Some cute kids and nice to see them happy to pose for pictures. Focus seems to be your problem. #1 seems ok. #2 looks focused on the chair(or whatever she is leaning on). I'm not sure where #3 is focused and #4 is focused on the railing. Check out the stickys in the forums for links to lots of stuff to learn and happy shooting.
Some cute kids and nice to see them happy to pose for pictures. Focus seems to be your problem. #1 seems ok. #2 looks focused on the chair(or whatever she is leaning on). I'm not sure where #3 is focused and #4 is focused on the railing. Check out the stickys in the forums for links to lots of stuff to learn and happy shooting.
Thanks! I have a 50mm lens, I want to do photos of the kids, and other activities (family get togethers, portraits,etc), but I don't have a real range of distance. Do you guys have reccomendations for lens I should eventually get?
Thanks! I have a 50mm lens, I want to do photos of the kids, and other activities (family get togethers, portraits,etc), but I don't have a real range of distance. Do you guys have reccomendations for lens I should eventually get?
I'm assuming that you're talking about a 50mm f/1.8 - the "thrifty 50" - and I LOVE that lens for portraits! it's awesome in low light, crisp and clear when it focuses correctly, light and was my favorite before I upgraded to the next one. Definitely get to know it!
One thing to do is make sure you have your aperture set to 2.8 - this will give you a shallow depth of field, which I think really accentuates features in focuse (like eyes), as well as a little bit of latitude for focus. I suspect your DOF was shallower (2.0? 1.8?) which means you have GOT to be really accurate focusing - which is hard with a wiggly kiddo!
Also, that lens isn't the greatest at focusing so I always shot several shots in a row always focusing on the eyes or whatever I wanted to have in focus - and I usually got about 1/3-1/2 of them in focus. But when they were, whoa! It was tack sharp! Don't be discouraged at all by the focus - just work with it and get to know that lens!
Another thing you can do is dial your flash WAAAY back (look at your manual) and then do a tiny bit of fill flash. That will give a sparkle to the eye, capture motion a little better and fill in those dark eyes a little bit. Just make sure you're dialing it way back, exposing properly for the light and you should be fine! (If you aren't exposing properly, you'll get a very "flashy" photo.)
Finally, when you are converting to B&W, always do it for the main subject - in this case the faces. Make sure those are exposed properly (if not in camera, at least in the post processing) and you'll get a LOT more punch. I've edited the first one (just a gorgeous shot!) and cropped it to the 1/3 point and all I did was brighten it and then bump the contrast *slightly*. Please let me know if you want me to take it down! It's not perfect (it might be a little bright as I can see that skin texture is a little lost, but it's hard at smaller resolutions), but hopefully it give you an idea.
Wonderful photos! Keep it up and keep trying new things - you definitely are on your way!!
Wow thank you so much for all the information! I just used Picasa (haven't had a chance to use photoshop yet) for the B&W. It's funny that your website is "tippiepics" b/c my neices call me 'Tippy' Thanks again!
Wow thank you so much for all the information! I just used Picasa (haven't had a chance to use photoshop yet) for the B&W. It's funny that your website is "tippiepics" b/c my neices call me 'Tippy' Thanks again!
How funny! ! That's my last name.....
As for editing, I use Photoshop Lightroom. i'll use PS CS, but not as often andnot for something like this. If you find the extra money, it's worth every penny in my opinion!:D
Thanks! I have a 50mm lens, I want to do photos of the kids, and other activities (family get togethers, portraits,etc), but I don't have a real range of distance. Do you guys have reccomendations for lens I should eventually get?
You should check out this link if yoiu want to find out more about your camera. It will also help you a lot of people are saying things on the forums that you don't understand. It's like a dicitonary for all things Canon cameras. It talks about aperature, dof, flashes, and all sorts of other stuff.
edit: forgot to talk about lens. 50mm is a classic favorite. New users often have dof problems as photogmomma noted. I'd say stick with that until you are comfortable using it. Fredmiranda has a good list of lenses. There are a lot of ways to go for your second lens, it all really depends on what you are going to shoot.
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Welcome to Dgrin! you'll find many photog's much more advanced than I who are happy to help you get better
I like your first shot - great mischevious expression and it is sharp. The others are not quite so sharp but you have made me smile...:D
just my 2c.
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Thanks! I have a 50mm lens, I want to do photos of the kids, and other activities (family get togethers, portraits,etc), but I don't have a real range of distance. Do you guys have reccomendations for lens I should eventually get?
hengphotography
One thing to do is make sure you have your aperture set to 2.8 - this will give you a shallow depth of field, which I think really accentuates features in focuse (like eyes), as well as a little bit of latitude for focus. I suspect your DOF was shallower (2.0? 1.8?) which means you have GOT to be really accurate focusing - which is hard with a wiggly kiddo!
Also, that lens isn't the greatest at focusing so I always shot several shots in a row always focusing on the eyes or whatever I wanted to have in focus - and I usually got about 1/3-1/2 of them in focus. But when they were, whoa! It was tack sharp! Don't be discouraged at all by the focus - just work with it and get to know that lens!
Another thing you can do is dial your flash WAAAY back (look at your manual) and then do a tiny bit of fill flash. That will give a sparkle to the eye, capture motion a little better and fill in those dark eyes a little bit. Just make sure you're dialing it way back, exposing properly for the light and you should be fine! (If you aren't exposing properly, you'll get a very "flashy" photo.)
Finally, when you are converting to B&W, always do it for the main subject - in this case the faces. Make sure those are exposed properly (if not in camera, at least in the post processing) and you'll get a LOT more punch. I've edited the first one (just a gorgeous shot!) and cropped it to the 1/3 point and all I did was brighten it and then bump the contrast *slightly*. Please let me know if you want me to take it down! It's not perfect (it might be a little bright as I can see that skin texture is a little lost, but it's hard at smaller resolutions), but hopefully it give you an idea.
Wonderful photos! Keep it up and keep trying new things - you definitely are on your way!!
www.tippiepics.com
hengphotography
How funny!
As for editing, I use Photoshop Lightroom. i'll use PS CS, but not as often andnot for something like this. If you find the extra money, it's worth every penny in my opinion!:D
www.tippiepics.com
You should check out this link if yoiu want to find out more about your camera. It will also help you a lot of people are saying things on the forums that you don't understand. It's like a dicitonary for all things Canon cameras. It talks about aperature, dof, flashes, and all sorts of other stuff.
edit: forgot to talk about lens. 50mm is a classic favorite. New users often have dof problems as photogmomma noted. I'd say stick with that until you are comfortable using it. Fredmiranda has a good list of lenses. There are a lot of ways to go for your second lens, it all really depends on what you are going to shoot.