Levi's Inspired

[cheguthamrin]

I've been waiting, and perhaps wondering, if anyone would point out something about this picture. The past >500 viewers had been silent, except for one or two, which was greatly appreciated.

A few things I've been wondering about;
- I used Iso 400 for this shot, but there's still noise. Should I have used ISO200 isntead? Not that I'm bothered by the noise, but I could reproduce a cleaner sharper shot later.

- Shutter was at 500, in-flash fired, and I did try a few with SB600. It seems that its enough to lighten up my whole body, or not bright enough for you? Notice my right leg; ghosting effect; eh?

- backdrop of the Singapore skyline; taken from marina barrage. I should have taken it a few minutes earlier, when there's still much light and colours, dont you think so?

- the railing, bottom left corner; should or should not be cropped? or left? I left it there to have an impression that I was leaping off from it.

Many many thanks for your inputs!

 

[nigel84]

bro, my feel would be to remove the railing and have you face the square to your body. The side profile of your face does not reali work here, imho. I prefer this timing you chose to take this shot than a few mins earlier, as the lights behind might snatch away the attention from you.

 

[nutek]

>noise
ISO400 shouldn't produce so much noise for your camera. Did you push the exposure in post? If so, that's where the noise came from. try to get correct exposure in camera to minimize noise.

>backdrop
sky is dark blue and so are the jeans. Thus the jeans don't stand out much if this is supposed to be a Levi's advertisement. The contrast is diminished and background doesn't help to make the subject stand out.

>railing
railing on the bottom left is distracting, and so are the "spikes" (cranes) - if you take from a lower angle with a wide lens, you may get a better angle and more dramatic perspective.

Juz my 2c.

 

[cheguthamrin]

Thank you for your kind replies!
There's always time for another shoot, and hopefully better with your kind tips, Cheers!

 

[TigerOyster]

from a newbie's eyes, it seems that the SAF T shirt stands out more? seems more "contrasty" than the jeans did you PPed alot?

 

[cheguthamrin]

from a newbie's eyes, it seems that the SAF T shirt stands out more? seems more "contrasty" than the jeans did you PPed alot?

I should have used a white shirt instead?
I could have taken the top off, but hehe... paiseh arh... no 6 packs, just one rounded tummy muscle haha!

I dont remember PP a lot for this, just cropping and contrast.

 

[yyc83]

to me, if you want to use the railing, then you need to show a full shot of it.
if you didn't say...i would have not know that that is a railing, thus figure that is something irrelevant.

try taking during evening..when the light is not bright but just enuff to contrast your jeans.

 

[cheguthamrin]

to me, if you want to use the railing, then you need to show a full shot of it.
if you didn't say...i would have not know that that is a railing, thus figure that is something irrelevant.

try taking during evening..when the light is not bright but just enuff to contrast your jeans.

Thanks for your reply!
A full shot of the railing - noted; so that'll make it as a landscape shot?
Evening shot; noted; but this is already in the evening, or do you mean slightly earlier?

 

[night86mare]

NOISE is present in shadow areas of a photograph.

as to why the background is noisy, it is because it was relatively underexposed relative to the whole picture. to resolve this, play with your flash output (along with the shutter speed needed to freeze your jump) until the exposure is more evened out. it's simple, nothing to do with iso400, especially since you have a d40, the iso performance of that camera isn't this shabby.

remember, in flash photography you ahve to account for exposure of 2 separate things - the thing you wish to light up; versus the background, which you cannot; as is the case here. you want the BACKGROUND to be lit up more, so that it isn't underexposed. so where should your iso go? up! since you want the depth of field present here (i suppose), and you are limited by shutter speed. accordingly, dial the flash settings down, since proper exposure of yourself doesn't need so much power with a faster iso speed. that way, exposure will be more evened out. i am not sure about your d40, but my k100d with equivalent specs can even produce pretty clean shots at this size you have posted here, as long as areas are well exposed, so there shouldn't be an issue here with going up.

think of how the light works, that will help you get what you want.

in any case, i do have a bone to pick about the model (no offense meant) not looking extremely in his element here, but you can always reshoot this. maybe a lower angle, if you are not low enough already, will help. your legs blending in with the buildings in the background are not helping much with composition here. along with the railing, which has already been mentioned.

 

[cheguthamrin]

If I can still remember, the flash was set at a higher level, with max shutter speed available at 1/500. Now i'm beginning to get somewhere with this reply. Thank you for a comprehensive critics, which is quite mouthful to digest. Its good to know that its pointing somewhere which I would try and retry again; and hopefully to achieve better results. Thanks again!

 

[traumatised]

1. motion blur at right foot - was that intended?
2. if no, then you should be using a faster shutter speed and if you are looking at commerical usage, you have to close up the aperture.
3. iso would need to drop.
4. it all equates to stronger flash + reflectors
5. 2 flash gun? or strobe even if you have access to 1 unit.

 

[cheguthamrin]

Thanks traumatised;
Was using D40 for this shot, and was totally unplanned. Will take note of these points if I may need to do it again. Cheers!