camera question for you guys

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
I'm gonna go try to take some portrait type pictures of my girls tonight with the nex-5 and got a quick question. Were going to the beach and am gonna try to hit the golden hour, want to light up there faces for a bit then turn em around and catch the sunset behind them. Normally this would be a point and shoot and i put it on auto, but wanted to ask what mode would you tell a new guy to shoot to catch what all i'm after. I see the iA mode for dummies like me, is that my best bet? My eyes are getting old and i've already noticed goofing around the yard and house that i can't see the detail very good on the display. I'll take a picture, see it on the screen and get all happy, come inside and it's outta focus or just sucks

I'm shooting a nex-5a with the kit lens and i have the 16mm lens.... i'm assuming the kit zoom lens? Gonna go get a tripod, be back in a bit, any help would be appreciated. Good part is it's just for me and i got all the oppurtunity to go back i want so if i flail, it's not the end of the world. Were just doing 8x10 and wallet kinda pics........

thanks
 

ChrisViperM

ChrisViperM

Active Member
The easiest for your purpose is to choose one of the built-in sceenes. Check out manual on page 45....just shoot a few pics with each scene (Sunset, Night Portrait, Night Scene)

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/NEX5N.pdf

That's the easiest way without studying photography science...and make lot's of photos

PS: Take the kit zoom lense if you wanna concentrate on your kid, or take the 16mm if you wanna catch more of the sorrounding...good luck

Chris
 
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kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
cool, thanks. if i have a face in between the camera and the sunset, do i use a flash or leave that at home?
 

J

jes1111

Active Member
Yes- you'd need flash to "fill in" the face (or a silvered reflector, but that's not so easy ;)). As Chris said - one of the auto mode on that camera should help - this is a common scenario. The keyword you should look for in the manual is "backlit" - that's what you are attempting here - a "backlit portrait with fill flash".

Good luck :)
 

Bison52

Bison52

Member
For portrait photography, a slightly longer than normal focal length is generally considered to give the better perspective for faces so stick to the upper end of your zoom lens.

Extremely backlit scenes are tough. The simplest way to combat it is with a fill flash.

There are a number of other ways to work with backlighting but they will take a little practice. Experiment with exposure compensation and the DRO/HDR FEATURES found under the Brightness/Color menu. I have been impressed with the in-camera HDR functionality of the NEX. I was playing with the DRO settings at the coffee shop the other day. I took some pics of a dark complected person wearing a baseball cap on a sunlit patio under an awning. This situation cries out for a fill flash and with normal settings, the pics weren't good, her face was pretty much just a dark shadow. I turned on DRO at +7 and got some very usable shots with good facial detail.

The nice thing about digital is you can take lots of pics, see the effects quickly, and play around with the results.

When you're ready to get into post-processing, try Lightroom 4. Its my favorite. I rarely leave it to go to anything like Photoshop.
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
good info, thanks a million guys. I'm pretty comftorable and kinda understand photoshop, been using it for years to take extremely horrible pictures and make them lit well enough to draw off for our business. laying around in the dark taking pictures of migratory birds landing without a flash was hard as heck, lemme tell ya.... I think i gotta general idea of this, will let ya guys know how we do. Gonna try tonight and tomorrow night so will have a variety of locations to hit and different scenarios.
 

T

tstrike

pendejo grande
and don't be afraid to use that wide lens and get in close, usually cracks the kid up and makes them smile naturally but with kids imho, it's their eyes that tell the story.
Have fun!
 

ROVguy

ROVguy

Member
Would be good to hear how you get on Kloner as Ive just bought the 'missus' an NEX 5n for her 'birthday' Ive not had a proper play with it yet but she seems to love it, especially the panoramic mode. I tend to stick to my SLR, even though it weighs a ton! You dont spend over £1k on a camera to leave it in the bag do you! :)
I agree with what was said further up the screen, Fill-in flash a must with a backlit portrait or at the very least a reflector. The flash on the NEX 5n looks a little weedy for my liking, so you may have to get a little close for it to be effective, time will tell. Let us know how you get on and what you found to be the best solution.

Cheers,

Richard.
 

ChrisViperM

ChrisViperM

Active Member
A very easy way to soften the flash is to cover the flash with one or two layers of white toilet paper....normally it comes in 3-layer sheets, but that is to thick.

Chris
 


J

jes1111

Active Member
As long as she doesn't return the sentiment and buy you an emerald green crocodile handbag for your next birthday ;)
 

ROVguy

ROVguy

Member
A little thought did go into it. To be fair, she needed a new camera and a full blown slr was too heavy for her (otherwise she would have had my old one), shes fully aware of the ability to use the NEX on MRC's and it was one of the reasons we got it. I really do have a very understanding and loving other half, its probably why Im going to marry her! ;) lol Shes even given me the nod to spend £1.5k on a F450 setup! :D
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
this was what i got... took 800, still pickin through em to get it down to a few. Wasn't all to hard, i can tell i'm old cause i couldn't get my fat but down to the ground very easy, but you gotta do what it takes to get the shot eh? I can tell the pictures aren't this things strong point, but man, that was easy and good enough for my wife and a few G-mas. Your guys tips about everything was spot on after i remembered on the fly.... o yea, fill flash,,,,,,, oh yea, raw.... crap look at me, hey hey look at me......

http://rchelicollective.com/zen/kloner/girls/9-12


 

ChrisViperM

ChrisViperM

Active Member
You are a lucky man....your kids are gorgeous....and the pic's couldn't be better....very natural look....no artificial studio stuff.....congrats

Chris
 

ROVguy

ROVguy

Member
Lovely Kids Kloner, I think the photos came out rather well and you seem to have caught the 'golden hour' just right. The piddly flash seems to work ok as some of the backlit photos are definite keepers. Nice one mate!
 

kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
thanks, i am one lucky dude........

am fancying the idea of a remote flash,,,,,,, does good and cheap even spoken in the same sentence with these or does it take a top of the line setup to get any performance. I want to dress it up with whatever and let my wife wave it around behind me. Does that make since or is it a bad idea?

I'm a hunter, probably sat in the marsh 500+ days over my life watching sunrises and sunsets. The one thing i understand is the lighting part. i can see it comin and know when it's over......

There were alot of people down there snapping off shots with me. La Jolla is a trendy ritzy area. We are standing over caves, went there for the textures of the ground and the lack of anything between it and the water

007_795.jpg


shes always loved dads rc........ has her own plane when shes ready, etc.
 

ChrisViperM

ChrisViperM

Active Member
You can actually take any indpendent flash which can work in a "slave" mode...but to work it wireless you need the original little sony flash. I cover the little SONY flash in a way that the emitting light doesn' hit the person in front of your camera, but gets somehow reflected backwards, and the reflection will trigger the flash your wife is holding. But there are limits in the distances from flash to flash. I just tried it out yesterday with this flash:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/352521-REG/Metz_MZ_52822D_mecablitz_28_CS_2_Digital.html

It's not the strongest or best on the market, but can be mounted directly to the SONY NEX5...of course there are other ways as well, but for me on the SONY NEX5 this is the easiest.

Here some stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf7HL64Xc1s
http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/how-to-use-remote-flash-triggers-in-photography/
http://www.nex-tips.com/2011/12/27/...e-flash-slave-trigger-strobist-with-sony-nex/

Chris

Chris
 



kloner

kloner

Aerial DP
rov, keeps it simple don't it...... I'll weigh my options. gonna grab a few more bodies while there on sale and come back to the flash part when i recover from that
 

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