Family pictures , Aperture vs Manual (Page 2): Regardless of the mode, the sky is overexposed. Normally, the sky is a lot brighter than the folks you are photographing so there are a...

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

catalint wrote:

For this session I really wanted to put in use my Sigma 1.4 ART. I used Aperture mode to begin use, but because of the pale bright sky, I was getting very blown out sky, so I switched to Manual. I could not figure out how to stay on aperture mode and correct the blown out sky.

Regardless of the mode, the sky is overexposed. Normally, the sky is a lot brighter than the folks you are photographing so there are a few things you can do:

1.) Don't include the sky.
2.) Include the sky but add light to the folks via flash or reflector to even the light amount out.
3.) Include the sky by metering so that the sky is exposed properly and this will make the folks be underexposed, then fix in post processing.

My choice would be be to use a flash or reflector to add light to the folks so that they are brighter and you won't get that issue. Your meter was not taking the sky into account enough so it exposed for the folks and blew the sky.

Quote:

Question : Should I have changed the metering in order to solve this? I used Spot metering.

Metering won't fix your exposure, that's up to you. If you have a situation where the sky is much brighter than your subject, you have to fix it by adding light to your subject or by not including the sky in the shot.

If it were me, (and I didn't want to use flash or a reflector) I'd meter for the sky and then add exposure to the folks in post processing. Not the preferred way (fixing after the fact) but around here it seems to be the norm.

My distance was around 3-4 meter away. This is my first prime lens, and now I see the challenge of moving around rather to zoom in and out as I was used to on my other lenses. Using prime lens, it showed me how important is to remember the aperture. Cause now I have to move from my standing spot i order to frame my picture, and moving back and forward has a huge impact on the result with proper aperture.

Aperture @widest (1.4) from that distance resulted in sharper details in front on the subject, while the main subject were soft. Because of very bright light, from the washed out thin layer of clouds, in front of the sun, ISO had to go very low: 100 . [/quote]

No reason to use f/1.4.

Try at least f/4 next time. The thing that makes soft blurry backgrounds and sharp subjects is distance to subject vs distance to background.

EDITED TO ADD: after typing all of that, I see that you used fill flash and you had them all in focus fine.

There's nothing wrong with this image.

When you say "blown out" you don't mean "no information in the image" you just mean "sky is brighter than subject" right?

quagmire Loc: Greenwood,South Carolina

I would have moved the lady about two letters to the right on the tractor,if I had noticed.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

catalint wrote:

Hi all,
The student is backup from homework again, and needs to evaluate.
I had the opportunity to help my good friend with some family pictures this weekend. The photographer canceled last week, and they were very disappointed, so they turned to me for help. They knew I mostly do hobby photography and I do not go around and call myself a professional photographer. They've seen my pictures and they had a lot of confidence in me that I would do just grate.

For this session I really wanted to put in use my Sigma 1.4 ART. I used Aperture mode to begin use, but because of the pale bright sky, I was getting very blown out sky, so I switched to Manual. I could not figure out how to stay on aperture mode and correct the blown out sky.

Question : Should I have changed the metering in order to solve this? I used Spot metering.

My distance was around 3-4 meter away. This is my first prime lens, and now I see the challenge of moving around rather to zoom in and out as I was used to on my other lenses. Using prime lens, it showed me how important is to remember the aperture. Cause now I have to move from my standing spot i order to frame my picture, and moving back and forward has a huge impact on the result with proper aperture.

Aperture @widest (1.4) from that distance resulted in sharper details in front on the subject, while the main subject were soft. Because of very bright light, from the washed out thin layer of clouds, in front of the sun, ISO had to go very low: 100 . I wanted to shoot more from the left, but the sun bulb would be in front of me. Wanted a little of the water in the background so I had to be happy with light from the side.

I am pretty ok with the result. Analyzing the photo on my big screen, I see it could have done it better. I feel picture could have been more sharp.

So you, please feel free to share your thoughts on this. Critics and suggestions always welcome.

Cheers everybody
and greetings from Oslo
Catalin T.

PS: Forgot to mention PP. Original picture is a little overexposed. So I had to reduce highlight a little, changed to Daylight white balance, masked and sharpened a little more.
Gear: Nikon D750 + Sigma 50mm 1.4 ART
Settings: ISO 100, A6.5, Shutter Speed 1/200 , Spot metering.

Hi all, br The student is backup from homework ag... (show quote)

No, this is just another perfect example, that shooting in manual will give you what you want every time! Your situations calls for taking out your speedlights and put them to work. Its the best scenario for it, could not asked for better circumstances to make that assumption!

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

catalint wrote:

Hi all,
The student is backup from homework again, and needs to evaluate.
I had the opportunity to help my good friend with some family pictures this weekend. The photographer canceled last week, and they were very disappointed, so they turned to me for help. They knew I mostly do hobby photography and I do not go around and call myself a professional photographer. They've seen my pictures and they had a lot of confidence in me that I would do just grate.

