Kendra's photos

[KendraJ.K.]

finally making a new thread because i need some input on some photos.


these photos are part of a conceptual series i've been working on with an idea that i haven't been able to portray in a photo yet. i think mainly the lighting is what isn't working for me.


for lighting i've tried

one softbox with a 150watt flood light in it.
2 softboxes both with 150watt flood light.

(soft boxes are homemade)



mainly looking for ideas on a better lighting but all comments and critiques are welcome (2 and 3 have more editing than the others so the lighting it's as true as 1, 4 and 4crop.) I'm looking for kind of a...dark feeling to the photos in the sense of lighitng. I don't want it all brightly light but i don't want harsh shadows either.
and if it helps i did a quick search on DA to see if i could find something that matches the lighting i want..here's a few that are closer to what i'm looking for:
http://thetragictruth-of-me.devianta...igure-42014576
http://larafairie.deviantart.com/art/Crimson-40545525
http://larafairie.deviantart.com/art/Darkness-39357014


here are the photos. i'll add all the exif data i know (i'm not sure why but my camera doesn't seem to record the ISO number. but all these were either 200iso or 400iso and if they're grainy it's cause i've added it in photoshop)
All photos taken on a Nikon D70s with a Nikkor 18-70mm lens

1-
fueled by film

Shutter Speed: 10/500 second
F Number: F/5.0
Focal Length: 34 mm
one softbox with a 150watt flood light




2-
fueled by film 2

Shutter Speed: 10/800 second
F Number: F/4.2
Focal Length: 35 mm
2 softboxes both with 150watt flood




3-
fueled by film 3

Shutter Speed: 10/800 second
F Number: F/4.2
Focal Length: 35 mm
2 softboxes both with 150watt flood




4-
fueled by film 4

Shutter Speed: 10/400 second
F Number: F/4.2
Focal Length: 35 mm
2 softboxes both with 150watt flood




5-
fueled by film 4 - with crop

Shutter Speed: 10/400 second
F Number: F/4.2
Focal Length: 35 mm
2 softboxes both with 150watt flood




just so you have a better idea of the lighting here are two photos completely unedited(aside from resizing)

6-

Shutter Speed: 0.025 s (1/40)
F Number: f/5.0
Focal Length: 48.0mm
one softbox with a 150watt flood light




7-

Shutter Speed:0.020 s (1/50)
F Number: f/4.5
Focal Length: 18.0mm
2 softboxes both with 150watt flood

[purplerose]

The lighting looks pretty good in the 5th one, as well as the crop.

In terms of light sources, I normally have a lamp or something pretty close to me or right under the camera for frontal lighting. Sometimes, I use a flash, but it always takes a while to get the settings right so you can't tell most of the time in the photo.

As for the examples, they look heavily post-processed to me, but it wouldn't hurt to ask them in a note.

Not sure if I helped or not?? I feel as though I merely rambled...

[KendraJ.K.]

Originally Posted by purplerose

The lighting looks pretty good in the 5th one, as well as the crop.

In terms of light sources, I normally have a lamp or something pretty close to me or right under the camera for frontal lighting. Sometimes, I use a flash, but it always takes a while to get the settings right so you can't tell most of the time in the photo.

As for the examples, they look heavily post-processed to me, but it wouldn't hurt to ask them in a note.

Not sure if I helped or not?? I feel as though I merely rambled...

well i don't have a flash i only have 3 flood lights, the 2 homemade softboxes and a table lamp. i want soft lighting (no harsh shadows/lines) that's why i made the softboxes.

right like i said # 2 and # 3 are fairly heavily edited becuase i didn't like the lighting, that's why i included #6 and #7 to show what the lighitng really was.

thanks

any other input?





i'll hopefully have some new work up next week, i'll be working in the darkroom sunday finally again ^_^

[KendraJ.K.]

i'll put some new stuff up tomorrow
i developed some negatives today (and they turned out! haven't done it in a while lol)
so i'll scan them in tomorrow.

[KendraJ.K.]

im so pissed off >_<

stupid photo 1 classes don't know how to use chemicals and the chemicals messed up my film >_<



i'm trying to scan them and maybe salvage some in photoshop, even if i can't develop them in a darkroom.
but now i have no film for my photo class on sunday i guess i have to develop some crappy film i have laying around and see what's on it.

[KendraJ.K.]

most of my negatives wouldn't scan right >_<

anyways...took some photos tonight. not sure if i'm pleased with most of them. so any input would be great.


8-


9-


10-
the loss of a friend


11-


12- (shot at 1000 iso)


for the next...
with or without the extra piece to the left

13-


14-

[purplerose]

I really like the idea of using patterned backgrounds with flowers. I think what would help the end products is selecting background that compliment the flowers well, but do not distract from them. The background works well with #9.

#10 is great. Would play around with some tighter cropping.

#11 is awesome. Great DOF.

