It looks like to much light was used which has the effect of washing out the skin tones. Might consider using a diffuser to tone down the light or cover your lamps. The angle in the photo seems to centered towards the front leaving the back a bit exposed awkwardly. Check out my mod, I think this gives her closer. Overall you captured the detail, and I see no camera blur, but you just have to add some excitement in the shot to make it stand out a bit more. The mod I did shows just one of many ways you can change the outcome of the shot either by camera or photoshop.

Greg

Its a nice shot, not sure about where you cut the shot off at though, may have went a bit lower to better represent the torso. I like the window light, but some of the highlights are lost in the dress, maybe consider dropping a stop or two.

Greg

Could shot, nice detail, but would suggest Phil is in the right track as far as what can be done better. The skin and the teeth seem t have lost highlights, this can be recovered in the RAW file or by editing and darkening the highlights. I noticed you have a Nikon D300, you might want to check and make sure that "Active Delighting" is not set to high as this could also produce the same effect.

In addition I would have considered using flash, manual mode, and setting the power to 1/64th or 128th, just enough to bring out more color and detail in the eyes. Since this is a controlled scene and the light source seems adequate I would also have set the Aperture to F9 for this shot. Hope this helps.

Greg

I think you got enough of the shot as there is detail, the problem I see is that the shot is too bright, not sure if this is from you processing in an editor or the way the shot is taken. I would suggest that you may have been able to drop the ISO to 600 and settle for a shutter speed of 500 and you would have been on the money. The problem is shooting out at the far end of the 400mm regardless of conditions you will be prone to camera shake which will result in camera blur. Another thing you might try next time is taking a bracketed shot and set the stop + and - 1, set bracket to 3 shots. This way you stand a good chance of getting the exposure right. Not sure how many frames per second the D40 is capable of, but would set it to as high as possible.

Editing the shot there is a lot that can be done, did a quick mod to give example. Like I said all the elements of the shot are there and its just a simple matter of bringing out the details. If you shot this in RAW mode then most of the recovery could be taken care of in the RAW editor.

Greg

She is a beautiful young lady. The shot is a bit dark, could probably benefited from some fill flash. Consider next shoot to setup a flash, I would go manual then adjust power output of flash to about 1/4. The tamron lens you used I believe is at 4.5 on the outside. I would make sure that your Aperture is set at a higher value say F9 and increase ISO to compensate. If you know what your camera settings are it makes it easier to suggest if you post them.

In terms of editing all the elements of the photo are there and it is easy to take this up a notch. Simply reduce shadows by about 10%, increase levels and adjust brightness and contrast. Take a look at the mod I posted. Hope this helps.

Greg

She is a lovely young girl. I only have comments as to the photo in terms of brightness and contrast. The shot seems to be washed out in that it appears flat. The shot itself is fine. I would check you camera settings to make sure that the color adjustment is not set to neutral. Also it appears that you may have been using a higher aperture, maybe F4 as the photo seems to have no depth. If lighting permits consider shooting with an Aperture of F8 or lower. As far as editing I added a mod and explained what I did to enhance the photo. I changed the background as I thought it would further enhance your daughters features but it was not needed. I will let you decide on that.

Greg

There is a bit to much light and overexposure on the right side of the face. Flash at low power could have help to offset the uneven light. Setting up more adequate lighting for the studio will help to level out the overall lighting effects.

There are things that can be done in processing to help. For one you can offset the overexposure by selecting that area and filling it in with flesh tones sampled from the areas that are not over exposed. The Background is also uneven and somewhat erratic in the tone levels. In this instance I would simply select the BG, sample what color you like and then use the paint bucket to fill in. I like setting it to 25% opacity for filling. Check out the mod I did and you can see what I am talking about.

Greg

I think you have to much shadows, this could be from insufficient light or incorrect camera settings. Consider using flash set to manual and low power if you want a dark shot but have some features illuminated slightly. Consider using studio lights to get more of a focused lighting. In addition you can try setting your aperture to F4 while increasing your ISO to maybe 500 plus. This would give you more light through the camera settings and and pick up more features.

As far as editing I did a mod to show what you can do to enhance the shot.

Greg

You have uneven light, was this taken with room lighting? A flash may have provide more detail in the hair if used. Also I would consider taking the shot not so much above the subject but slightly down and facing parallel to the subject. Also setting the aperture to a higher setting say F4 would have gone a long way to softening your BG.

Greg

I have to agree that you lights source was pointed incorrectly as the brightest areas seem to be to the rear of your shot while the subjects seem to be some what underexposed. If you took the shot in RAW mode you could edit the original print and fix it up. Also you could probably have used Flash in addition to the light source that would have also balanced out the shot.

