sherrie_w

I took some pictures for my sister in law to make books through Shutterfly for grandparents. She waited too long to book a professional, so the Sunday before Christmas we took the pics. She made the books with the pictures straight from the camera and they were loved by the grandparents. They want a disc to make prints from, but I'm not happy with the color in most of them. What did I do wrong and how can I fix them. I bought Elements 9 but am terribly confused by it at the moment. Ordered the Scott Kelby book in hopes that will help. Appreciate any suggestions.

cousin, brother and sister


my handsome nephew

MWAC Loc: Somewhere East Of Crazy

What time did you take them? The sun looks like it was pretty high in the sky and very harsh.

#1 you've blown out the young man and the young girls right side of their faces. There is hardly (if not no) detail left there. The young girl with the short bob hair cut has the best lighting falling on her face, this is because the young man is blocking the harsh sunlight.

#2 You needed some fill light on the one side of his face, it's in the shadows to much. Try standing him about a foot from the brick wall, this would have increase your DOF and you would most likely gotten some nice bokeh.

#3- the harsh sunlight is once again the reason for the issues with the image.

#4 - Try standing him about a foot from the brick wall, this would have increase your DOF and you would most likely gotten some nice bokeh. The grout lines from the brick are also running right thru the young mans head, moving them from away from the wall would have helped with this.

PJT Loc: Sarasota,Florida

On your second image,the right side of the young mans face has entirely to much shadow.You have basically a broad lit image which in this case works because he has a narrow face. With a larger person you would have made his face look larger in proportion to his torso.
In my oppioion if either the subject turned his head slightly and created the butterfly shadow under the nose a more striking photogarph could have been taken or with a little further adjustment a classic Rembrant lighting effect could have been achieved.
Really though a small silver reflector or flash held on the shadowed side would have been nice,and opened up the shadow slightly.
In my humble oppinion your DOF is not shallow enough. Note the brick work detail By opening up the F stop and focusing on the eyes while using afaster shutter speed would have produced a subject with more contrast overall. This also will draw your eyes to the young mans face.
Please I do not want to dis your work! I think the photographer shows a talent,and I like what I see in her work.
I merely point this out for future reference.
Please I do not mean to to discourage only encourage !. :D

jbirdmo Loc: Soon to be Chicago

It's actually hard to answer your question in a post here on the forum, but I'll try to add a little. Your color doesn't really look that far off to me except for the last one (and I'll get to that in a second), but I believe it's more about light control that will give you the results that you're after. Unfortunately that also means that there is probably little that you can do in Photoshop to take these photos to the place you'll be happy with them.
If it were me I would save the hours (if not days) of editing and go for a re-shoot if that's possible. If not, then be happy with how much you learned from this photoshoot and let those who are already happy with what you've done be happy with them. If you do this sort of things often you'll be making leaps and bounds over the next few months.

As has already been mentioned high afternoon sun is not the ideal time for sunlight portraits. If this is the only time that you can shoot, then move your subject to the shade (like in your third photo) or at least place your subject with the sun behind the subject and ADD light to the subject from the front via flash or reflector. The point here is to eliminate the very dark shadows going from one side of the face to the other.

This also requires some basic knowledge of the function of the camera and how to manipulate aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and lens length to get the results that you desire. Judging from the last photo, and the fact that the flash went off on that photo and not the others, I'm guessing you had the camera in automatic for most of the shoot. Moving to manual is really the only way to have consistent results time after time once you know how to control the light your using.

Here is an example of a portrait taken late morning, at a time when the sun was very harsh and would have cast nasty shadows across the face. I placed my daughter with the sun behind her, and used the umbrella to cast a shadow over her whole upper body, and used flash to give the proper lighting to her face. http://judevickery.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Elizabeth-2010.jpg

I hope this helps!
Let me know if you have any additional questions!

---Jude

sherrie_w

Thank you for the suggestions. The mom was in panic mode that she hadn't ordered photo books, and the time was around 2 pm. I knew this would not be ideal. I am trying to wean myself from auto mode, but this was such a crucial shoot for her, that I went forward in auto, not wanting to entirely screw it up. Thanks for the suggestion of moving my nephew away from the wall. I will use that next time. And try portrait mode--would that work? It's a step away from auto while still helping a beginner. I had a lot of fun with this, and took over 200 shots! Some candid,some silly, some with terribly stubborn kids!! I do appreciate the help. A local photographer is going to let me tag along with her after the first of the year and give me some pointers. I can't wait!

jbirdmo Loc: Soon to be Chicago

Sherrie,
I think you did the right thing using the camera in auto. If you had tried to use the camera in manual while at the same time not understanding how to use the built in light meter, shutter speed, aperture, and ISO then you would have spent more time fighting the camera than being creative and getting good response from the kids. And your photos would have been a mess. Ask anyone just starting with Manual Mode....

If the mother was happy (you did get her out of a jam), and the grandparents are happy (they obviously want to look at them more), then you did your job. That's why I would encourage you to not fret too much about these, but take what you've learned and move on to the next shoot. :)

On the Canon consumer cameras any of the creative zones (portrait, landscape, night, action) are still fully automatic. By using any of those modes you're simply letting the camera know your intentions for shooting so that it can load the programming for that kind of photography. The camera is still in full control of shutter speed, aperture, its just tweaked towards a specific style.

Av (aperture priority) or Tv (shutter priority) some would suggest are a step towards manual, because each of the modes gives you control over one or more of the functions of the camera. Av gives you control over aperture. So for instance if you wanted to pull your nephew away from the wall and get the background to blur, you could use Av and set it to the largest aperture (some would say smallest number) and let the camera automatically select the correct shutter speed for you. The thing that you have to remember about shooting in either Av or Tv is that the camera is still "thinking" about the exposure for you. It will use the internal light meter and pick settings that it thinks will give you the best results. Just like it did with the photos you posted. The results it thinks you should have may not be what your looking for however. Hence the recommendation to start shooting in Manual.

It's great that you had fun, and you show a lot of promise with your creativity. Just get you equipment under control so that it's not doing any thinking for you and you'll have an even better time! I think it's great that a local photographer is willing to let you tag along! You can learn so much more from someone who knows what they're doing in person!

---Jude

sherrie_w

Jude,
Thank you so much for your input. I am trying to read up on my own and plan to take some classes at a junior college in the fall. At my age, I am not looking to start a business or anything, just love photography and want to get better. It is something I enjoy, so why not pursue it? Thought I would add some of our "fun" pics to the mix. Thanks again. You have been very kind and helpful.

jbirdmo Loc: Soon to be Chicago

You are quite welcome! I agree, if it's something you enjoy then take it as far as you wish. You'll have a great time in the process. :thumbup:

---Jude

vislp Loc: Level Pebble

The last of these three is a nice shot. Notice how each of them has a little highlighting in their hair. (hair light if you'd been using a flash) Gives them some definition. I've been reading and practicing for 4 years, and I continue to read and practice. :-) Photography is a never ending learning process.

VisLP

suzip Loc: Houston

I'm fairly new too but maybe my experiences may help!
Definitely shoot in portrait and even landscape; colors are richer there. Also shoot kids in shade or early evening to eliminate those harsh shadows. Overcast days are great for outdoors, and evening gives those wonderful mellow tones. Then train your eye to watch those shadows.
I really love your compositions and those kids are priceless! You definitely have an eye for composition. My problem is always messy backgrounds but you don't have that!

One last piece of advice. Once you are happy with your photos, try www.Adoramapix.com instead of shutterfly. The photoquality and paper quality with their books is astounding - like real photos on each page and the price is not too much more than shutterfly!