Fairy Princess Loc: Mississippi

What did I do wrong with these,,,why is there so much noise in the pic??

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Unfortunately I see so much wrong with these photos. However, we need you to repost these picks here but this time put a tick mark on the store original boxes so we can see them larger and so we can see all of the exif data. Then we can go from there.

These are to very beautiful young ladies and we may be able to fix these photos up just a bit.

You composition seems to be just fine. Let's see what we can do to help.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

Looks like there's much need for some white balance and different lighting but that can be fixed some and I'm wondering if you over-sharpened them causing the noise. There will be others along to help that will know more about what will help than I do and they'll all be happy to help you. She's a pretty girl!!!

Fairy Princess Loc: Mississippi

:? Im up for bad comments or good!!??

Fairy Princess Loc: Mississippi

Thankyou very much,,,I just cant get my low lighting photos to look alite,,,

Fairy Princess Loc: Mississippi

Ok, now see if I did it right,,,I cant get my low lighting photos to turn right but dont really know what im doing or not doing!! So any of your help would be greatly appreciated!! Thankyou so much!

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Holy crap! Lol. You are shooting at ISO 6400 for starters. If you want to see noise, this is the place to start. The pictures are pretty sharp so evidently you were using a tripod.

You must have shot these in low light. I see that you were in aperture (av) priority, which is alright. But I think all manual would be better.

Anyway, ISO 6400 is not the way to go. ISO 100-200 would be best if you have better lighting or if you were to use the flash.

You also need to adjust your white balance manually. You were on AWB. But since these are really toward the red end, you need to find a WB setting that is more natural or set a custom white balance if you know how.

I don't know what lens you are using but your Aperture settings seem to be o.k. for the effect you were going for. I could get more specific as to what your settings should be, but I still have some questions.

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Hmm... I was wrong about the sharpness. The focus is not quite there either. Actually it is not there at all.

First I started in cs6 using camera raw in order to clean it up. Then I used some of the tools in cs6. I then went into Topaz DeNoise. This helped a little but not much. I then went back and tried to sharpen some more. Maybe some one can do a better job and be more specific as how to take a better picture but we need to know the lighting conditions and the lens that you used as I mentioned before. Also, what did you meter your focusing at? I like to use spot metering focusing on the eyes.

I just wish I could have saved the redness in their hair a little better.

If Captain C sees this post, he can tell you what needs to be done in a flash (no pun intended).

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Ok....I'll comment.

yes...they need help but we've all been there. :)

Here is what settings you took the first picture at:

Exposure:
Auto exposure,
Aperture-priority
Shutter speed 1/5 sec
f/5.6,
ISO 6400

Right off the bat I can see that 1/5 of a second is a heck of a slow shutter speed....no way to hold it stead and so the pictures are blurred.

The rule of thumb on shutter speed is: 1/lens focal length. So if you are using a 50mm lens, then you should use NO LESS than 1/50 of a second shutter speed...or more depending on your shakiness.

The second thing is the ISO...for your camera...6400 is pretty high...it's grainy.

Also, the shots are underexposed, that makes everything worse.


the bottom line is this; get more light into the scene...turn on some lights! :)

Speed up your shutter speed and use a lower ISO.

That will help a LOT.


Do you have an external flash?

If you do...then you are ahead of the game and can do some great things with minimal effort.

PS: Just an FYI two things:

1.) Posing.

Go to youtube and search "posing for portraits" or something and get some posing understanding; in the first shot your daughter's head is turned too far, her nose is breaking her cheekline, her right eye isn't fully visible etc. Not being harsh...just letting you know. It's worth studying to get poses better.

Also a GREAT ebook that's well worth the minimal cost is Wayne Radford's "Portraiture tips and techniques"...you will really really get a LOT of great instruction out of that ebook...it's the best portraiture book I've ever read.

2.) Lose the heavy vignetting...it's not a good thing. Make it "subtle" and hardly noticeable.

tainkc Loc: Kansas City

Yeah, I forgot to mention your shutter speed as being the culprit for the blurriness as rpavich mentioned but I figured that I beat you up bad enough already.

Not to worry. We've all been there, done that.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

By the way...using flash isn't evil :)

Check this short video out by Scott Kelby. You can subtly get more light into the scene without making it look like Yankee stadium.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyMaY4LCMJE

Horseart Loc: Alabama

PLEASE know that the people who will answer your post are very sincere in trying to help. They WILL make a better photographer out of you. The willingness to help here is just fantastic. You will gain much from these people.
I am not a portrait photographer at all, but you have already met some nice ones. Now, if you can get Pale Pictures and Captain C in on this too, you can copy and keep all the advice in this column and be surprised at how quickly you improve. With all the info you have already and will receive, you will have it all. Best wishes. Jo

Fairy Princess Loc: Mississippi

Thankyou so much for your help!! How do I lower the ISO but not use a flash,,i like the natural low lights? What questions do you have and I will try to answer them,lol

Fairy Princess Loc: Mississippi

Thankyou so much,,this is the only way Im gonna learn is if somebody tells me!! Thankyou! :)

Fairy Princess Loc: Mississippi

You did not beat me up,you did what I wanted you to do,,I need someone to tell me what I am doing wrong,and you did,,Thankyou!! :-)