Something not quite right

joshhuntnm

what is not quite right about this pic

SimpsonBrothers

First thing that I notice is that it's not there...
Check your link.

sweet caroline

The shadows behind her are so very dark. I would probably clone out the structures in the background. Lovely, natural smile, though.

Caroline

Matthew Saville

Josh, if i had to put my finger on it, I would say that the light shining on her is just too disconnected from the light shining on the background. Your composition doesn't help the background match up to the subject, either.

One thing I talk about with photographers in my Natural Light Portraits workshop is, knowing when to use which type of light for which type of shot. Certain types of light just lend themselves to certain poses and compositions, and are NOT good for other poses or compositions.

In short, this shot is composed and posed as a traditional, "clean" portrait yet the lighting is dramatic and contrasty, the type of situation in which you would usually attempt a much wider angle, environmental portrait.

So, the advice would be this:

* Pick your light, and times of day, appropriately based on which images you need.

* When you need a clean, formal shot, try to use soft yet mildly directional light that flatters the subject and lets their face be the subject of the image.

* Or, when you're going for a dramatic, contrasty portrait: step back and think about composition a bit more; get the flash off-camera somehow, and don't worry about the subject looking at the camera or smiling; let them do something elegant and beautiful, so it corresponds with the dramatic feel of the scene...

I hope this makes sense! Good luck,
=Matt=

Bend The Light

I couldn't have said "why" in as much depth as Matthew, but before I read his post, I thought two things:

1. The subject seems disconnected from the background, and
2. Dark shadows on the subject (behind the arm, and upper back)

...which is basically what he said.

PS: Is the dress a little blown? I do have a calibrated monitor, but it's not quite as well calibrated as it should be...

PPS: It's a great pose/bride, and I have never done wedding stuff (wouldn't dare at the moment) so take my critique for what it's worth as an amateur.

shming

To me it looks like you shot it at your camera's x-sync speed paired up with a smaller aperture
If that is the case, next time try high speed sync

mmmatt

Alright Josh!

I'll echo a lot of what Matt said. You need more ambient in this shot for starters. your light is super harsh and that is partially because it is such a dramatic contrast to the ambient lighting. You can soften the light with a modifyer such as an umbrella or by moving the light source closer to the subject. I know that seems backwards but closer is softer. That is why winter sun is so harsh, because it is further away from the earth. Ultimately I would have simply added more of the natural light and less of the flash to get your exposure. Black levels are a bit high. The shot is a tiny bit underexposed to my taste, and a bit too warm but increasing exposure and dropping blacks a tad may fix that. Your flash temp and your ambient temp are substantially different. Mixing more ambient in helps with that as well. Dress highlights are blown a tad. the block wall and handrail are ugly as sin. The image is tilted to the left.

On a good note, she has a nice expression and you posed her in a flattering way.

Matt

Ed911

Aside from what's been said about the contrast...

Kill the reflection just above the flowers in the dark, then the reflections from what appears to be house trailers...and the one to picture right, behind her head...and the one above that. And, something red just at the shadow's edge on picture right...if it looks like a light in the picture BG, get rid of it.

Hope this helps.

tenoverthenose

I agree what what others have said, but I'd look at it from a different angle. I hope you don't mind me being too detailed in my assessment. My goal here is to help you see things that you should be seeing in the viewfinder. To begin, this is not a photo I would take. If I did take this at a wedding, it would probably be dumped in the first round of editing. Here's why...

The background is cluttered. You did well to go for a long lens and open aperture, but still the highlights are distracting. Worse, the tonal range is far beyond what you camera can capture. The dress is blown, the shadows are black. I really don't mind crushed blacks, but blown details are more troublesome. In this case, there is no need for either.

Let's talk about composition. Viewers eyes are normally drawn to the brightest part of a picture first. In this case, the brides lower dress, then up to the background. Suddenly the composition is making a giant "T" with the top part cutting her head in half at her eyes. Not good. Always keep the head in a clean spot. Next my eye is looking at the wall on the right. Why is that there? Did it need to be there? If you moved her to the right side of the frame a bit, you could have recomposed with the wall out of the picture.
The image is tilted to the left.

