Bali Beach, Straight into the Sun

[mxcantor]

Best to view on a black background: http://gallery.mac.com/mxcantor#100133/cs_a&bgcolor=black

shutter 1/800
aperture f/3.0
focal 55mm
ISO 100
lens: canon 28-70 f/2.8 L

I took this of a friend in Bali with the sun almost directly behind her. in order to get any decent exposure on the subject, the background necessarily was completely overexposed, but I ended up really liking the effect of the overexposed beach/ocean with a tight depth of field. this give a blurry, barely visible surfer in the background to add some depth to the image.

perhaps I should have been more aggressive on cropping or the background is TOO overexposed. Am curious what the community thinks. I'm really proud of this one so am curious if its just me or if its actually a decent shot. please, be brutally honest.

thanks, max

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

Best to view on a black background: http://gallery.mac.com/mxcantor#100133/cs_a&bgcolor=black

shutter 1/800
aperture f/3.0
focal 55mm
ISO 100
lens: canon 28-70 f/2.8 L

I took this of a friend in Bali with the sun almost directly behind her. in order to get any decent exposure on the subject, the background necessarily was completely overexposed, but I ended up really liking the effect of the overexposed beach/ocean with a tight depth of field. this give a blurry, barely visible surfer in the background to add some depth to the image.

perhaps I should have been more aggressive on cropping or the background is TOO overexposed. Am curious what the community thinks. I'm really proud of this one so am curious if its just me or if its actually a decent shot. please, be brutally honest.

thanks, max

black or white background, the pics still unfortunately... cmi...

if you have back lighting, you can use flash on the subject. external flash/strobe... etc... don't use wide open, probably can stop down to f8 or f16 and see nice flares, or use a ND filter or ND grad filter.

there isn't enuff contrast on the subject as it seems close to a whiteout. the surfer adds nothing to the image other than what seems like a piece of dirt on the background.

 

[Rashkae]

This is a really bad picture, that looks like something I'd delete on the spot. The blown out background is horrible, as you end up having no idea where she is. She could be in a white-background studio where the aircon failed. she does not look sexy or happy. She just looks like "Oh, it's so hot out today".

The surfer is totally out of place, and I don't know if she's the subject, or if he's supposedly checking her out or something. The hills(?) in the back-left look like dirt smudges.

You'll need to work on better composition and use lighting to your advantage. A simple fill-flash or even bright white towel acting as a reflector could have illuminated your subject nicely, allowing you to maintain the rich color that I'm guessing is actually there. You can also consider the use of a CPL filter to get nice, rich blues in the sky.

 

[wildsoyabean]

background is way too blown for my liking...
more background would definately help...

and why add a surfer behind when ur focus is on the girl

 

[Andrew Ng]

Use a Polariser, ND Filter, Push up to F8 for what so ever. High Shutter would 'reveal' the background. You need fill in flash for the subject.

Go and shoot more. It is OVER EXPOSED.

Hope you read up on shooting in beaches and snow... you need to 'BLUFF' the camera... EV.

Cheers.

 

[bluemystery]

What attracted me to the photo was:

1) The blue colour of the bikini
2) The figure in the background.

When such overexposure happens for me that is, and it fails as a "technically correct" beautiful photo, the best way out is to photoshop it into an abstract fine art.

Here's what i made out of the photo...a general idea. Do tell me if you dislike it, and want me to take it down.

1) colour must be bright and eye catching.

2) a much tighter crop to have the essence of the photo.

Remember to always strip a photo to its bare vital elements, avoid clutter...

Pardon the low quality of the photo...

Have a nice day!

 

[pyrique]

experimentation is always good. overexposure isnt necessarily bad. and neither is the use of an overexposed background. it brings out form, and renders some interesting effects. shooting the same kind of sunset/beach pictures is boring. keep experimenting!

daido moriyama

 

[RayTravis]

Well its good that you are proud to get this shot.
However, there are still lots of improvements.
as said before, use offcamera flash.. it'll get the subject in foreground and u can grab
the background as well...
and of course.. bring the f-stop up..to probably around f8-11 ?
And watch your focusing.. its totally out..

My advice.. make more mistakes! and learn more!

 

[night86mare]

everyone starts from scratch, this is certainly by no means an excellent shot but there is no need to put other people down that way.

threadstarter - a few questions (just bear with me):

1) what do you understand by the word "depth"?

2) why do you think the blot in the background adds to the picture?

there is certainly a graphic nature to the picture, but look at it again and again and again, not just once and quickly. does it work for you?

 

[pinholecam]

To be frank, when I saw this pict, I thought "hey! what is this guy trying to pull?". "Its obviously a bad photo".

Then with some though, I felt that you might have wanted to achieve a pict that is overexposed on purpose and not a standard technically correct photo. Then again, you could have spot metered on your friend, and I believe the very bright backgnd would still have come up as near white.
I would PP the pict to achieve a more graphical representation. Overexposure created a limited tone picture, so I emphasized this with some PP effects, also cut out the surfer, and pasted him nearer to get a tight crop. Here is my try :

 

[foxtwo]

This isn't Digital Art forum, this might be the first time any image has been heavily manipulated by well-doers here. I really do not see the point in trying to reshape or "rescue" the original image in C&C, because to make a photograph shouldn't be a PS exercise.

Maybe it's true it lacks a few things, but there is no need to chop it up and join it back like a jigsaw puzzle all for the cause of 'trying-to-make-something-out-of-it'. Make the photograph straight from the camera, if it fails go out and shoot again.

If the TS still enjoys this photo regardless of what many have pointed out, he should refine his shooting motivation, backlit technique, composition and execution by experimentation and practise. I hope the TS will reappear and share his view, he seems to have vanished after making just 2 posts!

 

[Cheesecake]

o.t posts deleted.

 

[Thermalcoil]

i somewhat see this quite similar to those high key method used by some photographer. But still, anyone can explain the different ?

thanks

 

[foxtwo]

i somewhat see this quite similar to those high key method used by some photographer. But still, anyone can explain the different ?

thanks

where lighting is concerned, the only question would be whether the photographer controlled it well or not. in a studio or semi-controlled setting one can set lights down to the very last exposure, but shooting at the beach with no other equipment than the camera in hand no one would expect sunlight to be controlled. of course there are ways (cheaply with a large white sheet and 2 strong helpers) but not on the fly and without prior planning.

 

[Del_CtrlnoAlt]

i somewhat see this quite similar to those high key method used by some photographer. But still, anyone can explain the different ?

thanks

high key executed correctly, subject is not washed out but background is. but this 1 is everything is washed out.