For this session I really wanted to put in use my Sigma 1.4 ART. I used Aperture mode to begin use, but because of the pale bright sky, I was getting very blown out sky, so I switched to Manual. I could not figure out how to stay on aperture mode and correct the blown out sky.

Question : Should I have changed the metering in order to solve this? I used Spot metering.

My distance was around 3-4 meter away. This is my first prime lens, and now I see the challenge of moving around rather to zoom in and out as I was used to on my other lenses. Using prime lens, it showed me how important is to remember the aperture. Cause now I have to move from my standing spot i order to frame my picture, and moving back and forward has a huge impact on the result with proper aperture.

Aperture @widest (1.4) from that distance resulted in sharper details in front on the subject, while the main subject were soft. Because of very bright light, from the washed out thin layer of clouds, in front of the sun, ISO had to go very low: 100 . I wanted to shoot more from the left, but the sun bulb would be in front of me. Wanted a little of the water in the background so I had to be happy with light from the side.

I am pretty ok with the result. Analyzing the photo on my big screen, I see it could have done it better. I feel picture could have been more sharp.

So you, please feel free to share your thoughts on this. Critics and suggestions always welcome.

Cheers everybody
and greetings from Oslo
Catalin T.

PS: Forgot to mention PP. Original picture is a little overexposed. So I had to reduce highlight a little, changed to Daylight white balance, masked and sharpened a little more.
Gear: Nikon D750 + Sigma 50mm 1.4 ART
Settings: ISO 100, A6.5, Shutter Speed 1/200 , Spot metering.

Hi all, br The student is backup from homework ag... (show quote)

Regarding the blown out sky. The main subject is the people. As long as they are in focus and the exposure is correct, the sky doesn't matter.

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

boberic wrote:

Regarding the blown out sky. The main subject is the people. As long as they are in focus and the exposure is correct, the sky doesn't matter.

boberic,
The blown sky does matter when it distracts the eyes from the principle subject, the farming family.
Michael G

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

Armadillo wrote:

boberic,
The blown sky does matter when it distracts the eyes from the principle subject, the farming family.
Michael G

Fair enough but you can regard the "white" sky as a white background. As above fill flash might help.

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

boberic wrote:

Fair enough but you can regard the "white" sky as a white background. As above fill flash might help.

Hello Bob,
This is just a personal opinion. The photographer looks as if he/she used a strobe to fill in the shadows on the camera side of the subjects, the shadows under the tractor are well handled.

What could have helped the sky background would have been to use Exposure Compensation and ETTL for the strobe. This would have allowed the strobe to illuminate the subjects and the shadows under the tractor, and the shutter speed to set the exposure on the background.

I think, bringing out the details of the sky, and the clouds would have added impact to the farm family photograph.

I am not trying to be nit-picky, just trying to use all the tools we have in our camera toolbox to capture the best image possible under various conditions.

Michael G

canon Lee

catalint wrote:

Hi all,
The student is backup from homework again, and needs to evaluate.
I had the opportunity to help my good friend with some family pictures this weekend. The photographer canceled last week, and they were very disappointed, so they turned to me for help. They knew I mostly do hobby photography and I do not go around and call myself a professional photographer. They've seen my pictures and they had a lot of confidence in me that I would do just grate.

For this session I really wanted to put in use my Sigma 1.4 ART. I used Aperture mode to begin use, but because of the pale bright sky, I was getting very blown out sky, so I switched to Manual. I could not figure out how to stay on aperture mode and correct the blown out sky.

Question : Should I have changed the metering in order to solve this? I used Spot metering.

My distance was around 3-4 meter away. This is my first prime lens, and now I see the challenge of moving around rather to zoom in and out as I was used to on my other lenses. Using prime lens, it showed me how important is to remember the aperture. Cause now I have to move from my standing spot i order to frame my picture, and moving back and forward has a huge impact on the result with proper aperture.

Aperture @widest (1.4) from that distance resulted in sharper details in front on the subject, while the main subject were soft. Because of very bright light, from the washed out thin layer of clouds, in front of the sun, ISO had to go very low: 100 . I wanted to shoot more from the left, but the sun bulb would be in front of me. Wanted a little of the water in the background so I had to be happy with light from the side.

I am pretty ok with the result. Analyzing the photo on my big screen, I see it could have done it better. I feel picture could have been more sharp.

So you, please feel free to share your thoughts on this. Critics and suggestions always welcome.

Cheers everybody
and greetings from Oslo
Catalin T.

PS: Forgot to mention PP. Original picture is a little overexposed. So I had to reduce highlight a little, changed to Daylight white balance, masked and sharpened a little more.
Gear: Nikon D750 + Sigma 50mm 1.4 ART
Settings: ISO 100, A6.5, Shutter Speed 1/200 , Spot metering.

Hi all, br The student is backup from homework ag... (show quote)

I would have zoomed in closer and took a head and shoulder shot so that the tractor would be out of focus. I find the tractor and background distracting. The main interest should be the family.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

My apologies. But with all the comments about crotches, that's all I can look at. What is that guy doing with his hand in his pocket. See what I mean. I am sitting here laughing at myself.