As others have pointed out, the flash is a bit harsh. There are lots of different things that you can do to help that out, but to me just moving the light off camera and controlling it will help. You might find it doesn't even need to be softened. What I have found is that when people see flash as being harsh, a lot of times they are picking up on the color temperate difference between ambient and flash. Here the color of the flash doesn't blend at all with the warmer light in the background. This will definitely give you a feeling of something being wrong without knowing exactly what it is. A quick gel can solve that problem.

As I said before, this isn't a picture I would have taken.... so what would I have taken. First I would have decided to either include only what's in the shadow, or just what's in sun (at least from this position). Not knowing what is in shadow, I'll pick the sun. Instead of shooting from the same elevation as her, I would probably get down as low as possible (probably on the ground) and use a wide lens (more dramatic landscape makes me think wide, but a tele can work too) to bring in as much of the dramatic sky/mountains as possible. Maybe I might even have to have her stand up on something like that wall. If she gets higher you have more flexibility. I'd probably have her hit a fashion pose and silhouette her against the sky first, then maybe one with light... probably a gelled flash from just behind and beside her for a bit of rim light (but always light for the eye!).

So I'm not sure ANY of this will help you this time, but keep some of these ideas in mind next time! I hope that none of this comes across as mean spirited or any kind of negative attack, I am just trying to help you see the things that I see.

r3t1awr3yd

mmmatt wrote: »

Ultimately I would have simply added more of the natural light and less of the flash to get your exposure.

I would have left my shutter open longer to do just this ^^. Strobist is a great blog if you'ld like to sharpen your flash/ambient lighting skills.

(I was gonna type "brought my shutter speed up" but I didn't want to sound confusing).

JC

mmmatt wrote: »

Alright Josh!

I know that seems backwards but closer is softer. That is why winter sun is so harsh, because it is further away from the earth.

On a good note, she has a nice expression and you posed her in a flattering way.

Matt

Actually, northern hemisphere winters occur (now) around perihelion when the Earth is closer to the sun. In the winter the sun is closer to the Earth, but, on average, lower in the sky than in the summer, so casts longer shadows.

mmmatt

r3t1awr3yd wrote: »

I would have left my shutter open longer to do just this ^^. Strobist is a great blog if you'ld like to sharpen your flash/ambient lighting skills.

(I was gonna type "brought my shutter speed up" but I didn't want to sound confusing).

Actually that would be confusing because lowering your shutter speed would add more ambient... as I know you understand from the first part of your post.

kolibri wrote: »

Actually, northern hemisphere winters occur (now) around perihelion when the Earth is closer to the sun. In the winter the sun is closer to the Earth, but, on average, lower in the sky than in the summer, so casts longer shadows.

Ouch... closer light is still softer, and now I'm going to google how it could be that the sun is closer to the earth but it is colder outside... not for this thread though!

matt

FotobyMoMo

Yes, IMO the background just doesn't look right. I like separating the subject from the background but this is too much of a contrast for my eyes. I'd probably dragged the shutter. Although that would have blown out the top of the pictures but IMO I'm ok with that because the bride is the main subject and she's properly lit with a matching background. But you did a great job capturing her!

dusty-dog

Aside from the lighting, which others have already mentioned, my big complaint about this is it's off level. She's pitching forward a bit, making it look really disconcerting. Rotate the image a few degrees clockwise, and then maybe you'll have a reasonable shot. Then, use shadow/highlights to try and bring out some details in the otherwise blown whites of her dress. For instance, when I shoot, I expose for the whites. If the blacks are too dark, it's not as bad as blown whites. I think this was already mentioned. Also, clone out those bright spots behind her head and in front of her. It really detracts from the image.

OK.... I think you get the drift. Good luck with your post processing.

joshhuntnm

dusty-dog wrote: »

For instance, when I shoot, I expose for the whites.

I always try to expose for the skin