First Pictures - My Daughter

tipsinartok

I'm jumping right in, I hope that's okay. I got a new camera and have been playing around with it. This is my first good camera (and it's still light years below what I'd love, it's a Canon S5 IS), though I've loved photography my whole life. These are from my first day with it. I was using aperture priority mode (is that a good way to start learning?). I would love some constructive criticism on things I can do both pre- and post- to improve the shots. My dream is to do this professionally some day. My house is small and cluttered and babies don't pose so I didn't have a lot of control over the background. Also, I'm not sure how to post EXIF data. (I read a tutorial about it but it only referred to SmugMug accounts.)

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bauerman

Looks like you are doing quite well with your new camera to me. I like the natural light in the first shot and the fact that its coming from the side. That works well.

tipsinartok

Thanks! Is there any way to tone down the effect of the flash on the second one in Photoshop? I can't figure out how to do it without washing it out. Maybe I should make it black and white.

Blurmore

tipsinartok wrote:

Thanks! Is there any way to tone down the effect of the flash on the second one in Photoshop? I can't figure out how to do it without washing it out. Maybe I should make it black and white.

Simple way would be to duplicate the background layer then apply a gaussian blur at about 30 pixels maybe more then blend mode that layer to soft light...that will enhance the contrast of the photo a lot.

bauerman

I think that there are companies as well that make small diffusing screens for pop up flashes on smaller cams. These would 'spread' the light better and give you more of a softer effect right out of the camera.

The best option would be to probably get a hot shoe mounted flash that you can swivel and bounce where needed to light your photos. Your camera has a hot shoe for this kind of equipment.

dawssvt

Your daughter is adorable