eating 'ulam'

[noruazumi]

i took this photo during wedding kenduri of my friend in Kamunting, Perak.
this is my friend, shamsulfakhar enjoying the great flavor of 'ulam'. aaaah, i miss malay food!

this is the exif for this photo:
Camera: Nikon D50
Exposure: 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 70 mm
Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode
more detail exif is here (http://www.flickr.com/photo_exif.gne?id=422501931&context=set-72157600001918486).
full photo collection is here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/noruazumi/sets/72157600001918486/).

lens is Nikon 18-70/3.5-4.5.
flashgun is Nikon SB-600 mounted with Sto-fen Omnibounce directed to top of the tent.
minor PP using PSCS2, actually i just did a batch processing since i got no free time to PP them one by one.
so i just boost the contrast & saturation, and resizing. no sharpening or what so ever.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/145/422501931_86ca67a7d8_o.jpg


from my point of view, i like the facial expression coz i like candid shots.... a lot!!!!
composition, i should crop the photo 'coz there's an arm on the bottom right.
sharpness, it's not very sharp eventho i optimized the sharpness on my D50.
perhaps the lens or maybe i need to find DOF mastah to help me? :rasta:
bokeh, kinda like it.
that's it from me.
i really want to hear more from u guys.
don't worry, give me all u got. :boxer:
i want to learn & i'm prepared to be taught a lesson!!! :whipped:
thanks guys!! :cheers:

[alancheong7]

Errr, mebbe if the background were to be blurred out, including the chairs, like Caveman's clown pic?
That would isolate shamsul and keep attention on him....just me.

[ShaolinTiger]

Yah I have to agree, personally I find the background very distracting, need something like f/2.2 at this distance to get a good bokeh and keep the distracting elements nicely blurred.

Also notice some areas in the background the highlights are overexposed meaning you haven't correctly balanced the contrast between foreground and background.

The facial expression is nice, but I find the forearm on the table distracting.

My 2 euro cents :D

[noruazumi]

Yah I have to agree, personally I find the background very distracting, need something like f/2.2 at this distance to get a good bokeh and keep the distracting elements nicely blurred.
largest aperture for my lens is f/3.5, can't achieve that! :cry_smile:
tamron 17-50/2.8, please come to daddy...

Also notice some areas in the background the highlights are overexposed meaning you haven't correctly balanced the contrast between foreground and background.
hmmm... i remember DK told me to meter the background and use the flash to light-up the face so that the background will have a good exposure. well, this is at shooting level. how about in PSCS2 level? how to achieve this? separate background/foreground & manually edit them perhaps?

The facial expression is nice, but I find the forearm on the table distracting.
me too!! :wink_smile:
and also look the bottom left. there's a red jug!! haha...

My 2 euro cents :D
euro?? :0 this is expensive!!! *LOL*

Errr, mebbe if the background were to be blurred out, including the chairs, like Caveman's clown pic?
That would isolate shamsul and keep attention on him....just me.
hmmm.... i didn't noticed that the background is distracting until u guys said something about it. thanks!! i need to make a note about keeping your background as a background! :lightbulb:

[ShaolinTiger]

If you blow the highlights when taking the picture there is nothing you can during post as there are no details at all in that area, all data is lost.

That's why it's ALWAYS better to underexpose than overexpose.

Underexposing will bring out some noise in the picture, but you won't risk blowing any highlights and completely losing the data.

That's why Nikon cams tend to meter slightly under (0.3-0.66eV by default) so they don't lose the highlights.

After you take the pic you can check the highlights warning on your LCD.

But yes you should spot meter the brightest part of the background, the shoot the subject, the flash will balance it out with the TTL technology.

[noruazumi]

so it is good to make the photo underexpose a bit? *jotting down the tips*
ST, in your opinion which metering should i used in this situation?
Matrix or spot? coz i don't noticed the difference using these two method of metering.

[ShaolinTiger]

Yes it's better to underexpose.

You should use spot and meter on the white shirt.

[noruazumi]

Noted!! thanks ST!
if i use my 50/1.8, and use f/2.2 for this shot, i expect that only the face is sharp but there'll be something like round shape blur across the photo. coz i tried using f/1.8 on potrait & there's only a SPOT of sharpness. is it normal?

[ShaolinTiger]

Yes, the DoF (Depth of Field) at f/1.8 is very shallow, so you have to be careful and make sure both eyes are parallel to your sensor, if not you will have half blur face.

Also note, the closer you get, the smaller the DoF gets, at f/2.2 or slightly higher it should be fine.

[noruazumi]

many thanks ST! i shall exercise all the tips that u gave!!!!!!! :camera:

[noruazumi]

*BUMP*
and this one too...
guys, hit me!! hit me more!!
:boxer: :boxer: :boxer:
:angelgrin:

[derickuan]

hmmm... i remember DK told me to meter the background and use the flash to light-up the face so that the background will have a good exposure. well, this is at shooting level. how about in PSCS2 level? how to achieve this? separate background/foreground & manually edit them perhaps?


My acronym was mentioned....:redface:

I wish I could add more but ST has put it in such I got nothing more to add. One thing is we should always kick the thought "Arr..nevermind...can rescue in PS" from us....I'm still working on it....hehe...cheers!

[noruazumi]

DK, i nvr had that "rescue-using-PS" thought.
that's why la i'm not interested to majorly process them using PS.
PS is a good tool to process photos but doesn't mean we have to use it all the time.
but it seemed PS can be handy to me coz i shoot craps photos! :P

[derickuan]

Hehehe.......azumi, i shoot craps too.....together-gether we learn to take nice photos lah....cheers!

[noruazumi]

DK, based on your posted photo, i find it hard to believe that u shoot craps photos! :P *LOL*

[derickuan]

DK, based on your posted photo, i find it hard to believe that u shoot craps photos! :P *LOL*

Azumi, what you see is only 1% or maybe less of the total photos i have...the rest 99% or more, i can assure you crappy :D So together-gether we learn to take nice pictures. Cheers! :partyon:

[noruazumi]

haha... ok DK! we learn together-gether la! :partyon: