? for sunny shoot tomorrow!

tate

Hello! I Have a session tomorrow at a vineyard at 8:30 in the morning. We have had to reschedule this session numerous times. The family can not do a session later in the day...so this is the time that I have to make work for me. (and them!) I absolutely can not stand when there is shadows and light all over a persons face......and this is the first time that the conditions wont be decent. There really isnt any open shade at this vineyard...............so I have a d700 and will be using my 50 mm 1.4 lens...I recently purchased a ND filter ....so I know that will help ....any other tips or suggestions that you can give me? or is my best bet with the ND filter and speedlight? Thanks!

Pono Photo

speedlight for sure, two if you have them. Most likely no need for the ND. You can shoot in broad daylight at ISO 100 and a speed of 1/250 and keep the bright light down. But bring that ND just in case! But shooting in the early morning shouldn't be too bad. The light isn't totally slamming bright out nice and early. Just fill them in with the flash(s) and you're golden.

divamum

You should be able to find some decent light at 8.30 - sunrise on the east coast is around 5.45 right now, so it shouldn't be that bad at all.

Concur with Pono: Speedlight on high speed synch (or whatever Nikon calls it) as needed for fill. Be careful where branch/vineyard shadows fall across faces. Put sun behind folks for a nice rim light and then fill in with the flash. Use any open shade you can find (and sometimes that can be unlikely places). Also, look for places where there's natural reflected light, eg pavement, water etc. Have fun!

tate

Thanks! The vineyard is pretty close to my house so I had went up there and there really isnt much for open shade, but who knows....didnt think about reflecting the light off of water...since there is a pond there...thanks for that tip! Im glad to hear that the speedlight should do the trick! I have been nervous about this session...(this is why I DO NOT DO Weddings! ) I have done shots before when it sunny but have always found open shade, so this one had me concerned...I will report back tomorrow afternoon.......

Nikolai

Solid shade (not foliage), gentle (gelled) fill light -and you should be kosher

tate

Thanks everyone! The shoot went GREAT today! Thanks for helping get over being nervous...That speedlight sure saved the day! . Had to play a little bit more with positioning people, but it worked out good.......

Sam

tate wrote: »

Thanks everyone! The shoot went GREAT today! Thanks for helping get over being nervous...That speedlight sure saved the day! . Had to play a little bit more with positioning people, but it worked out good.......

Photos or it didn't happen.

Sam

Pono Photo

Sam wrote: »

Photos or it didn't happen.

Sam

Nikolai

Sam wrote: »

Photos or it didn't happen.

Sam

+1

tate

Lol will post some in a little bit! Some I noticed that there were some sun glare slightly....on 1 of the family member...of course being obsessive it drives me crazy but would love your opinions....

Sam

You asked for tips......................don't upload images without processing them first.

You want to present your best effort. Trying to comment on an unprocessed image is like trying to tell the cook what you thought of the breakfast that hasn't been cooked yet.

Don't worry if your best effort falls short. That's when the learning process begins. Also to be clear the learning process doesn't ever stop.

Sam

tate

some pictures from yesterday
Ok, this is one that I edited...the little girl had beautiful eyes...I was pleased that there was no sun on her face...but the sun on the arms bothers me.........I have PSE9 and tried to darken the shadows on the arms, but it looked really fake. If I had a more powerful speedlight (I have the sb600) would that have taken care of the shadows on the arms? Again, maybe these arent the best pictures, but the shoot went 100% better than I anticipated shooting in full sun...

tate

more pictures
Is there a way to upload more than one picture at a time?

tate

one more
Hello! Please let me know what you think of this family photo. I think this was my best one...They were sitting on a deck but then there was all shadows cast onto the deck, so I thought it looked best cropped in tighter........

dclphoto

One extra tid bit, in the future, you might add a reflector to fill light also....

tate

dclphoto wrote: »

One extra tid bit, in the future, you might add a reflector to fill light also....

