Trixie Silhouette

RadialPrincess · Mar 28, 2005

I'm still an infant with my camera...

What do I need to improve upon?

Chase · Mar 29, 2005

I think the framing and subject are good, the light is just a bit too harsh. I'm guessing you are shooting with a point and shoot style digital, in which case you may not have a lot of choices to work with the lighting here. Some of the cameras may have options to be able to either lower the power of the flash or adjust the exposure to compensate a little...that may help in this situation if you have those options.

In a perfect world, we'd all have studio lighting and be able to get things perfect, but in the real world we work with the resources we have. That being said, I like the shot overall, but the overly bright areas are a bit distracting. Hope that helps a little.

RadialPrincess · Mar 29, 2005

Thanks Chase. I have a digital rebel, but I don't know much about using the manual mode yet. The flash was the built in version, would it have helped me to step back some & zoom? Its hard just getting her to sit still... lol. I take whatever I can get of her.... she's a riot and full of energy, so she's not always very cooperative.

Thanks, I'll keep trying

Chase · Mar 29, 2005

Ahhh the digital rebel makes sense. The on-camera flash runs into the same situation as point and shoot digitals, they create very harsh directional light. If you end up having the money and the interest to do more flash photography, buying an off-camera flash and arm for it to sit on will help quite a bit. Here I say that, but I still use the on-camera flash on my D70! :lol:

Stepping back and zooming probably would have helped a bit as well to lessen the effect of the flash. Just play around and experiment with settings and camera placement and you'll get a better and better feel for shots like this.

Again though, I don't think this is a bad shot

thebeginning · Mar 29, 2005

i like that! very taco-bellish.

i actually like the high contrast (?)

just keep taking tons of pictures...this is a nice start (well composed)

hobbes28 · Mar 29, 2005

I think it's a good picture and I agree with Chase. I'd be interested to see what it would've looked like if you would've stepped back and zoomed in so the flash wouldn't have been so harsh. Another thing I used to do before I got an off camera flash (and even still with one) is take some tissue paper and put it over the flash to diffuse it a little.

The best advice that I could give about improving on pictures is to keep posting your images in this forum and asking for advice. You're doing better in your photography than you think because you're a member of a forum where you can learn to get better. Just keep them coming and ask all the questions you can. Most of all, keep up the good work.