Shawnda K

Fine shot, but I'm particularly impressed with the detail in the white dress as I suspect I might have blown that! :confused:

Congratulations Scott for the way you've handled a very difficult subject, both the girls skin tones and the dress are perfectly exposed which isn't easy in strong sunlight, how did you meter the subject ?

benjiboy said:

Congratulations Scott for the way you've handled a very difficult subject, both the girls skin tones and the dress are perfectly exposed which isn't easy in strong sunlight, how did you meter the subject ?

Click to expand...

Thanks, it was not easy. I used a hand held Sekonic L-358 meter in the incident mode and then I dropped the exposure an additional half stop. Rather than trust that the ND filters are exactly 3 stops, I will usually place them infront of the meter when I take a reading.

stm said:

benjiboy said:

Congratulations Scott for the way you've handled a very difficult subject, both the girls skin tones and the dress are perfectly exposed which isn't easy in strong sunlight, how did you meter the subject ?

Click to expand...

Thanks, it was not easy. I used a hand held Sekonic L-358 meter in the incident mode and then I dropped the exposure an additional half stop. Rather than trust that the ND filters are exactly 3 stops, I will usually place them infront of the meter when I take a reading.

Click to expand...

Thanks Scott, I didn't think the F4 TTL meter would handle this subject so well, an incidental reading minus half a stop for the lighter background is the perfect way to meter it because the skin tone is about that much darker than the background.

Peter Black said:

Fine shot, but I'm particularly impressed with the detail in the white dress as I suspect I might have blown that! :confused:

Click to expand...

Thanks Peter. I did consider using fill flash on this one, but decided against it as I was afraid I WOULD blow out the highlights to the point where I could not fix them in PS or on the baseboard. Our sand here is as almost as white as sugar and acts like a HUGE reflector (you really DO need dark sunglasses just to go to the beach sometimes, is is that bright) and you have to be very careful not to overexpose by even a half stop or your highlights go right out the window. If you are shooting transparencies, a half stop over is the kiss of death for that image. Shawnda is really not as dark skinned as you would be led to believe given this image, but that half stop underexposure did darken her tones just a bit.

She is such a gorgeous young woman, I have worked with her going on two years now, and she never disappoints!

benjiboy said:

stm said:

benjiboy said:

Congratulations Scott for the way you've handled a very difficult subject, both the girls skin tones and the dress are perfectly exposed which isn't easy in strong sunlight, how did you meter the subject ?

Click to expand...

Thanks, it was not easy. I used a hand held Sekonic L-358 meter in the incident mode and then I dropped the exposure an additional half stop. Rather than trust that the ND filters are exactly 3 stops, I will usually place them infront of the meter when I take a reading.

Click to expand...

Thanks Scott, I didn't think the F4 TTL meter would handle this subject so well, an incidental reading minus half a stop for the lighter background is the perfect way to meter it because the skin tone is about that much darker than the background.

Click to expand...

The F4 has a built in TTL meter? Really? Well I'll be damned, I will have to try using it sometime!

Dittos to all of the above. Very well done and attractive photo, with difficult lighting. Excellent!

I agree, the skin tones and all the other tones are perfect. The young lady is a beautiful model as well.

Absolutly stunning! I'm very impresed by your perfect exposure of such difficult subject.
Thanks for sharing the image and your thoughts on the matter.

Ah look this is just a great shot, model, pose, lighting and exposure just spot on, well done, Paul.