I’ve decided to start a series of posts where I’ll post up one picture at a time from my “Favorites” set and explain it. I’ll try to explain any technical aspects of the photo, special post-processing, and/or compositional aspects that went into it. I’ll also try to give some background info and also reasons for why I like it. I would welcome constructive criticism about any of the photos too.
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure: 0.025 sec (1/40)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 38 mm
Exposure: +0.36*
ISO Speed: 1600
Exposure Bias: +1/3 EV*
*For reference, “Exposure” is exposure adjustment that I did in Lightroom and “Exposure Bias” is the exposure adjustment you do on camera when you’re shooting in a semi-automatic mode (Av, Tv for Canon or A, S for Nikon)
Background
This picture above is one of my favorites of all time. I would “rank” it very highly even among my favorites. I think it’s mostly because of the subjects, Daniel and Brian (left and right, respectively), and their expressions more than anything. I was visiting Brian with some friends (including Daniel) at UCLA and we were chilling in Brian’s dorm when we noticed the Nerf guns. We took some of them out and started shooting each other. Then we took the whole battle out to the hallway when I noticed that there was a great photo-op there.
Composition and PP and Random
The first reason I was inspired for this photo was because of the hallway. Using the long hallway as a background, I could give a sense of direction towards the subjects as they lay down parallel to the hallway. I told them to get on the ground as if they’re crawling and shooting, but then they just got on the ground and stared at the camera and smiled as if taking a snapshot, so I had to direct them to look past the camera and look surprised (though anyone that knows them two would testify to the fact that those are very normal expressions on their faces).
When I originally took this picture, I kept the camera level to the horizon and took a standard picture at my highest aperture in order to isolate the guys. However, when I went into post-processing (PP), I decided to crop it in such a way that there would be a slant, causing a sense of movement. After other normal PP, I also decided to lower the vibrance a bit in order to darken the mood a bit, and that with the noise from high ISO, gives it a sort of cinematic feel, which I liked.
Here’s the picture before it was edited, btw.
Other Technical Stuff
The hallway’s light is not that strong, so I had to go up to ISO 1600, which I didn’t really like doing on my 40D. In this photo, the noise actually added to the overall feel of the photo so that was good. One mistake I made in this photo was to focus on the barrel of the guns. If I were to retake this picture, I’d focus on my subjects as they’re the first things you see in this photo, not the guns. So yeah, it’s safe to say that in general if there’s a human face in your photo, just focus on the eyes of the person, unless you’re trying to do something like this.
That’s all! Hopefully I’ll be able to do more of these if they’re helpful at all. If you’d like me to write about anything else, let me know.
This was really great! It’s very helpful to see all of the different things you’re thinking about as you do PP on a picture, and how you can completely shift a pictures mood just by cropping it a certain way or changing the color temperature. Do more!
i find certain things in the photo distracting. for one, the subjects’ faces are blurry. it looks like you focused on the tip of the gun. my eyes, however, are naturally drawn to the expressions on their faces and i would have liked to see it sharper – but that’s just me. also i guess it’s compounded by the fact that you shot at 1/40. another thing is that the bright lights at the end of the hallway are distracting. i like that you tilted the photo and feel that it could have been tilted a little more to make it more dramatic. also, i guess i’m not quite understanding the white balance. haha. there’s my constructive criticism.
hrmm interesing about the white balance, how would you have done it? warmer, cooler? green or magenta?
and for the subjects’ faces you should read what i wrote under ‘other technical stuff’ :]
haha. whoops. i guess that shows i didn’t read through your entire post. i think i might’ve liked it a little warmer, as its an upbeat, fun kind of shot. i find that cooler shots are usually more dramatic. i guess the fact that the white balance is too accurate doesn’t help it stand out as more than just a snapshot.
also, regarding the saturation of the photo, i find it distracting that the most colorful part of the photo come from the nerf guns. what if you went b/w with this to lessen the significance of the guns? or maybe go a tad warmer, up the vibrance, and bring more colors into other parts of the photo? obviously not to the point their skin is way off though…
I really like how you cropped the picture. The slanted hallway gives a much bigger impression than the flat one in the original picture. Personally, I like the WB b/c it gives me a sense that they are “on a mission” – haha if that makes sense at all. The texture and contrast of the carpet really pops out at me also which is a cool effect. I agree though, it would have been better if their eyes were more in focus.