I'm DONE with DRO levels 1 thru 5 on the A700...no more ruined shots of people

[samn]

<p>All this crap. Jeez. Maxxum 7. Lightsphere on Program without any softining filters. Toss your digitals. It's more work but it's worth it. As shot, minor sharpening after reduction in size.</p><div></div>

[samn]

<p>Outside in direct sunlight. Fill Flash Minolta 7000, Fuji 160 S.</p>

[samn]

<p>Outside in direct sunlight. Fill Flash Minolta 7000, Fuji 160 S. 70/210 F4.</p><div></div>

[jiun_der_chung]

<p>Hi Steve, those are some really nice shots and great lighting. I can see what you mean by the deep set eyes, you wonder if you almost have to place your flash low down in order to light them.</p>

<p>I think you would have gotten a reasonable result with on camera flash for the shots where the couple are further away, I guess in that situation the directional lighting is not particularly important. Whilst the range of HSS is greatly reduced, every little bit of fill helps.</p>

<p>So you normally bring along a stand and a umbrella? I know you have 2 HVL-56AMs so why not use them wirelessly? You could dial down the ratio of the master (admittedly I have not experimented much with wireless as I only have one flash unit) and not be tied to the stand with the sync cord. Personally I think that would irritate me as I like to move around alot when I am shooting.</p>

[steve_c.5]

<p>Sam, forgive me, but in what way do your film shots relate to the use of DRO to increase dynamic range? Neither of the shots have a bright sky and darker ground areas. Anyone shooting an A700 could accomplish those same shots with no DRO at all, so how are they appropriate here? Is it just an argument for going back to film (as if that would happen)?</p>

<p>Jiun, thanks for the compliment. True, at a longer distance, on-camera flash would do just fine.</p>

<p>I don't use the 56 flashes with the IR wireless, because they're tricky to get communicating with each other (especially when people are standing there waiting on you to shoot) and inconsistent in being triggered, requiring line of sight. When you put the flash in an umbrella, you lose that line of sight required.</p>

<p>I do use wireless triggers, but mine do not support HSS or TTL functions, they just trigger the flashes and sync under 1/200 sec. I use them for normal lighting situations where HSS is not required. I only use the cable sync cord with the strobe on the stand in brighter daylight conditions where HSS is required. True, the cable is a pain, but my only alternative right now is to wait until RadioPoppers come out with their new PX triggers that have the firmware update to work properly with Sony gear. They're not quite out on the market yet, but are coming. A transmitter and two receivers will run me about $800US, so they're not cheap. I'll deal with the cable for now.</p>

[samn]

<p>Steve, you are correct. The post was out of line, unrelated to the topic and problem you are attempting to solve and not called for. Just a bad day that your topic happened to get in the way of. Sorry.</p>

[steve_c.5]

<p>No worries, Sam. Everyone's allowed a bad day. Cheers.</p>

[vrankin]

<p>Steve: I'm coming in on this thread a little late, but I did notice in one of your earlier posts that you might have been using the Vivid setting for wedding subjects: "I'm using the Vivid setting in the A700 and not changing the color space in ACDSee." Was that the right context? I'm asking, because Vivid is probably too punchy for flesh tones, regardless of what's happening with DRO. It could definitely cause the salmon colored faces. BTW, I discovered the nice color rendering along with shallow DOF for human subjects on the Sports Scene Mode a few weekends back on a family outing. I know most pros would probably not want to be caught using the scene modes, but I think this did a nice job (file attached). Not meaning to get off topic too much.</p><div></div>

[peterblaise]

<p>.</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Earlier: "<em>... shots have a bright sky and darker ground areas ...</em> "</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Thinking ... thinking ... something caught my eye on that thought.</p>

<p>I wasn't aware that "bright sky" nor "darker ground areas" were the "subject".</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Earlier: "<em>... shooting weddings ... rendering of skin tones ...</em> "</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Is this part of the challenge -- trying to sneak landscape photos into "wedding" portraits?</p>

<blockquote>

<p>Earlier: "<em>... making grass look like AstroTurf ...</em> "</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Does the customer care? Is this the real assignment?</p>

<p>Just thinking.</p>

<p>2 cents spent.</p>

<p>.</p>

[peterblaise]

<p>.</p>

<p>Excellent example of DRO+ on the Sony Alpha DSLR-A700 from fellow</p>

<ul>

<li><em><strong>Minolta Sony Photographer Tobias Bruderer</strong> </em> </li>

</ul>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.artaphot.ch/">http://www.artaphot.ch/</a> </li>

</ul>

<p>-- no people in the images, though:</p>

 

<ul>

<li><a href="http://artaphot.ch/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=30">http://artaphot.ch/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=30</a> </li>

</ul>

<p>.</p>

[steve_c.5]

<p>Thanks, Howard. Yes, I typically leave Vivid on for most of my work, including the portraits above. I'll try some DRO Level 2 shots of people with it off, just for general investigation, but I don't think I'll see much difference. The Vivid setting seems to work pretty well for wedding and portrait, though.</p>

<p>Peter, neither bright sky nor darker ground areas are necessarily the "subject", but are part of the scene in which I put my subjects, so the objective is to render all the best as possible.</p>

<p>Some of my wedding photos include scenic shots as above, with the bride and groom being romantic, shot from a distance. It helps set the location, the way everything looked, the sky, the surroundings, etc. Just my special touch.</p>

<p>I don't want grass to look like Astroturf, I want it to look like grass. Don't we all? After all, I'm not usually shooting in a football stadium.</p>

<p>Thanks for the $0.02, though!</p>

[jiun_der_chung]

<p>Steve, if and when you get around to buying into the radiopoppers, I'd like to know how you'd go. I can definately see the possibilities of having a remotely triggered flash around the corner is an interior space or even to backlight a subject.</p>

[ricardovaste]

<p>Found something interesting Steve! 'Leaked info' on the latest Pentax K-7 body suggests 'auto HDR mode'. If you're optimistic, you might think that the A700 replacement (as they're similar cameras) would have such a feature (one that I'd welcome with open arms): http://ricehigh.blogspot.com/2009/05/pentax-k-7-is-here-finally.html</p>

[steve_c.5]

<p>Jiun, the RadioPoppers are certainly nice. My only impetus for purchasing them would be for working in bright sunshine with high speed shutter, but doing it wirelessly. No cords to trip over.</p>

<p>As long as you don't need shutter speeds over 1/200 sec. (like working in shade or indoors), any good RF trigger will work fine. I use the Alienbees Cybersyncs and mount my 56 flashes on a Minolta shoe with a mini plug wired in, which plugs into the Cybersync receiver. It works great, and is pretty cheap too.</p>

<p>Rich, we'll see if HDR mode comes to our cameras any time soon. Keep fingers crossed!</p>