Very new amateur using the family for subjects. 35mm/Tri-X/flash bounced into 2 white poster boards/black felt background/135mm lens/1/60s@f8/nephew - all positive/negative comments welcome.

J.R. Farrar

-- J.R. Farrar (jeeperz@home.com), March 04, 2000

Answers

Good stuff. If you keep it up, I think you have a good chance at going pro if you ever choose to. One neg. comment: I really dislike the crop of the arms. A little bit of dialing in overall, and I think a reshoot of this would be spectacular. Nice photo.

shawn

-- shawn gibson (SeeInsideForever@yahoo.com), March 04, 2000.

What Shawn said, and a little less fill light (according to my preferences). If this were an environmental photo, the lighting ratio would be fine as is, I could imagine a second light source. But this black background gives me no inkling that there might be another light to the right, it looks surreal, kinda like the fill light on the Starship Enterprise... where does that light come from? A big fill card in space? A nearby planet? Solar panels on Voyager?... t

p.s. Nice work for a "beginner". You've been thinking about it for a while?

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), March 04, 2000.

I knew the crop of the arms was going to get me. Problem was I had the felt draped over a day bed with a pillow underneath to help prop him up. His hands "sunk" into the pillow and disappeared (you can even see a bit of black by his right hand). Lesson learned this time!

A lot of contrast came from my cheap scanner on this scan.

The comment on the "second light source" confuses me. I only used 1 light source. It was my flash on a tripod pointing towards 2 white poster boards I had hung on hangers on the closet door. It was a small room and the walls were light green. In the 8x10 print I made you can see a few wrinkles in the background.

Tom, if you could elaborate a little bit? I am guessing that you are suggesting to use another light on the background? Sorry for the newbie inexperience... oh wait... I just remembered... I did use a fill light. I used a white piece of muslin draped over a small TV on a TV stand directly to the baby's left. I almost forgot about that. So maybe I could have moved it further away?

oh about the the thinking about it... I read every book I could get my hands on, then finally just grabbed family and started shooting. This is hopefully going to be a really fun hobby. I developed and printed this here at home.

This was my brothers son, and his comment to me when he saw it.... "black and white, why didn't you shoot color?" .... But working with my nephew was a blast, and very easy to pose for a 7mo old. I've got some other really wonderful shots from that shoot.

-- J.R. Farrar (jeeperz@home.com), March 05, 2000.

and, if you are willing to look, contact sheets can be viewed at:

Contact 1

Contact 2

Thanks again.

-- J.R. Farrar (jeeperz@home.com), March 05, 2000.

Yeah, pull it (fill cards/light) back some, or make it smaller and place the main light a little higher. Look at paintings by Vermeer, Caravagio, Titian and Rembrandt... t

-- tom meyer (twm@mindspring.com), March 05, 2000.