Nephews

JoePa Photography

I know most of these are in black and white, and I am lacking color here, save from one, but most of my color ones aren't very good. Input, as always, welcome.



This one not only has that dreaded flash reflection, and quite largely, but also is blurry, but I still liked the capture.





Nephew's and sis.

Qarik

how much manual control do you have in your power shot? reason I ask is that outside of compostion there really isn't much we can suggest in terms of technique (shutter speed, aperture, iso focusing techniques, metering, flash work, lens, etc) if the camera is doing eveything for you.

The thing you can work on?

in your people shots..find some nice soft window light and take some pictures your subject with the light coming across their face for ecxample.

JoePa Photography

Qarik wrote:

how much manual control do you have in your power shot? reason I ask is that outside of compostion there really isn't much we can suggest in terms of technique (shutter speed, aperture, iso focusing techniques, metering, flash work, lens, etc) if the camera is doing eveything for you.

The thing you can work on?

in your people shots..find some nice soft window light and take some pictures your subject with the light coming across their face for ecxample.

Alright, thank you for the info.

Caspian

I have been thinking about a good place for you to start. Your camera will limit your exposure control. So, I'd suggest working on getting your subject in sharp focus and composition. Qarik's suggestion about looking for the right light is also a great idea. Generally, the best light for portraits is an hour or so before and after sunrise and sunset. Or, look for good diffused light in open shade or under trees or overhangs.

There are a lot of great examples of good composition in this forum. You can begin by practicing the "rule of thirds." Basically, you divide the frame into thirds using two horizontal and two vertical lines and place your main point of interest on one of the lines or, even better, where the lines intersect. In portrait work, the main point of interest will generally be the subject's eyes. Look at the pictures here for examples.

Go back over the pictures you have posted on your SmugMug site and begin to rate them yourself. Look at focus, composition and lighting. What do you like and why? What could be better and why? I keep notebook in my camera bag that I use to take notes from my portrait sessions and record that same kind of information.

Finally, post your results for us again.

JoePa Photography

Caspian wrote:

I have been thinking about a good place for you to start. Your camera will limit your exposure control. So, I'd suggest working on getting your subject in sharp focus and composition. Qarik's suggestion about looking for the right light is also a great idea. Generally, the best light for portraits is an hour or so before and after sunrise and sunset. Or, look for good diffused light in open shade or under trees or overhangs.

There are a lot of great examples of good composition in this forum. You can begin by practicing the "rule of thirds." Basically, you divide the frame into thirds using two horizontal and two vertical lines and place your main point of interest on one of the lines or, even better, where the lines intersect. In portrait work, the main point of interest will generally be the subject's eyes. Look at the pictures here for examples.

Go back over the pictures you have posted on your SmugMug site and begin to rate them yourself. Look at focus, composition and lighting. What do you like and why? What could be better and why? I keep notebook in my camera bag that I use to take notes from my portrait sessions and record that same kind of information.

Finally, post your results for us again.

Firstly, thank you for that response.

That being said, after much consideration and looking into what I could have done differently on the camera, I suddenly, magically learned a lot more! (go figure) I've got a ways to go, but I appreciate all the things you said, as people photography is one of the scariest and most difficult thresholds I've been trying to cross.

I will most definitely be looking into how to better the pictures I've taken here and in the future with those points.