Impromptu Family Portrait
So...the fam was over for supper a few days ago and my mom suggested that since we were all together, we might as well take a christmas photo for their annual christmas card mailing. I didn't really have much time to think and/or set up this shot, and am wonderinng what you all think about how it turned out. The setup for this photo was my D70 and SB-600 (with a plastic diffuser) on a tripod that was, in turn, on top of three folding chairs. I raised the camera as high it could possibly go with our 8-foot ceilings. I knew the flash would be quite close to the subjects, so I turned the head around backwards (pointing 45 deg up) so it would bounce around the room and hopefully diffuse itself a bit. Anyway, it was shot at f/5 and 1/60th, 22mm FL.
Even though I turned the flash around, the ladies in front ended up getting a lot more light than the rest of us. Could have I done anything different to prevent this?
All in all, I was pleased with how it turned out. If I did this a second time, I would probably try and shoot with a slightly higher apeture, as the DOF was a bit narrow at f/5, causing my brother (back right) to be slightly OOF.
Anyway, I didn't want to post this in the whipping post forums, as I don't believe it's truly my best work. I *would* appreciate some CC, though, if you don't mind providing some.
Thanks!
Even though I turned the flash around, the ladies in front ended up getting a lot more light than the rest of us. Could have I done anything different to prevent this?
All in all, I was pleased with how it turned out. If I did this a second time, I would probably try and shoot with a slightly higher apeture, as the DOF was a bit narrow at f/5, causing my brother (back right) to be slightly OOF.
Anyway, I didn't want to post this in the whipping post forums, as I don't believe it's truly my best work. I *would* appreciate some CC, though, if you don't mind providing some.
Thanks!
Erik Anderson
http://andersonfam.org
http://andersonfam.smugmug.com
D70 | SB-600 | Nifty Fifty | Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 | Nikon 70-300 f/4-5.6G
http://andersonfam.org
http://andersonfam.smugmug.com
D70 | SB-600 | Nifty Fifty | Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 | Nikon 70-300 f/4-5.6G
0
Comments
the white shirt is the only 'blinding' part of the photo IMHO...
I really like the composition...
I don't have a lot of experience with flash... so I can't help you there, but I wanted to say that I really like the photo
Thanks, tonichelle. Yah, I suppose I could tone the shirt down a bit in PS. That would help the overall balance level.
http://andersonfam.org
http://andersonfam.smugmug.com
D70 | SB-600 | Nifty Fifty | Tamron 17-50 f/2.8 | Nikon 70-300 f/4-5.6G
I don't see how you could have improved your lighting result given what you had to work with. If your flash was pointed away from the group, you did the best you could in that you lengthened the light path as much as practical. That reduced the relative distance between the rows the light had to travel, thus decreasing the exposure difference to the minimum. If you had the camera up high and pointed down, your flash may have been pointed more straight up than backward, but you got a great result IMO. It's a Christmas card for gosh sakes. The most important thing is that everybody looks like they're happy and having fun. Even the little one.
Natural selection is responsible for every living thing that exists.
D3s, D500, D5300, and way more glass than the wife knows about.