More from White Sands

WOW Dan some great photos there, I love the sunset photos, The way the orange color reflects in the dunes.
 
She's a co-worker. When we were not playing in the sand, we were arguing to finer points of process improvement for a help desk call center we were observing.
 
Cool. I recognize her now, she's the "Big Steak" girl. Does she have modeling experience besides being a help desk mechanic? My guess would be that she does have some time invested in the modeling field. Trying to get my head around why she looks so...At home before the lens. Can you describe briefly how you interacted with her to get this shot?
 
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She doesn't have much, but some people just take direction well. Plus, we had spent almost every waking moment together for the past 8 days at that point......so no awkward meeting the photog time.

A little secret on this one too, .......I didn't have the camera to my face. :D I was shooting with such a wide angle that I had the camera almost buried in the sand shooting up. I cropped some of the sand off the bottom to make it square.....plus it just wasn't adding to the image. Add a little natural wind off the sand dunes to blow her hair and some stupid joke from me to get a giggle....and there you have it.
 
Camera buried in the sand!... We have to get you some help man! LMAO!!!...That's brave man! I think you work well together photographically (your direction and her experience/natural talent/able to follow directions skill set) based on what I've seen so far. looking forward to more of your work together. Thanks for getting back:)
 
Tell me more about the distortion you are seeing. I was shooting with an 18-70, which does not have the kind of distortion you see from UWAL's like a 12-24 or 10-20. I see next to none in this shot, but I'm interested to know what you are seeing.
 
her head is the same height as her torso... that's major distortion.

imho, 18mm is way too wide to be shooting people with, except in certain circumstances.
 
Well, that can be attributed a lot less to lens distortion and attributed more to perspective w/ the wide angle. Well, really a few things added to that look. And before I go too far, that was one of the things that originally made me not process it.....but the more I looked at it.....the more it settled with me and I started to like it more.

Anyway, Jenny weighs less than 100lbs...so any photo of her can looked jacked up if you aren't careful. And what I started to say above is that the perspective is what causes what you are seeing. She was giggling and leaning forward, so her head was significantly closer to the lens than her legs or torso.....and shooting at 18mm made it look that much more dramatic. I actually have a Tamron 17-50 that I choose not to use for this shoot....for a few reasons but one was specifically b/c of the low distortion of the 18-70.

I dunno, maybe what I'm describing is what you consider distortion. To me it's just one of the properties of a wide angle lens. You can use a wide angle with 0% distortion and still have the big head syndrome you mentioned.

Thanks for the complement on the other shots though.
 
to me it's like looking at a reflection of somebody in one of those funhouse mirrors.

i didn't really understand it until i started shooting with primes, and also studying the work of people who posted what they shot... looking back, i have some great wide-angle shots of people that bug the heck out of me now.

maybe it's just a personal hangup of mine?

anyway, i think you are fortunate to have such an attractive model to work with, i like your lighting and composition, and i hope that you post up some more of these photo sessions... thanks for taking the time to share it with us.
 
I agree, it can be very fun house if you are not careful. I think the key is if you are going use it, to make sure that it makes sense to the viewer and does not "over do it".

For instance, here is an engagement shoot that a buddy of mine did with his 10-22.

meganforfred01.jpg


This is the kind of stuff I look out for when it comes to distortion. He doesn't use this lens anymore for E sessions. :D This lens is the distortion king in my mind.
 
i see what you mean there, her arm is so big that it makes her look like she weighs about 300 lbs... i still kinda like that shot tho!

i'm looking for curvature in those tree trunks...
 
I think what you guys are reffering to is exagerrated perspective. The term distortion would be used when a lens exemplifies bending of stright lines (barrel distortion). You are correct OSV, typically photographers try to stay away from wide angle lenses for traditional protraits because facial features or exaggerated. It is also true that there is more of a chance of barrell distortion with a wide angle lens but there is that difference. If your lens does have barrel distortion at a wider focal length, it is a good idea to shoot your subject in the middle of the lens since the edge is where the distortion is most seen. Just so I'm clear there is nothing wrong with using a wide anlge lens for portriat work you should just be aware that its not traditional and be careful not to place your subject at the edge of the frame.

DivotDan, By the way...I never got a chance to compliment you on all these photos you have taken at white sands..really impressive stuff, the best i've seen from you. Your photos actually inspired me to pick up one of those flash triggers for my 430ex. Still waiting on it to be delivered though.
 
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