etan_lightstone

I'm assuming you took this photo at sunset?

Well the lighting looks great... and the sky behind him too.. although I can see you did some photoshopping to it. What did u do?

So do you use the light meter and expose for the sky, but tighten the aperture considerable in order to be able to sync the flash with the foreground?

my flash doesn't sync past 1/200

This image looks really familiar...

You sure its not from a movie or a video game ?

:)

Why are there white blocky things all over the place?

If it wasn't for that this could be quite decent

could you please describe the lighting set-up you used here?

Thanks!

Yeah the light on her hair is a little much. I would have had her face that harsh light, but use a reflector to fill in the shadow (from underneath).

Also, you're daughter looks like she's going to grow up to be a beautiful woman.. good genes :)

And its very obvious when viewed large.. look at the color speckling at the dark/shady part where the water meets the edge of that basin thing.

Anyhow at iso400 that isn't too surprising, especially if you adjusted contrast / sharpening. That only brings out the noise more.

You can always use a program called "Neat Image" to remove the noise of high iso shots.

But... its rampant with digital noise.

What ISO did you shoot this at?

Light is kinda harsh though, I might have tried removing her from direct sunlight, or using a reflector to fill those shadowy areas.

Also I can tell this was shot in the middle of the afternoon. Portrait lighting really prefers the warming/soft effect of the sun during sunrise and sunset.

With NO tripod? Wow... nice job :)

Must be that IS lens..

Thanks ivan. I'll try and not go under f4 the next time I do a portrait like this...

Would a hair light do the trick? Like a lightsource above the top of her head?

I disagree with the comment above. A snowy day would conceal the gorgous crisp mountains in the distance. I think this shot has the potential to be more grandiose.

My recommendation would be to try having the tree off more to the side of the frame... perhaps just expose a few branches , get closer to the tree even. Plus expose more of the nice mountains in the back.

Actually, I had already taken a shot with the lid in view... however I preferred the other shot because I liked the close angle.

Here it is anyways. Good idea with the polarizer.. it totally slipped my mind.