BLUE EYES

[FUJI]

I require a little advice/guidence here folks, especially if you do portraits.

 

I have posted a portrait of this lovely lady last October, but that was a Street Photograph.

 

Yesterday, we were sitting just inside the large window of her cafe, talking about the photograph taken last time; as we were chatting I requested another shot where we sat.

 

Here is the result.............overall it was a tad soft because of High ISO , but that worked in my favour for this kind of portrait................I have done my usual post processing then given a final High Pass Sharpen, concentrating on those incredible blue eyes and her yellow ribbons.

 

Trouble is, my newl calibrated monitor has given me true colours at last, and to me this looks a tad yellow.....are any of our resident  experts able to offer opinions or advice please?

 

Cheers!

 

 

Best viewed LARGE.....Click on Pic:

 

 

FUJI

[JHFoto]

I do not do portraits but I think you may have over done the colour.

[Karenp]

Not clever enough to offer advice - but, this lady has a really interesting face and incredible eyes. And I like the softness.

[Phil]

I personally can't see anything wrong with the colour, viewing on the iPad the skin tones look very natural, if they are a tad warm it just adds to her very healthy complexion.

I think the softness is more a result of camera shake rather than high ISO.

[annie]

I remember the the other picture of this lovely fun lady 

 

Looks fine to me....I like the colour fuji..it's soft and dreamy...

[FUJI]

Thank you folks....

Just the feedback I wanted........my subject, is indeed ( in a nice way) a colourful lady, her make up, was very distinctive and done to compliment her incredible blue eyes.

Camera shake softness Eh Phil?......shaking caused by old age......or.....because I was so close to a lovely lady?

Seriously though, there should have been no shake, because, we were sitting just unside a very large cafe window, my subject was facing into the light so no shadows.

We were chatting as I pressed the shutter, so my natural movements may be to blame....

Next time, I will use a higher ISO, to increase shutter speed.....I am always reluctant to use flash in these situations.....camera settings are important, but it would have been rude to faff about in this situation.

Good lessons learned....especially on rescuing a slightly soft shot.

FUJI

[Korky]

Fooj

 

Viewing this image on my MacBook it simply looked as though it needed a bit of a boost in the contrast department. So I gave it a twiddle.

 

I thinks it's improved considerably, but feel free to call me a numpty and let down my bike tyres should you wish.

 

Korky

 

[Cathy]

I remember the last image too of this beautiful lady!

Very nicely captured Fuji well done and the colour looks fine on my iPad . I also like the image with that little boost of contrast Korky did as it does help to make her pop a little more. Super portrait!

[ChrisLumix]

The original looks fine to me, though perhaps SLIGHTLY on the warm side? which probably suits the subject anyway.

 

Not so sure about the edit ... I wonder if instead of global contrast it could be targeted contrast e.g. the ribbons & clothing?

[FUJI]

Thank you all..........I must return to my original working file to gave a play with both, overall and selective contrast boosting.....contrast is something I don't fiddle with much.......perhaps I should start?

More about my subject........a very clever business woman, who runs the best cafe ever!

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/News/1.2006393

Cheers!

FUJI

[Craftysnapper]

Fuji nice though it is, it is suffering from camera shake and 1/10sec at a 74mm equivalent is pushing it for hand holding.

[FUJI]

Fuji nice though it is, it is suffering from camera shake and 1/10sec at a 74mm equivalent is pushing it for hand holding.

CHEERS!

I really must remember to re-set my camera when I go indoors.........I hate using the AUTO settings............and would never use flash in this chatty situation.

Thank goodness for the TOPAZ de Noise filter.......;-)

FUJI

[Craftysnapper]

CHEERS!

........I hate using the AUTO settings.

FUJI

 

Why Fuji?  They can be your best friend in spontaneous situations like this. 

 

I always have Auto ISO set and have it in aperture priority just for situations like this so all you have to worry about is the aperture setting, you can always change to manual when you have the time.

 

To all accounts the fourthirds sensor in the Panasonic GX7 is just as good noise wise as the Olympus E-PL5 so set auto iso to a max ceiling of 1600 or 3200 and aperture prioriy.

 

Fuji you do know that dof on fourthirds is double that of 35mm at the same setting so the f8 aperture you used is equivalent to using f16 on 35mm and pushed your shutter speed down and I'd never use f16 for a portrait.

 

This was taken in doors on a fourthirds sensor at ISO 4000 so you really do not have to worry about noise and especially if shooting raw.

 

Click to view large

 

[ChrisLumix]

Yeah, I'd go along with Paul - an aperture of f2.8 or f4 on a m4/3 is plenty enough DOF for a portrait, and you'd have a high enough shutter speed not to worry about shake. I keep mine on iISO (Intelligent ISO, which is just Auto ISO with a tweak) so I can set aperture AND shutter speed to taste.

