Christmas Day Skyping

[EDGE1]

Here are a few photo's I thought might be nice to share. The pictures were taken on Christmas day whilst talking to friends and family over Skype. The light shining in the window, and on to my subjects' face (Girlfriend and her father) was absolutely stunning. I set my camera to B&W, stepped down a bit and started snapping. Here are the results:









Rob

[speedneeder]

Hi Rob,
Window light can be a wonderful thing
To me the photos appear to be generally under exposed. This could be changed with contrast/curves adjustment. However, this may be exactly the look you were going for, which is fine. Also, the shadows are just a bit off - like the first one of your girlfriend, it seems to me the tip of her nose just isn't there?
The candid expressions are good. If you wanted less harsh shadows, you could hang a thin white sheet over the window, though I understand this takes away from the spontaneity of it all!
Thanks for sharing your photos

[EDGE1]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the comments! Could I ask you to show me a correctly exposed version of these pictures so that I can get a feeling for what that might look like. If you are interested in helping me, I could mail you the original psd files? About the shadows: I don't understand what you mean by "a bit off". I didn't/couldn't control the way the shadow fell on my subjects', and directing my them would have resulted in a less natural (less spontaneous) photograph. What would you suggest here to make them better in post processing. Again I could mail the originals.

I really think I could learn a lot here Brain if you a willing to help. Making a mistake and correcting it has to be the best way of learning.

Thanks in advance,
Rob

[allenlennon]

i love them, my fav is the third photo, second of the father.

[EDGE1]

Thanks Lurchy

[Goldcoastgolfer]

I agree with Brian on the exposure of the shots being just a touch dark but it does all depend on what you're looking for. That last one in particular where your subject is laughing to me needs to be a bit brighter to reflect the overall mood of the shot whereas some of your more serious shots are probably more appropriate with a darker exposure to reflect the nature of what you're portraying.

[speedneeder]

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the comments! Could I ask you to show me a correctly exposed version of these pictures so that I can get a feeling for what that might look like. If you are interested in helping me, I could mail you the original psd files? About the shadows: I don't understand what you mean by "a bit off". I didn't/couldn't control the way the shadow fell on my subjects', and directing my them would have resulted in a less natural (less spontaneous) photograph. What would you suggest here to make them better in post processing. Again I could mail the originals.

I really think I could learn a lot here Brain if you a willing to help. Making a mistake and correcting it has to be the best way of learning.

Thanks in advance,
Rob

Hi Rob,
I am no expert, these are only my opinions! There certainly is nothing 'wrong' with your images, we all have different tastes. The 'correct' exposure is the one that creates the look you were going for. Do these exposures create the look/mood that you wanted? To me they look a bit flat, lacking in contrast, which I think suits your 3rd photo, but not the others.

In regards to shadows - this is absolutely within in your control! And many would argue that this is in fact what makes or breaks a photo - the shadows can make things interesting, or confusing/distracting.

On the photo of your lovely girlfriend, there seems to be the edge of... something, window?... that is just clipping the end of her nose. This makes her nose look odd to me. This distracts me from the rest of her face. Not sure about the shadow just under her chin either, seems to make her head appear to be floating?



On the last one, I like the expression captured here very much, but again the low contrast/under exposed photo is creating a depressing look. Also, something is blocking the light from his right shoulder - I find this distracting.



These appear to be candid shots, and as such you are right that you can't control everything, but some things you can! YOU can move, you might be able to get your subject to move, you could add a fill flash, you could add a reflector (just throwing down a white blanket maybe), turn on/off a light in the room, etc.
I hope you find this helpful.
What do you think?

[EDGE1]

Hi Brian,

Happy New Year and thanks a million for your reply. Sorry about the delay in responding to this thread, but I've been on holiday for the last week. I agree with you about the first picture of my girlfriend (missing nose), but I'm not too sure I agree about the shoulder shadow being a distraction. I see what you mean by "capturing the mood" though, and for that reason I have made some changes to the Father shot with this in mind. What do you think? Better or worse? (be honest)



Rob

[speedneeder]

Looks better to me
What do you think?

[EDGE1]

I think it looks great!