Opinions on exposures

[Ron Kruger]

I'm stil working on my Hunting Love idea and decided to make it hunting/fishing love. Here are three different exposures on this idea. Which one do you like best?

[blackcloudbrew]

I'm liking them in the following order.

3-1-2

The 2nd one just doesn't do it for me but the third one with a little less flare brings you into the moment, I believe.

[Ron Kruger]

Thanks Tim. Interesting.

[spyglass]

T-man,

I think that each shot offers a slightly different goal here. It make me feel that you do not have a vision in mind of what you want and that you are exploring until you happen to stumble across a result you like. I do not mean this to be a negative comment, more of a personal observation. Exploring is what makes this hobby so interesting and keeps the learning curve going. It also opens our eyes to something that we might not have imagined.

In the 3 photos you seem to be on the fence as to how much detail to reveal on the human subjects. Each photo seems to be trading something off. You reveal subject detail..... sky and sun are too blown out and background becomes competeing. You underexpose to achieve a better sky and sunburst.... and the overall weight becomes to great.

The vision or goal that I have in my minds eye for a potential shot here would be as follows.

Set your exposure to fall about 2 - 3 stops below the value that would normally satisfy the background (growth and surrounding area). This will frame the subjects and create a reasonable amount of weight to offset the sky and sunburst. To introduce controllable detail and bring the subjects into the shot I would use a single flash placed about 600mm (2ft) above the ground pointing upward. I would use some black cardboard or stiff paper to create a snoot for your flash (snoot - a tube placed onto the end of your flash to channel light to its desired point while eliminating spread and potential light wash). Getting the flash up a bit reduces the negative effects of up lighting a subject and further reducing the chance of illuminating the foreground.
You would have the ability to adjust surrounding background by adjusting your exposure level. Sky and Sunburst always look better with lower exposure (more colour revealed instead of too much blow out) so they will play along with your under exposed background. And your flash can range anywhere from key to fill lighting means for you subjects.

I hope you continue to post your work so we can follow along.


Spyglass

[Ron Kruger]

Thanks Spy. I try that.

[davidhampshire]

the third one ron, (241)  is the most interesting ,  and seems the best photographically ,   to me anyway.
dave

[Ron Kruger]

Thanks David.

[davidhampshire]

can i ask what lens you used for these,  ron?    the 15 ?   

[Ron Kruger]

Yes sir. The 15mm is the most creative lens I've owned, and it pushes me to be creative, although there is some truth in what Spy says about stumbling around. I'd rather call it experimenting.

[davidhampshire]

always experiment,   otherwise may as well be a machine.    creative people experiment.
and another question,    with that 15mm lens,   do you find it ,  being so wide,  that you have to get up close more than you otherwise would,   (didn't really phrase that right,  but you know what i mean?  )       

[Ron Kruger]

Yes, David, you have to get much closer, but I find this an advantage with the way I use fill flash in AV mode, most of the time around f-11. The 15 is a little tricky to use close up, but that's also what makes it so creative. Basically, you need to avoid any verticle objects (such as trees or posts) running up the far reaches of either side in the foreground, and when you're close, you have to be careful not to have a rod or gun tilted toward the lens, because it lengthens and distorts it. (I was about a rod's length from these lovers. Same thing with fish: you don't want them held out toward the camera in an obvious attempt to enlarge the catch, but having them held just slightly toward the camera with a bent arm, gives the same size expansion to the fish while using a more natural and less obvious pose.