I hate flash!
At ISO3200, f/2.8 my shutter speeds were between 1/5 to 1/15 of a second depending on where I was relative to existing lights. Basically, all of the photos needed flash throughout all of the graduation ceremony. So I set my camera to ISO2000, shutter speed to 1/200 and used f/2.8-3.5 throughout the entire shoot. I left the flash at 90 degrees to the lens (or within 1 click of 90 degrees) with the reflector up and switched between 1/16 and 1/128 depending on if the previous similar photo was too light or too dark. I did not use the built in diffuser. Some shots came out too bright, some too dark, some did not have quite enough depth of field to keep two people side by side in focus. Some had big shadows due to the flash. A very few turned out OK. Now I have covered the subject of proper exposure.
I never used my 50mm f/1.8 lens because I could already tell that f/2.8 on my 17-50mm and 28-75mm lenses was not enough depth of field in some cases. I think f/1.8 or 2.0 would have been simply too shallow a slice at any distance. Of course, this is just my opinion.
As for "not sniping" and other photo journalistic endeavors, bah humbug! I could not even figure out why my camera would not focus half the time although I know this means that something is too far out of range. I just cannot tell you what just yet - I'll have to think about it.
Once the photos finish copying from the memory card I'll be able to see how much they suck.
Ok, here are the results:
157 photos total for the evening including a few some friends asked me to take after the event concluded
90 Photos are acceptably exposed or might be rescuable with software
61 Have some potential
I do not think I will post 61 photos. I'll think about this some more tomorrow and trim down the list with your 5 criteria in mind.
Tonight I'll go to bed frustrated and I'm not even going to mention the stereotypical things a guy goes to bed frustrated about!
By the way, thanks for the comments you left on my previous two photo postings. They are helpful but I did not see them until after tonights shoot. I will look at them again tomorrow with fresh eyes.
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The following 22 photos are the best of the set.
I did a levels adjustment in Photoshop and resized them to 50% for easier uploading.
In the process I noticed that a many of them were under exposed.
Up to 25% of the histogram on the white side of the scale was at the baseline on many of them.
However, this was also obvious just from looking at the photos before the levels adjustment.
Click on photo to enlarge
I did a levels adjustment in Photoshop and resized them to 50% for easier uploading.
In the process I noticed that a many of them were under exposed.
Up to 25% of the histogram on the white side of the scale was at the baseline on many of them.
However, this was also obvious just from looking at the photos before the levels adjustment.
Click on photo to enlarge
I think one thing you need to keep in mind is what your ultimate goal is with these shoots. If you are worried about your depth of field before you are about capturing a moment with a proper exposure, you're going to go nuts. Focus on moments, mood, emotion, perspective and action then find the best exposure you can to capture one or more of those elements. You are trying to tell a story with an image rather than capturing an image where everything is in focus. That 50 mm lens is made for these dark types of situations. As you're looking over these graduation photos, try to remember why you were taking certain photos and how many of those had the five PJ artsy criteria to them.
ReplyDeleteI'll be beating you over the head with these five items throughout the summer and you'll start seeing the opportunities to capture them.
Baby steps Andreas. Baby steps.