trishrose Loc: Kountze,TX

I'm no pro , just my thoughts. I think the shot is fine, lighting not so fine, would love to see it played around with color and contrast. more sepia and brown tones with more light in face. It's all about learning and every technigue you try is a learning experience. I think most all photos are salvageable, maybe not sellable, but can definitely be something you can turn into a photo that you like. At my daughters wedding, there was a photo that was completely black, started to delete but something stopped me, i played and lightened and it was the est photo of the bunch, in my eyes, it captured a moment in time of two people, not knowing their photo was taken with a beautiful sunset behind them. ALL photos have something special-just play with them and you'll discover amazing things that you like-even if others don't. Your second photo, I like the pose, just maybe adjust the pink tint a bit is my thought.

rdbroman

thanks for the insight. I knew the lighting was off. I liked the positioning. That's why I submitted it for comment. I have done some adjustments regarding the lighting and think I have made it into a better picture.

Dryart38 Loc: Carlsbad, NM

rdbroman: I'll just stick to my initial opinion - the pix were delightful and wondefully candid - why complicate it!

rdbroman

I was concerned primarily about light balance. I appreciate your comments. I too thought the picture itself was fine

Animal lover

I thought it was great. :thumbup:

Nikonfan70 Loc: Long Island

Go flickr And check out the backlit shots I made 40+ years ago.

Nikonfan70 Loc: Long Island

Sorry. My Handle is Chico195

fotogk Loc: Tuftonboro, NH

Did not read all six pages of response sorry if repeating, To help fix lighten if you put a winter green gel on flash and set white balance to florescent . when you are in editing program and correcting for color shift both light sources will be the same. If shooting inside always carry a winter green gel for florescent and CTO Color Temperature Orange for incandescent speeds up the post processing.

rdbroman

Thanks for the tips. Hope others benefit as well.

voncook

It would be a much more powerful image if she had just raised her eyes to the lens

Guy Johnstone Loc: Ocean Shores WA

I think Captain C statement about the shutter speed he utilizes when using flash should be underscored. A higher shutter speed will underexpose the ambient lighting leaving you with a single strong source much cleaner. If left to their own devices (In some auto setting) most cameras will select a shutter speed of around 1/30th to 1/60th and try to use the flash has fill. That doesn't work very well inside. Also, depending on how the bounds/falls off, your background may also darken getting you a little better separation. Personally I'm not crazy about trying to filter one light source to match another. I've never had very good luck with that even using a color meter.
As far as PP is concern less is always more. I would probably Set my thresholds and then use levels and try to find middle gray on her white blouse, then back the saturation out just a little.
I appreciate both photos has candids and hesitate to criticize the poses or lack thereof. It should be noted however that a studio Portrait is 75% more likely to sell if the model makes eye contact with the camera. good work!

rdbroman

Good point. You picked up on my error. I try to remember to set shutter speed at 1/200 when using flash. Looks like I forgot this tiny, but important detail. Shutter speed as your correctly estimated: 1/30. Rats. Lesson learned.
Your comment about a wider aperture as a result thereof would have resulted in a more obscured background as well.
This is another reason why this forum is helpful. It can remind all of us to pay attention to the devil who appears to be in charge of the details.

Dryart38 Loc: Carlsbad, NM

Guy Johnstone! Good advice - I agree with your studio reasoning! In this case an upward look would have looked like she was mugging the camera, which she isn't, which makes this picture much more successful. This shoot started out to be a bunch of candid photos, which it accomplished nicely! News photographers get a lot of assignments of this type, and a lot of journals won't use mugging pix - if I were an editor, I'd use these shots before the posed pix. IMHO!

Dunatic

Honestly, to me, it doesn't look like lipstick as much as chapped lips. Anyway, when my daughter was young she played dress up all the time and it did include lipstick...I see no problem with it when used in play. Also, I like the photo very much. The color adjustment made to the photo improved the hair color. Cheryl

cony25

Was just reading the posting, how would you correct the double colors in aperture or photoshop?