Boy in the woods - first time out with DSLR

[Garasaki]

Headed to the local state park with my 3.5 year old son.

I'm a total n00b, literally was my first major expedition with the DSLR, a Nikon D5100. I left it on auto the whole time *embarassed*

I think I did ok with image composition, I definitely improved as the day went on. I have to admit most of it was "luck" - I didn't have any sort of plan for what I was shooting.

Any feedback would be appriciated. Some of these are cropped, most are resized, but no other postprocessing was done.

 

[Designer]

My EXIF reader is drawing a blank. Did you use fill flash on the first one? Needs fill flash on many of them.

 

[Garasaki]

Hi fellow Iowan!

Flash was used on some of them, although it was frankly inadvertent if it was used.

Having spent some time on the forums today, I can see many people discussing extensive flash setups (well not extensive exactly, but ummmm, deliberate flash setups) to try to get very even lighting on the subject. I can see how many of these shots have obvious shadow on them.

The nature of the subject/scene/(experience with/for a 3 year old) would have made it rather difficult to setup any sort of flash, other than on camera, ahead of time.

Yet perhaps that speaks to the underlying theme that I was out shooting without any sort of plan and that in itself is a chunk of where I can improve.

 

[o hey tyler]

Woke up quick at about noon
Just thought that I had to be at the playground soon
I gotta get snow pants before the day begins
Before my wife starts bitchin' about my lens
About to go and damn near went blind
Young photogs on the pad throwin' up gang signs
I went in the house to get the chips
With my D5100 on the side of my hip
I bailed outside and pointed my camera
Just as I thought, the kids kept steppin'
I jumped in the fo' hit the ISO button
I got shutter speed and aperture, side to side
Then I let the alpine play
I was pumpin' new shiz by Scott Kelby
It was "Gangster Gangster" at the top of the list
Then I played my own shiz, it went somethin' like this...




Hi, OP! There are really too many photos to critique in this thread, but if you'd be willing to whittle your selection down to 3 or so images, I'm sure people would be much more willing to help.

 

[Designer]

Hi fellow Iowan!

Flash was used on some of them, although it was frankly inadvertent if it was used.

Having spent some time on the forums today, I can see many people discussing extensive flash setups (well not extensive exactly, but ummmm, deliberate flash setups) to try to get very even lighting on the subject. I can see how many of these shots have obvious shadow on them.

The nature of the subject/scene/(experience with/for a 3 year old) would have made it rather difficult to setup any sort of flash, other than on camera, ahead of time.

Yet perhaps that speaks to the underlying theme that I was out shooting without any sort of plan and that in itself is a chunk of where I can improve.

Well, next time you're out doing something similar, set your built-in flash to "fill". It will only take a few seconds, and then you'll be ready for the shot.

Also; "very even lighting" is usually not the best, just some fill is all you want.

 

[thunderkyss]

Hi fellow Iowan!

Flash was used on some of them, although it was frankly inadvertent if it was used.

Having spent some time on the forums today, I can see many people discussing extensive flash setups (well not extensive exactly, but ummmm, deliberate flash setups) to try to get very even lighting on the subject. I can see how many of these shots have obvious shadow on them.

The nature of the subject/scene/(experience with/for a 3 year old) would have made it rather difficult to setup any sort of flash, other than on camera, ahead of time.

Yet perhaps that speaks to the underlying theme that I was out shooting without any sort of plan and that in itself is a chunk of where I can improve.

Well, next time you're out doing something similar, set your built-in flash to "fill". It will only take a few seconds, and then you'll be ready for the shot.

Also; "very even lighting" is usually not the best, just some fill is all you want.

I don't understand. Can you explain why natural light & shadows are bad?

 

[Garasaki]

Tyler, thanks for the song. I think you are the first person who's ever written a song for me :hugs:

I picked my favorites, with no real objective way of doing so, and left those. I debated between picking my favorites, the ones I thought were the best photos, or the ones I thought needed the most improvement. But anyway. I editted the first post to reflect this.

 

[techniker]

I don't understand. Can you explain why natural light & shadows are bad?

Because you were in auto exposure, the camera was probably using evaluative light metering to calculate exposure settings (aperture size, shutter speed, ISO), which means it "reads" the light in the majority of the frame and exposes for that. I'm not sure if spot metering is available in auto exposure, but in this mode it will only read the light in one spot on the frame. So if you have spot metering on, you could select the subject (in this case the boy) and the camera will expose for that. The down side is, you will face the same problem of possibly under or over exposing the background when the the subject is properly exposed. I wouldn't make a blanket statement saying natural light and shadows are bad, but in this instance they can contribute to the exposure problems in your pics.

This is where fill comes into play because you can shrink the margin between extreme lights and darks between the subject and the background while still exposing them both correctly.

Another thing to remember is that taking photos in the woods can be tricky because you will have a lot of dark shadows cast by trees, so if you expose for the lighter parts the shadows will be underexposed and if you expose for the shadows the light areas will be over exposed. But it was overcast during your shoot, which really helps to minimize those contrasts.

 

[Garasaki]

Can you elaborate on how the exposure could be improved, or how it is problematic, in the pics? (Hopefully that dosent come across as snarkey, as it should come across as either ignorance or naivity, depending on whether you like more or not!)

 

[bunny99123]

They are too dark. Makes my eyes strain to view the face of your beautiful son. Fill flash would have lighten the photo or you could increase exposure on post processing. You did a good job of photographing him...3 year olds don't stay still long

 

[Designer]

I don't understand. Can you explain why natural light & shadows are bad?

The comments regarding fill flash were posted in an effort to help the OP take better pictures.

Sometimes "found light" works, and sometimes we need a little help.

 

[thunderkyss]

I don't understand. Can you explain why natural light & shadows are bad?

The comments regarding fill flash were posted in an effort to help the OP take better pictures.

Sometimes "found light" works, and sometimes we need a little help.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, but I guess I'd have to see an example. To my eyes, the pictures of his son look fine & if I were to take them, that's what I would be going for.

 

[kundalini]

.....
Having spent some time on the forums today, I can see many people discussing extensive flash setups (well not extensive exactly, but ummmm, deliberate flash setups) to try to get very even lighting on the subject. I can see how many of these shots have obvious shadow on them.
......

You don't have shadows, just run of the mill underexposure and very flat lighting from the cloud cover. Listen to Designer about the use of Fill flash. This is how you can enhance your photographs. For portraiture, shadows are our friends if placed in the more favourable positions. The shadow you do have is referred to as 'raccoon eyes'. The eye sockets are very dark and give no live or sparkle to your subject. Refer to Fill flash comments.

Keep at it and have fun.

 

[Designer]

I don't understand. Can you explain why natural light & shadows are bad?

The comments regarding fill flash were posted in an effort to help the OP take better pictures.

Sometimes "found light" works, and sometimes we need a little help.

Thank you.

I'm sorry, but I guess I'd have to see an example. To my eyes, the pictures of his son look fine & if I were to take them, that's what I would be going for.

I don't know if you saw the first post, the one with fill flash? He has taken it down now, but that one was better than the the remainder of the shots.

 

[Garasaki]

This is the one with fill flash, I believe.