First week of my "real" camera... c&c welcome!

[McMommy]

I wanted to share a few photos I have taken with my first week of owning a "real" camera. After my son destroyed my point & shoot, we finally bought a Nikon D5000, after realizing that the D90 is just not in our budget right now. This is something I have wanted for so long! I am not new to photography, but am very new to taking photos exactly how I want them. I'm so excited to have manual settings that allow me to do this! Anyways, here are a few that I've taken over the last week, some are lightly photoshopped and some are not.

A little girl and this penguin were playing together through the glass at our aquarium. I wish I could make the penguin a bit clearer, but I haven't tried to photoshop all the little dots of water out. I'm sure this would improve it a little bit.

My 19-month old son at the beach. I photo-shopped this a little bit, played with the colors and lighting. I love how it turned out!

Friends of ours that have recently become engaged and let me "practice" on them. This was a fun day!

More of the lovebirds. I'm sure something else could be improved on this one, but I just don't know what!

My boy on the beach

Daddy and his boy!


Okay, so I could upload all day! I am having fun with this, and would appreciate any helpful feedback you have. I definitely know I'm a super newbie, but would like to improve with practice and criticism!

Thanks!

 

[Canosonic]

#1. Cool. At first I thought someone is smashing a bottle of wine against a window.
Kinda confusing and I like that. Could cut off the lower part though.
#2. I'm not good at portraits, I barely ever do them. Perhaps it'd be better to have the WHOLE head in the scene? I don't know.
#3. Really nice. The waves in the background.
#4. I prefer #3 more and ...
#5 as well as #4. -> Black and white isn't as simple as just clicking B&W. You need to adjust the color tones too. Like the sky (blues) would use to be darker etc.
#6 Cute.
Keep posting and you'll get on the right tracks.

 

[scorpion_tyr]

1: Pretty cool idea, and would be a better shot if there was some more of the subjects face on the left.

2: Good shot! I think you did a really good PS job bringing out his eys, without going overboard.

3: A little underexposed maybe, but a good shot.

4: Great shot! Nothing bad to say about this one at all. I like the gulls in the background. They don't beg for attention or anything, you have to look to see them, but it's a nice touch. Good job!

5: A lot of space in this one, but I like that to show a comparison of the small child and the big world he's in. Good job!

6: I like this one to. It might be my monitor, but it looks just a little dark to me. Great shot though!

Overall you did a really good job! If you haven't already my suggestion would be to do a longer and more serious shoot with your engaged friends, you could give them some REALLY good shots they will cherish for a lifetime!

 

[newb]

Try not to cut the tops of heads off.

The one with your son runnin down the beach is my favorite.

 

[McMommy]

1: Pretty cool idea, and would be a better shot if there was some more of the subjects face on the left.

2: Good shot! I think you did a really good PS job bringing out his eys, without going overboard.

3: A little underexposed maybe, but a good shot.

4: Great shot! Nothing bad to say about this one at all. I like the gulls in the background. They don't beg for attention or anything, you have to look to see them, but it's a nice touch. Good job!

5: A lot of space in this one, but I like that to show a comparison of the small child and the big world he's in. Good job!

6: I like this one to. It might be my monitor, but it looks just a little dark to me. Great shot though!

Overall you did a really good job! If you haven't already my suggestion would be to do a longer and more serious shoot with your engaged friends, you could give them some REALLY good shots they will cherish for a lifetime!

Thank you for the feedback! #6 was my first day with the camera, so I wish I had gotten the lighting right, but really... I was just shooting and pointing and shooting and going nuts!

I wish I could have a longer shoot with my friends, but that will have to wait until the end of May, when she's likely to be back again. Her fiance and my husband went to boot camp together, and they are both at the DLI to learn a language. She and her fiance got engaged on basic training graduation day, and she lives in central Oregon, and will until they get married in September.

I did, however, beg for friends in the area to let me practice taking photos of them, and so far have only one bite. What's with people not wanting free pictures?! Alot of my mom friends want me to take pictures of their kids, so at least I'll get to practice on them. But I do have to say that it's a lot different shooting fast photos of little kids than being able to take your time and getting ones of adults.

The ones above that I took of my friends, I did with my toddler running around my feet! Actually, the black and white of them I did holding him, balancing on a bunch of rocks! I would love to take more dedicated photos, maybe leaving the baby with my husband for the afternoon!

 

[McMommy]

Here is the original, unprocessed photo that I took of my son. As you can see I used p/s to crop closely, and change a lot of the coloring.

I'm just curious why a lot of people say to get the whole head in the photo? Obviously, I have close to zero experience, but the reason I zoomed in so closely was because I wanted the focus on his eyes and cute little face. Keeping all his hair in the photo made for a lot of space that I didn't want included. I also wish he was wearing a brown shirt, so I made it happen. :blushing:

 

[scorpion_tyr]

Wow... holding a toddler, balancing on rocks, and shooting? That's talent! Good luck finding people to shoot, at a place like DLI it might be kind of tuff. Most of the people there are either single or their significant others aren't with them. And when they come to see them, they won't have much time. Just make lots of friends and keep shooting. Enjoy your time out there!

 

[Canosonic]

To give more focus on his eyes you can cheat.
Use PS to brightener the blue in the eyes. And the focus at the face is always there in portraits.

 

[vtf]

I actually like them all but my first thought on #2 was the cropping of the head. Maybe its what Ive heard or it just bothered me, regardless its still a great picture and adorable boy. Keep it up.