A shot and Greetings

JoePa Photography

Greetings,

My name is Joseph, and I am a newcomer to the forums, and SmugMug in general. I was introduced to it earlier toda-- ok, it's passed midnight now, so yesterday. Suffice to say, I am an amateur, and not nearly at the level of skill or knowledge most, if not all of you are, but I work the best of what I have, which is an old, but good camera and no formal education or training. I also, unfortunately, do not possess any photo editing software that I know how to use, or can learn (i.e. no photoshop or non-free products worth it, imho). That being said, I hope that I can learn much from you folks as well as some others have.

Now that that's out of the way, allow me to give a picture to view, seeing as I /am/ posting in the shots/people forum. I will happily take this "C&C" from folks, assuming it means Critique and Criticism or similar as I suspect, and not, in fact, Command & Conquer, albeit a good series. Oh, and more proof that I'm silly and don't know what I'm doing here, I didn't see how to upload my pictures from smugmug onto here in multiples, and only was able to upload 1, of course, that could be because I'm on my free trial as of a few hours ago, but either way, there it is.

I know it's kind of blurry, but as I said, that's my stuff there, at least one picture for now.

kidzmom

Hi and welcome aboard!

About uploading photos..You can only do one if you use the upload tool on the forum, but if you copy and paste the embeddible links from your smug mug account (should be possible even with trial) then you can upload as many as you want!

Okay now onto some photo critique....I like the idea for this shot, but the only main drawback for me is the clear telltale sign that direct on-camera flash has been used. The teeeensy flash lights in his eyes. If you find more natural light the "catchlights" will be more attractive. Another option is to use a hotshoe mounted flash on your camera and "bounce" it so that the flash isn't directly pointed in the eyes. (you can take this much further with expensive equiptment to take the flash head entirely off your camera and attach it to a light stand with umbrella, but I'm assuming you aren't looking to head in that direction.)

I hope others will chime in but there are some free editing tools out there. I haven't used any myself. A used version of PSE will cost you 50 bucks...not a bad investment if you are wanting to take your photos up a notch!

Cute kiddo and thanks for sharing!

rhondavid

I too like the idea of the shot but the focus is way off. When shooting people always remember to focus on the eyes. I have to agree with the comments about the flash and different way to improve the use of the flash.

Not sure I like the B & W conversion as the item he is peeping out behind and his skin tone are pretty close so there is not a lot of contrast between the two. What does the color version look like.

Welcome and keep on posting.

Caspian

Joseph,
Thanks for posting and welcome to the group. I agree with the other two comments on the picture you posted. What camera are you using? If you have selectable focus spots, place the focus point on the nearest eye. If you have only one focus spot, focus on the eye and recompose the shot. You may need to read your manual to learn how to use the focus lock if you want to focus and recompose.

There is a great help article here on DGrin that will walk you through adding pictures to posts. Basically, you copy the link from the SmugMug picture and paste it into your post using the little picture icon at the top of the box where your type in your comments.

David

JoePa Photography

Caspian wrote:

Joseph,
Thanks for posting and welcome to the group. I agree with the other two comments on the picture you posted. What camera are you using? If you have selectable focus spots, place the focus point on the nearest eye. If you have only one focus spot, focus on the eye and recompose the shot. You may need to read your manual to learn how to use the focus lock if you want to focus and recompose.

There is a great help article here on DGrin that will walk you through adding pictures to posts. Basically, you copy the link from the SmugMug picture and paste it into your post using the little picture icon at the top of the box where your type in your comments.

David

Thank you all for your comments. Pretty much this is the stuff I'm taking in to remember for future references.

I will try the upload on the pictures at another posting. I think I didn't realize you still could because of the way it is a popup on the page. I am definitely not used to this site, apologies.

Yes, the flash in the eyes, with the mode I had it set on in that time, was a little needed to get it from being dark, but I understand what you're all getting at and see what you mean, especially the pinpoint reflections in the pupil area.

As for my camera, unfortunately, I'm only working with a Canon Powershot A620, so my up close and personals with people have not always been the best. I get a decent amount of red eye, with the "red eye" function on and off both.

I'd like to say I'm in the market for a new camera, but I don't really have the funding for it at the moment, and when I am, I won't be able to afford too much. My idea was, depending on what's out there by the time I have the money was a Canon EOS Rebel XSi or if I get a bit more fundage soon enough, the EOS 5D. Still simply making due for now.

Caspian

I love the A620. I almost bought one on eBay a couple weeks ago, but staved off the impulse. While I don't like to compose a picture looking at the rear display rather than in the optical viewfinder, you may be able to better see where the camera is focusing by composing that way.

The camera is just a tool to capture what you see and the A620 is a good camera to start with. Keep shooting and keep posting.

David

JoePa Photography

Caspian wrote:

I love the A620. I almost bought one on eBay a couple weeks ago, but staved off the impulse. While I don't like to compose a picture looking at the rear display rather than in the optical viewfinder, you may be able to better see where the camera is focusing by composing that way.

The camera is just a tool to capture what you see and the A620 is a good camera to start with. Keep shooting and keep posting.

David

I admit, I do use the lcd display a lot, as it does have the swivel head, and some shots are ahrd for me to get to, though some more than others. Being 6'6" 'ish, it is hard for me to comfortably stand at certain angles for lengths of time, and the ability to get a shot how I see it without having to get myself completely dirty or any muscle cramping is nice . Thanks for the support there.