The *Official Photography Thread*

Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Lens: 70-200mm f/2.8 Shot at 88 mm
Exposure: Manual exposure, 1/125 sec, f/4, ISO 200

It's as close to on focus as I could get it as I did not have a tripod with me for the camera, just the flash, but the flash wasn't firing for some odd reason. The file that I posted is a rather large file, so if you click to see full size image you can see that it is pretty close. Her eyes are a very dark brown so it's hard to tell if they are very sharp.

 

What editing software do you have?

There is no substitute for nailing the focus on the eyes, but you can do a little in post that helps either way.

 

Also, just to keep in mind, f/4 on an APS-C sensor gives a larger depth of field than on a FF camera as multiplied by the crop factor (1.5 for Nikon, 1.6 for Canon). Just something that not everyone knows when comparing pics. This is more like f/6.4 as far as depth of field compared to a Full Frame sensor. Which is actually an advantage for crop sensor and m43 cameras if you like some extra DOF for say street or landscape work, but not so much for portraiture.

 

PP is in Lightroom 4.

 

I just edited this portrait from a few weeks ago. Let me know what y'all think. What could I have done better?

 

Chaz, I don't know why, but if I were taking that shot I would move the frame down and to the left a little bit. Maybe cropped on the right to that green wire and down to just above the knot in the post might fix that for me, but it still seems framed too high on her body. Other than that, it's a fantastic photo! I really like how clear she is compared to the background. Maybe a little more light on her face would have been nice, but meh, that's minor. I like the light accents on her scarf.

 

I see your friend and raise you mine hahaha

 

Thanks, man. I thought about cropping it in a bit but decided to leave as I shot it in the camera and I actually did lighten her face up a little as well as make the surroundings a little darker. It was pretty washed out in the original.

 

No problem! The overall lighting of her face is good, but I'm wondering if the little patch of sunlight was a hair bigger it might look better. I don't know, hard to tell. That's just something to think about when you take the actual picture, though.
This is what I'm thinking of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt_lighting
It looks like some weird lighting in your case, though, so that might not turn out as good.

 

I am familiar with Rembrandt and Caravaggio and the like ha I've studied ancient art up to recent and the history behind it all a little throughout my life. I used to draw a lot and paint a little and I'm a research nerd.

Photography derives from two greek words: Photos, meaning light, and graphe, meaning drawing, so a photograph is a light drawing

 

Dude, I can't really stand art history. I never liked having to learn the differences in styles between artists. I like seeing their work and I appreciate it, but being tested on it kinda ruined it for me, I think. Also, when I do any drawing or anything, I just kinda go with what looks right. I've done some pencil sketches and for that I just draw lots of lines until I get the right one and then erase all the others... Props to you, though, for doing all that research on your own!

Anyways, yeah, I couldn't remember the term for the triangle under the eye so I googled it and just pasted the wiki link...I remember talking about rembrandt lighting in a short photo section of an intro to tech classes rotation class that I took in high school, so that's where I was getting it from.

 

I don't necessarily like it. I'm just weird and thoroughly research everything ha I can't just know a little bit about something important to me.

That's why I research photography a lot lately. It's been a tremendous help to me.

 

Yeah, seriously! You went from just getting a camera to being one of the best photographers on the site in like 6 months. I need to do some research, too...

 

Portrait I took of my boy the other day let me know what y'all think....

 

Great shot! The tattooed shoulder just keeps attracting my attention. Other than that I like it.

 

That's a bit of a rash statement haha but thank you for the compliment. Just put the time into the things you love, man. Photography helped me overcome a lot of residual junk left over from the Marine Corps and on top of that let me get back into art after several years away from it, so I love it and love to teach it and share it with others! Life is all about helping people, ha.

 

Great shot. Cute kid too.

 

Don't mind the watermark, I forgot to change it on SmugMug when I uploaded them

 

Wow nice shots man.

 

Thank you dude