[FUJI]

Thank you Chris.....thank you Paul....

Yes! I can see the error of my ways.........

I had been taking shots outside in very bright conditions, just prior to my cafe visit.......and whilst chatting to that lovely lady I just forgot to re-set.

Will do better....next time.

FUJI

[Korky]

I very much like the advice re auto ISO - I shall give it a try the next time I take a camera for a walk. I tend to shy away from auto settings, but maybe I need to think differently.

 

Cheers Paul and Chris.

 

Korky

[Black Pearl]

ISO - Colour - Noise - anythingelse - isn't the issue.

 

You have shot with far too slow a shutter speed (1/10s) resulting in an image with serious camera shake completely ruining it. 

ISO 400 is far to low - bump it up and get a shot that is sharp - it might be a bit noisy and the DR will drop but a sharp picture with issues is better than a blurry one with clean tones. 

[FUJI]

ISO - Colour - Noise - anythingelse - isn't the issue.

You have shot with far too slow a shutter speed (1/10s) resulting in an image with serious camera shake completely ruining it.

ISO 400 is far to low - bump it up and get a shot that is sharp - it might be a bit noisy and the DR will drop but a sharp picture with issues is better than a blurry one with clean tones.

SPOT ON! BP.

Since making this very basic photographic error, I have been mulling over my everyday camera settings......the ones that might, just about, cater for most daylight occassions.

For the past twelve months or more, on the advice of an ex Pro, togger, mate, I have set to ..Apeture Priority ....to take advantage of any DOF opportunities.....the ISO usually at a minimum of 200 .....plus, on the spot adjustments of the Exposure Compensation slider, that is so easy on my GX7.

It had all seemed to work beautifully until this particular study, when it obviously failed.....can't think why because my subject was sitting facing a huge plate glass window, and had stopped chatting to smile.

The fault obviously, is mine.....I must have continued to chat as I pressed the shutter.....I forgot my Army Training of......hold breath as you pull the trigger........a wonderful opportunity and photographic moment spoilt......Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

My GX7 copes particularly well with noise, so will re-set ISO to over 1000 , to see what develops later.

For those AUTO buffs........I honestly tried it for a couple of days.......at least three shots ruined by far too much noise that could have been avoided via Exposure Compensation on my A setting.

Thank you all, for excellent feedback.

FUJI

[Craftysnapper]

SPOT ON! BP.

Since making this very basic photographic error, I have been mulling over my everyday camera settings......the ones that might, just about, cater for most daylight occassions.

For he past twelve months or more, on the advice of a togger mate, I have set to ..Apeture Priority ....to take advantage of any DOF opportunities.....the ISO at a minimum of 200 .....plus, on the spot adjustments of the Exposure Comensatio

 

Fuji now supposing you had those setting when you took this image and this time you set f4 then you will end up with a shutter speed of 1/20 sec still way to low for hand holding unless you remembered to manually change the iso which you did not and may not do again in the spur of the moment shot.

 

Regardless of what BP says for you and this situation ISO is the problem here. If you set aperture priority all you have to do is alter the aperture and auto iso  will automaticly set a reasonable hand holding shutter speed and automaticly set the iso to achieve that shutter speed.

 

Technology is your friend use it when it is needed.

[ChrisLumix]

My GX7 copes particularly well with noise, so will re-set ISO to over 1000 , to see what develops later.

For those AUTO buffs........I honestly tried it for a couple of days.......at least three shots ruined by far too much noise that could have been avoided via Exposure Compensation on my A setting.

 

You can do TWO things : 

 

(1) Set Auto ISO (which means you can then set both Aperture and Shutter and still get a correct exposure)

(2) Define - at least on LUMIX cameras you can - a maximum ISO, which on our cameras could be 1600, or even 3200, without suffering undue noise.

[FUJI]

Thank you Chris.......and to everyone else who has contributed to this post......

We live, and we learn?

Taking onboard all that has been suggested, I ( rather reluctantly) set my GX7 to Aperture priority, and Auto ISO......

It resulted in a very interesting morning of shots, taken in a whole variety of places, both indoors and out, and of a variety of subjects, from, portraits, Street and Still Life...... in natural and artificial light of different qualities.

On my lcd screen, all look fine, but the real proof will come later, after I have processed the original RAW files.

It wasn't until today, that I noticed that my GX7 has TWO .....Auto ISO settings.....one, supposedly....Itelligent.....it had been this one, that had messed up previous shots.....today I chose the other one.

FUJI

[ChrisLumix]

The only difference between Intelligent ISO and Auto ISO is that if the camera detects movement i-ISO will select a value that keeps the shutter speed higher than it necessarily would on Auto ISO. 

 

The other reason your shots may have been messed up, is that you hadn't set a Maximum ISO?