First attempt at people photos outside

ckaspar

So...I got my XSi in December and have been playing with it quite a bit. I just found this forum a couple weeks ago. I pulled these from some photos I took of my wife and kids at the park. I don't claim any of them to be good, I am just looking for pointers for taking better photos. I have spent most of my time shooting R/C Car racing and my wife complains that I don't take enough pictures of the "fam" so here they is!!

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10.


Now, as I said, I don't claim any of these to be good and am just looking for hints/tips/ideas/faux pas that I should keep in mind.

I look forward to your comments. Also, I apologize in advance for the strong watermark across the middle. I am sure my wife would not be too stoked if her or the kids showed up in a magazine somewhere. LOL

ckaspar

I feel like I should add that none of these were posed. I shot all of these candidly.

ckaspar

Anybody? I am planning another day out at the park on Saturday and would like to take your suggestions with me to try and get better.

Any thoughts would be helpful.

Blurmore

These are all great snaps. My advice to get your focus a little tighter is to learn to use your focus points singly, and study up on the focus modes of your camera. A couple could benefit from a stronger crop/tighter composition. I think you'll find that adding a little flash to outdoor shots can really make your shots pop, and if you shoot without flash you may want to process for stronger contrast. Keep shooting!

ckaspar

Blurmore wrote:

These are all great snaps. My advice to get your focus a little tighter is to learn to use your focus points singly, and study up on the focus modes of your camera. A couple could benefit from a stronger crop/tighter composition. I think you'll find that adding a little flash to outdoor shots can really make your shots pop, and if you shoot without flash you may want to process for stronger contrast. Keep shooting!

Thank you. Ya, I figured the focus being soft would be an issue and will continue to work on that. I was shooting AI Servo mode mostly because of all of the moving that was going on. I was running around the playgound like a wild banshee. I will also go read the Flash outdoors sticky on this thread.

Thanks for the tips and advice.

ivar

I'm not too bothered by the focus, tbh, I think you did a good job especially considering you only recently got your camera
Kids are definitely not easy subjects. I love #6

Playgrounds are hard as well; The playthings can work for the shot (#8), but they can also work against the shot, usually because they make it seem more busy (like the bars in #7 and #9, if you ask me).

In general, I think you are doing the best thing: shoot, shoot, shoot!
Look at your shots (and those from other people) and try to explain to yourself what it is you like and don't like about them

ckaspar

Thanks for the comments. I am particularly partial to #6 as well. As soon as I shot that I loved it. On 7 I was actually intending to do that on purpose. I saw her walking across this bridge with bars and I shot like 7 trying to get her face and eyes in between the bars. I agree it looks busy but that was kind of the point, and how I felt.

I keep trying and will hopefully have some good ones this weekend. My oldest is in a Luau at a fair around here and I am hoping to get some cute ones. We'll see.