#12 is nice as well.

#14 works better for me.

Good update!

[KendraJ.K.]

thanks rose
i think i need to get some different roses maybe. i have about 30 or 40 pieces of fun colored/decorative paper. i need to think of some things to do with it lol
on #10, i tried a few other things but i really liked the square crop of it



'

my computer died and i lost photoshop

[samsite999]

kendra, i wansnt sure what to think of your work when you posted all that time ago in the original forum.
I realy injoy how personal a lot of your photos are. there a window to you and the people and things around you.
i like your obsesion with the wooden moddle things and i find that most of them have a deeper meening. Or at least thats what i think
im not going to comment indaviualy on these photos. i dont think you need it. you know what your doing bye now!

All the best..

Sam Oliver

[Ment]

I like the dof a lot in nr 11, nr 14 works the best for me. I like the composition, color, crop and of course the background

[KendraJ.K.]

Thanks sam

thanks ment


FINALLY got photoshop back.
Here are just a couple photos from Boston, well the shore anyways. i'm not too fond of them but please all critiques and comments .
these are all digital, I have some taken with film later this weekend.

15-

16-

17-

18-

19-


20- we found a seal/sea lion (i'm not sure which) on the coast. I'll have better pictures of him on film

[purplerose]

Very nice photos, 15-17 are the standouts to me.

I think #20 could use a but more play in cropping. I kinda lose the animal in all of the rocks. (not sure if this was your intention or not though.) Could be sharper as well, but maybe the film version is better?

[daedicurus]

you've got a good eye for beauty in simple things, i would like to see the colours pushed a little more in #15 & 16. cant wait to see the film ones

[KendraJ.K.]

#15 and #16with added sat.

21-

22-


and now some from boston on film

23-

24-

25-

26-

[purplerose]

Really nice work in #23.

[KendraJ.K.]

some recent photos

27-

28-
it rained today.

29-

[KendraJ.K.]

no comments at all?

[purplerose]

I think it's a nice concept, could be executed differently though. The first one is the most successful one though.

- I like that we can tell the clouds are fake, but I think something else could be done to them to give them more substance. Maybe incorporate cotton balls or come other material?
-Would iron the dress so the wrinkles aren't distracting.

Keep up the concept work, working conceptually is refreshing.

[KendraJ.K.]

yeah i'm not really happy with them and i've gotten no comments on DA, i usually get one or two. maybe they're really terrible and i just dont know it O_o


my idea came from all the pictures on DA of polaroids or digital images with clouds and rain being drawn in in photoshop or whatever into the picture and i really noticed it being overdone. so i just thought of making fake clouds...real....or more real than just drawn in in photoshop.

thanks for the input i really appreciate it, i don't get much anymore lol

[purplerose]

Yeah, I've been thinking about doing the overdone umbrella concept, but I haven't found a way to make it different yet. I hae over 3,000 deviations to check on dA o_o. I'll get to you sometime over there...

[KendraJ.K.]

some new stuff

30-
when i grow up


31-
when i grow up variation


32-
zen.


33-


34-

[purplerose]

Really nice work in #s 32 & 34. Love the simplicity and the color in #34.

[KendraJ.K.]

thanks



what do you think about #30? i've had mixed reviews on the fingers in the image.

[purplerose]

Hmm, I'm a bit on the fence for #30. I like the concept, but I'm wondering if it would work better without the hand and/or with a lower angle emphasizing the size difference?

Oooh... dunno if this is too far off the map but maybe have a hand that obviously looks like it belongs to a child holding the small plant and have a larger hand holding the bigger plant. Not sure how that would work compositionally, but it is a thought.

[KendraJ.K.]

yeah i'm not sure what i think about it either.
i like the idea of two hands but i think that might be too busy? i'm not sure lol


well my boyfriend lives about 500 miles from me and he was here visiting last week and i took a few shots.

35-
the hotel.



36-
the hotel. part 2



37-
5:13pm

[KendraJ.K.]

new photos

38-


39-


40-


41-


42-


43-


44-


45-

[KendraJ.K.]

46-


47-


48-


49-


50-


51-


52-

[purplerose]

#45 is really great. Would work more on improving the contrast to push it farther into the realm of greatness.

[KendraJ.K.]

thanks

edit: oh and the last shoot with amy (38-52) and the new ones below were shot in RAW. I usually do jpg but my cousin wants me to shoot her wedding in september and i figure i should shoot in RAW for that so i need to get used to the editing and such.


got up at 5 am about a week ago

53- the heart of the lilypond


54- a conflicted morning


55- fields in the morn'


56- lilys


57- lilypad lake


58- "morning lilypond"

[purplerose]

WOW. Looks like someone found a good place for photos. Are you gonna take a model out there sometime soon?

Back to the photos... My faves are 53 & 55. #55 would look cooler with a slight vignette.

Great update.