the wife and myself: This is another picture I had taken of us and I was really looking for a different result. I wanted the background to be much darker. How would you suggest that...

gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

This is another picture I had taken of us and I was really looking for a different result.
I wanted the background to be much darker. How would you suggest that for SOOC? I do understand that I could edit to get the result and I do have other things to work on, hair, eyes and a few other things I noticed.

canon 70D with Kit lens's
f4.0 / 1/60s / ISO 1600 / 18-55mm @ 28mm on tripod
430EXII speedlight pointed about 45degrees with defuser
sometime after 11:30pm est

I have not cropped anything and very little touch up for now, but would be interested in any thoughts or suggestions.

Again sorry I am posting so much, I have been learning alot in these last few days.

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Horseart Loc: Alabama

Nice photo anyway, but even in bright daylight you can put more distance between you and whatever is in the background, then close your aperture down to the point where the two of you look way too dark and use a flash to shoot the picture. Move the camera close enough to you to light you as you wish but not so close that it will have a lot of light colors blown out. Works for me. I'm sure the better photographers here will come up with something easier or better. I use that method for flowers in daylight to get black backgrounds.

wayne barnett Loc: Grants Pass, Oregon

First crop vertically in the format desired (8X10, etc) then the background will not have and much to be corrected. As for the rest you seem to know how you want to proceed.

yorkiebyte Loc: Scottsdale, AZ/Bandon by the Sea, OR

gator81 wrote:

This is another picture I had taken of us and I wa... (show quote)

I agree! Move away from the background more.
Also, is there a reason why you took this image horizontally rather than tightly framing vertically? That would get rid of a lot of background right there. As of now, you need to crop out of that frame to make a vertical.

Stephan G

gator81 wrote:

Again sorry I am posting so much, I have been learning alot in these last few days.

Old (new) adage. "Those that post not, learn not."*

*Can be spoken in Yoda's voice.

gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

yorkiebyte wrote:

I agree! Move away from the background more.
Also, is there a reason why you took this image horizontally rather than tightly framing vertically? That would get rid of a lot of background right there. As of now, you need to crop out of that frame to make a vertical.

The next time I get the chance I will try to be further away and see what happens. I was also thinking that since I was using a flash would it also be good to shoot at a faster speed so it wouldn't pick up as much background or maybe even shoot a higher stop like f8 or f11? since I am shooting dark with a flash I am not worrying so much about blur? I am also doing a single focus point, with this type of shot should I change it to a larger point since I am not worried it focusing something outside just our selves?

I will try to also do some shots vertical as it would remove more of the background, I had not thought of that so its a really good Idea, thanks.

this would be another question :) are there any good remote triggers that wont bankrupt me? The phone app is great during the day but at night if it cannot focus it will not trigger. What would you recommend.

and another question is has anyone working with magic latern? I have used it with my canon and really like some of the features but from reading some people like some don't, just wanted to thought that in here too...

sorry I slipped in these other questions, I should find the correct place to ask :/

yorkiebyte Loc: Scottsdale, AZ/Bandon by the Sea, OR

gator81 wrote:

The next time I get the chance I will try to be fu... (show quote)

~ Does your camera have a self-timer? That seems like it would work well in this situation and save money on remote triggers that are temperamental from my experience..
~ F 5.6 would be a good aperture to work with as well as running your ISO to 200 or 400.
~ A bigger diffuser on your flash, such as this homemade Diffuser Panel (see images below), would be of benefit. The larger your light source, the softer and more flattering with images of people. This shown diffuser was actually a bit too small when used at my daughter's wedding (I was not the hired gun at the wedding) but was much better than straight flash on camera - I tried both.
Does your Flash swivel as well as tilt? You will need that feature when you shoot this image vertically.
~ Magic Lantern, Isn't that a book? I know nothing about that. Most of my info comes from the Manuals for my cameras and Googleing for specific info and settings (yes, I'm cheap!). +++ One of the best things you could do for yourself would be to look up "Composition in Photography" online and read through a bunch of those articles. Bar none, one of the most overlooked things about taking pictures is COMPOSITION!!

Now...GET BUSY!!

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gator81 Loc: Jeffersonville Indiana

yorkiebyte wrote:

~ Does your camera have a self-timer? That seems l... (show quote)

I like the idea of your diffuser as it would help more in directional flash. The flash I am using right now is a friends high dollar speed flash and it is directional, that is why I was only doing a 45degree instead of stright but the reflected lite of a diffuser like you did would of helped even more being an outside photo.

My camera has a timer of 2sec and 10secs. The nice thing about the trigger is not having to hold a pose for to long or to move quickly to get in position. My phone app works ok for daylight but fails me taking photos in the dark. I will look more into composition but I am starting to feel spoiled as I have learned so much so fast here :)

As for Magic Lantern I don't know if that is breaking the rules of the site as I am not trying to promote it, I was looking to see more if anyone else had used it before. In short you can search for it as it is a overlay for the bios of certain cameras that can give additional options that may not be part of the default bios. Like my camera canon 70D, it does not have a zebra menu and there is no built in intervalometer which is used to take a set number of pictures over the time you can configure. You add the software to your sd card and it only becomes active when you press the trashcan on the camera or you can deactivate pressing it again. Some people claim that the overlay has bricked their camera but from my research I have not heard any solid info on that. And running as an overlay will not void any warranty as you are not writing to the camera bios. I don't use it all the time but there have been times it has come in handy. Admins please let me know if this is not allowed as I don't want to break any rules.

thanks for the advice

yorkiebyte Loc: Scottsdale, AZ/Bandon by the Sea, OR

gator81 wrote:

I like the idea of your diffuser as it would help ... (show quote)