I have never used a reflector before....would that help eliminate the other shadows and glares? Would it be best to get a stand to hold the reflector or is it easy to hand hold and take the picture?

Bryce Wilson

Couple of quick thoughts on these images.

I think they could have been improved greatly if the background exposure had been knocked down considerably. As is, the background competes with the subjects. In the last image it (the background) is even brighter than the subjects are.

On the "scenes" in general, and I have a hard time with this myself, ask yourself; "What does the background I have my subjects in front of add to the picture?"

Your posing of the subjects and their expressions are nice with is more than half the battle!

tate

Bryce Wilson wrote: »

Couple of quick thoughts on these images.

I think they could have been improved greatly if the background exposure had been knocked down considerably. As is, the background competes with the subjects. In the last image it (the background) is even brighter than the subjects are.

On the "scenes" in general, and I have a hard time with this myself, ask yourself; "What does the background I have my subjects in front of add to the picture?"

Your posing of the subjects and their expressions are nice with is more than half the battle!

Thanks for your suggestions.....To be honest, I have never played with my background exposure, so off to read my handbook to learn about that as well! I went back in and played with that last picture again........Good thing for Raw...lol...do you think it looks better? (my sizing is off I think, because it now looks blurry, wheras on my end the original isnt blurry )

Hackbone

Always try to underexpose the bkg to make your subjects stand out. A stand for a reflector can be a frustrating experience in the wind. An assistant is a better choice. Try blocking the sun also with an overhead blocking device....reflector, cardboard, foamcore etc. The sun is at a high angle so try the flash a little higher and off camera. You've got a great first attempt.

Sam

Hopefully one thing stands out to you now...................Location, time of day, light, shade, are very, VERY important. Shooting in direct sunlight is uber hard.

The next time you have clients that want to sit if full sunlight, you might think back on this and find an alternative, any alternative. If it's a paid portrait shoot you may even want to consider saying no.

You could do what many pros do for beach shots. Set up a tent, and or have assistants hold large diffusers in between your subject and the sun.

You may want to check your horizontal alignment. They all seem off.

Your favorite isn't bad all things considered, Horizon is tilted, but the people are pretty well exposed from the front if a little on the high side, and as previously mentioned trying to control the background exposure with the camera and the subjects with speed lights can be very difficult to impossible.

Keep working on it.

Sam

tate

Sam wrote: »

Hopefully one thing stands out to you now...................Location, time of day, light, shade, are very, VERY important. Shooting in direct sunlight is uber hard.

The next time you have clients that want to sit if full sunlight, you might think back on this and find an alternative, any alternative. If it's a paid portrait shoot you may even want to consider saying no.

You could do what many pros do for beach shots. Set up a tent, and or have assistants hold large diffusers in between your subject and the sun.

You may want to check your horizontal alignment. They all seem off.

Your favorite isn't bad all things considered, Horizon is tilted, but the people are pretty well exposed from the front if a little on the high side, and as previously mentioned trying to control the background exposure with the camera and the subjects with speed lights can be very difficult to impossible.

Keep working on it.

Sam

Thanks Sam! I know that these photos arent my better ones....but I really thought that it was going to be a total disaster...so they came out better than I thought they were going to. What a pain trying to edit them though.........I will check the alignment ...thanks for pointing that out...I have just been intent on having them look normal coloring wise...ha ...So I had someone book me a year ago for a family reunion shot at the beach late afternoon/early evening...do you think I will need reflectors for that? Photography is a constant learning process that is for sure! I know I try to tell people early early morning is the best, especially now that we have had the time change, 8:30 is really 9:30 where the sun is in the sky, and with no trees in the vineyard, it was like being in a big open field....Oh well, live and learn, like you said......

Scott293

I shot this just the other day at about 5:00 PM with the sun looking right at me at 1/250 f11 using B1600 Alien Bees and a 24x32 Photoflex Softbox. Speed lights aren't strong enough to over power the sun.