do we gotta get together and do some shooting!

WingsOfLovePhoto

I agree on losing the glasses, I would have like to see her face and they are a bit big for her facial features but that said I love #5. Nice and relaxed, beautiful colors besides it makes me wish for a beach! up to 10 inches of snow forcast in my neighborhood today!

Trevlan

anonymouscuban wrote:

Nik... can you explain why? I asked in another thread but no reply?

From what I've ready the ideal focal length for portraits is 85 mm and up. Something about the lense distortion and how it's complimentary to the person. Doesn't make them look so fat I guess. I think your D300 is DX format so 50 mm is like 85 mm due to the 1.6 or 1.5 x crop of the sensor.

DeuceFour wrote:

A casual day on the beach..a sick fiancee...and it turns into a gorgeous unplanned photoshoot...never go anywhere without your gear! I hope you all enjoy these..please as always..any c&c is highly appreciated!!!

These are lovely pictures, Sunglasses and all. She's a great sport for wanting to shoot while feeling ill. Next time, when she feels better, vary with the shades and them off. And GET THAT KILLER SILLHOUETTE!

Sanding on that rock, expose for the sky and sun. Looking out towards the back. Ahhhh, what a great location.

Also love the desaturated versions. Something about that style that I like so much.

Tentacion

As some would say, I am not one to follow the norm, I follow some rules and I break others.

Number 1 captured my eye immediately (although, some may say the blown out sun is a distraction). I love the sunglasses, but perhaps that could be cuz alot of my musicians love taking photos with their shades on, it covers a lot of evil, especially when they have been up all night playing, plus it makes them look cool !...

Nice work for a very impromptu photo shoot, I can only imagine what your work looks like when it is not so imprompt.

Kudos,
Tentacion

DeuceFour

Wow! Thanks everyone! Im getting some great opinions and it's giving me some exciting ideas, and I can't wait to get out and shoot again!!

DeuceFour

Dooginfif20 wrote:

Ya right now its flooding everywhere and I think the sun has been out once in the past week! Brandon you ever coming back up here on a det or something? If you do we gotta get together and do some shooting!

I dont' know man, but yeah If I ever get back up there we will surely get together and go shooting!! Sorry about the crappy weather..but you know how that goes as well as I haha.

DeuceFour

Trevlan wrote:

Also love the desaturated versions. Something about that style that I like so much.

Killer Shot Trevian!!! Im a fan of the desaturation. Just gives photos such a cool mood in my opinion. Thanks for checkin mine out!!

Tentacion wrote:

As some would say, I am not one to follow the norm, I follow some rules and I break others.

Number 1 captured my eye immediately (although, some may say the blown out sun is a distraction). I love the sunglasses, but perhaps that could be cuz alot of my musicians love taking photos with their shades on, it covers a lot of evil, especially when they have been up all night playing, plus it makes them look cool !...

I think Im the same way...I know about all the rules..but I just do what I think looks good to me. And if that happens to be something thats breakin the "rules" then so be it haha. I also love her sunglasses as you can tell. But In a normal situation I would have varied it a bit with them being on and off. And yes, makes people look cool!!!! lol Thanks for the great comments!!!

Shima

These are great! I love your nice lighting and the good pop the colors have.