It also seems as if you may have taken the shot free hand as the details appear to be soft. Consider using a tripod, if you did use a tripod then consider pressing the shutter button more gently. I am interested in what you had your aperture set at as this could also be a problem for some of the detail. I would suggest with a group shot like this you should have been set for 9 or better with focus to the top center.

In terms of editing the photo you can do the following:

1. Select the BG, set fill bucket to white and opacity to 30%, fill in the BG until area smooths out.
2. Reduce shadows and increase highlights
3. Adjust brightness and contrast
4. Adjust hue and saturation.
5. Selective sharpening.

Greg

The detail is soft in which should have been sharp considering the close proximity to the subject. Consider using a smaller aperture for the shot. Also the exposure seems somewhat off, use a higher ISO or consider additional lighting.

For post editing consider the following to improve the image:

1. Reduce shadows and increase highlights
2. Sharpen using Hi Pass filter to bring out the finer details
3. Adjust brightness and contrast
4. Finally adjust levels to bring in some more light.

Greg

There a a couple of things that could be done to make this photo better. Just some observations, there are a lot of deep shadows and detail is lost. Understanding it is a cemetery and a degree of darkness works, I believe that some of your comp is lost because you lose some definition in the stone work. Also the sky is a bit to dark and almost looks as the shadows are masking the blue sky that is trying to break through.

Camera Suggestions:

1. Increase the iso to bring in more light
2. Reduce the aperture, could get by shooting this between 4 - 6
3. To avoid overexposure consider setting the AE against the brightest part of the clouds then lock.

Editing Suggestions:

1. Reduce shadows so that more detail is apparent, adjust to the mood your trying to set, but also leave something for the viewer to see.
2. Increasing saturation could help to highlight some of the details
3. Increasing brightness would also benefit the overall shot.

Greg

Its a solid shot, though with his deep facial characteristics one wonders if a toned BW would enhance his profile. That's not so much a critique, more of a preference on my part. My only suggestion overall would be that the crop could be a bit tighter, again more of a personal preference not a critique.

A very lovely model. I like the shot though I am not sure that so much canvas/bg need to be shown. My only critique is that it seems as if there is not enough light to accent her features. I did a mod to show what a little more lighting in the right place can do for the shot.

Greg

You captured that action, that's the biggest hurtle. The shot overall has a bit of camera blur which effects the detail. As far shooting, consider increasing shutter speed and lowering the aperture.

As far as post processing you could do several things to try and bring in a bit more crispness to the scene.

1. Create a layer, run hi pass filter, then overlay. This will enhance the detail.
2. Increase the highlights which will bring more definition to the water.
3. You could also adjust the levels and contrast to further enhance.

I think a smaller lens would have been more appropriate for this shot in order to capture the movement in total and give the subject more space within the frame. For action shots as this especially pets which are more predictable and you can get close consider shooting with an 80mm lens or less. In bright conditions it also helps to set the camera exposure down a stop or two, maybe -.3 or -.7 as this will help to keep the whites down and increase your chance of getting more detail in the whites reducing overexposure. You didn't list the shutter speed so I am not sure what you used other then looking at the shot and guessing. But consider using the faster shutter speed as this will help you to capture more of the action such as movement in the fur. If your setting out to take a shot such as this set your aperture between 4 - 6 and then use the fastest shutter you can get, experiment and then remember what worked best. Hope this helps.

Greg

I like the shot in terms of catching the moment, however I think that the shot itself has a harsh mixture of light and dark areas that slightly distract from the composition. I think less shadows and more light would make this BW shot stand out more. Post work you might want to consider running a noise reduction against the facial areas, reduce shadows and maybe apply a soft filter to the shot.

Greg

I like the detail in the plumage, your focus was on the mark. On the other hand I have to agree with sherlob that the background is a bit distracting. While it is not easy to get the background you want when shooting in the wild there are things that you could do to make it less predominate. Consider adjust the background levels and darken which could add more depth to your shot. You could also set surface blur to the background and soften it even more.

As far a shooting the subject when I see that I am going to have a distracting BG I always set the F stop to 4, this will focus on the main subject while naturally blurring the BG.

Greg

Good solid shot, you have the detail and a good profile, if interested you can even get more from this shot. I put the steps below for you to try. Spot on! Click!!!


1. Increase highlights by 50%
2. Sharpen 1 pixel deep, 50%
3. Decrease saturation - 14
4. Set input levels to 0 0.71 255
5. Select the bridge of the beak were it is all white, go to photo filter, uncheck luminosity, then select sepia, 25% and apply.
6. Increase contrast +10

These steps will work in Photo Elements 3.0 of CS 1 or 2. Will give you a whole new look, one that I think you will find interesting.


Greg