another try....c&c please

[paigew]

Hello photo friends :mrgreen: looking forward to advice so I can continue to grow. After my last c&c (not so great) I took all the advice and tried again. This time with no flash and using only natural lighting (turned off lights). The natural lighting in my home isn't that great. I have windows facing north and east in the family room but its very gloomy out so not much lighting comes in. I played around with the exposure some to try and get it looking right. I decided to do a b&w conversion because his 'bumbo' seat is an ugly green color. I also tried to get different angles instead of straight on as was suggested during my last c&c.

I know I cut his fingers off :blushing: but overall, I think I have improved from my last 'photo shoot'. What do you think?

 

[rexbobcat]

This is much improved than your last photos. I think that the background kind of brings down the contrast though.

This is just an issue of personal taste, but I generally like black and white photos to be pretty contrasty, and if you add any more contrast the hair would lose a lot of definition.

It's nice to see that there are shadows here now, though.

Even so, it might help to move him a little farther away from the light source. It's just that there are basically no shadows at all on the right side of the iamge (left side of his face), and then on the left side of the image (right side of his face) there is weird little shadow at his temple. It's just unbalanced.

I do think it is a great improvement from last time though

 

[paigew]

Okay thanks! So the goal is : no shadows on face, but shadows behind to show depth/demension? And maybe a white background?

 

[ababysean]

You shot this wide open 1.8 and 1/80 shutter....

That is too narrow and too slow

Photography is about light. If the light inside is not enough to expose the photograph you have to supplement with flash. Most of the time this does NOT mean your pop up flash on your camera.

You want shadows on the face, I don't know who said that but you do, in the right places. That is what defines us as people. The type of shadow you want is nice and soft, not harsh and bright....

Up your ISO, stop down a bit and raise your shutter speed. If you can not get an exposed photograph were you are inside the house, move to a window or door... and try that way.

 

[paigew]

You shot this wide open 1.8 and 1/80 shutter....

That is too narrow and too slow

Photography is about light. If the light inside is not enough to expose the photograph you have to supplement with flash. Most of the time this does NOT mean your pop up flash on your camera.

You want shadows on the face, I don't know who said that but you do, in the right places. That is what defines us as people. The type of shadow you want is nice and soft, not harsh and bright....

Up your ISO, stop down a bit and raise your shutter speed. If you can not get an exposed photograph were you are inside the house, move to a window or door... and try that way.

thank you! I tried for about an hour to figure out full manual mode yesterday and just got more confused. It seems you can only adjust shutterspeed when in full manual? I shot this in av mode where you cannot adjust shutterspeed. I will try to figure out how to do all that thanks. Do you think this photo is improperly exposed? I believe I had the exposure adjusted up...

 

[ababysean]

the exposure looks good on the photo but the photo is not in focus.. it is blurry, from camera shake (low shutter speed) or improper DOF, but most likely from the baby moving ever so slightly and the shutter speed is too slow....

 

[paigew]

the exposure looks good on the photo but the photo is not in focus.. it is blurry, from camera shake (low shutter speed) or improper DOF, but most likely from the baby moving ever so slightly and the shutter speed is too slow....

okay thanks looks like I have some studying to do.

 

[paigew]

what would you set the shutterspeed to? my I believe my manual said 1/400 for kids; does that sound right?

 

[MTVision]

what would you set the shutterspeed to? my I believe my manual said 1/400 for kids; does that sound right?

1/400 is good but 1/200 would probably work. Don't shoot kids at 1.8. It can be really hard to nail focus. The depth of field is so shallow that the slightest focusing error will become very noticeable. You can still get a nice blurred background with a smaller aperture. And step back - the closer you are - the shallower the depth of field. F/5.6 is a pretty good starting place for newbies shooting kids. At 6-7ft away your depth of field is around 1-1 1/2 ft (that much will be in focus). At 5 ft. away it will be a little over half a foot. If lighting isn't good you might have to raise your ISO to get a fast enough shutter speed.

 

[ph0enix]

I shot this in av mode where you cannot adjust shutterspeed.

This is because Av mode is aperture priority. This means you can adjust the aperture but shutter speed is adjusted automatically for correct exposure. In shutter priority mode (marked with "S" or "Tv" on most cameras) you can change the shutter speed but the aperture is adjusted automatically. In manual mode, you can change both.

 

[paigew]

I shot this in av mode where you cannot adjust shutterspeed.

This is because Av mode is aperture priority. This means you can adjust the aperture but shutter speed is adjusted automatically for correct exposure. In shutter priority mode (marked with "S" or "Tv" on most cameras) you can change the shutter speed but the aperture is adjusted automatically. In manual mode, you can change both.

Yes, I understand that. But when I was in manual mode every time I changed the shutter other stuff would change too. I'm not looking at my camera right now but if I remember correctly I think it was the aperture? Also, I seem to remember having troubles adjusting the exposure level when in manual.

 

[jwbryson1]

I shot this in av mode where you cannot adjust shutterspeed.

But when I was in manual mode every time I changed the shutter other stuff would change too.

If you were truly in full manual mode you had complete control over the shutter speed and aperture of the camera. No tinkering with the aperture in manual mode would cause a corresponding change to the shutter speed.

 

[MTVision]

Yes, I understand that. But when I was in manual mode every time I changed the shutter other stuff would change too. I'm not looking at my camera right now but if I remember correctly I think it was the aperture? Also, I seem to remember having troubles adjusting the exposure level when in manual.

Nothing will change in manual unless you change it. Changing your shutter speed will not change your aperture. Your ISO might change if you have it on auto (which you should take off auto if that's what it's on)

What do you mean by exposure level? Your shutter speed and aperture (and ISO) determine exposure. Do you mean exposure compensation? On my camera the button used to adjust exposure compensation (in aperture/shutter priority) is the same one used to adjust aperture in manual. I have to go into the menu to adjust EC when in manual. You should try to get exposure right by adjusting shutter speed and aperture before using EC.

 

[MTVision]

Yes, I understand that. But when I was in manual mode every time I changed the shutter other stuff would change too. I'm not looking at my camera right now but if I remember correctly I think it was the aperture? Also, I seem to remember having troubles adjusting the exposure level when in manual.

If your ISO is on auto then your shutter speed is probably changing when you change the aperture. Auto ISO jumps all over the place so if you see your shutter speed going up then your ISO has probably just jumped up as well. Take it off auto ISO and leave it around 200-400. Only raise it if you can't get a fast enough shutter speed for a handheld shot

 

[paigew]

Yes, I understand that. But when I was in manual mode every time I changed the shutter other stuff would change too. I'm not looking at my camera right now but if I remember correctly I think it was the aperture? Also, I seem to remember having troubles adjusting the exposure level when in manual.

Nothing will change in manual unless you change it. Changing your shutter speed will not change your aperture. Your ISO might change if you have it on auto (which you should take off auto if that's what it's on)

What do you mean by exposure level? Your shutter speed and aperture (and ISO) determine exposure. Do you mean exposure compensation? On my camera the button used to adjust exposure compensation (in aperture/shutter priority) is the same one used to adjust aperture in manual. I have to go into the menu to adjust EC when in manual. You should try to get exposure right by adjusting shutter speed and aperture before using EC.

yes, exposure compensation...thats what I meant. thanks for the advice