C&C and advice both are appreciated! Thanks!

KenkelsImages · Feb 24, 2012

Shot for the last year with a Nikon D60, and a Nikkor 55-200mm kit lens. Loved my work. Had a mentor, who shot Canon, but he helped me so much. My mentor is gone now, as I thought I didn't need him anymore, BUT...
Just upgraded to a Nikon D7000. Went to a senior photoshoot the other day, and got mediocre pictures. They are okay, but compared to what I was shooting last year with my D60, I feel like I lost something. What I don't know.
I have the following lens's:
Nikkor 50mm 1.8 (which is what I used for my senior shoot)
Nikkor 55-200mm
Nikkor 18-55mm (which is more of a dust collector and hasn't even been on my camera since I bought my D60)

I don't use any photo editing software, as I have never before really needed it. I just feel really lost, and... don't know what to do about it.

Here's some of my photography from the D60 that I was happy with:

1.

2.

And here's some of the photos from the senior shoot I did with the D7000

1.

2.

C&C and advice both are appreciated! Thanks!

DiskoJoe · Feb 24, 2012

The new shots are out of focus, over exposed and have serious white balance issues. Post your exif data and more details about what you were doing here. Were these manually focused? Was the 55-200 what you used here?What time of day was it? etc......

DiskoJoe · Feb 24, 2012

But you definitely need to go do a reshoot here. I would be really pissed to pay for these photos if I was her parent.

KenkelsImages · Feb 24, 2012

I was actually using the 50mm for the first time. I did a shoot the day before this one, just testing my location and they turned out alright, much better than these. But anyways, it was around 5:30pm, which was supposed to be the golden hour around my neck of the woods, but it was overcast that day.
Iso - 200
F/L- 50mm
Aperature 1.8
White balance - shade

As you can see from the above pictures, I'm not a complete idiot. I do know what I'm doing, somewhat. Just not sure what happened here. Obviously the combination of the new camera and the new lens, through me for a loop. Thanks for looking, and thanks for your input!

DiskoJoe · Feb 24, 2012

The d7000 does have slightly different white balance tuning the lower level nikon motors. This may have a bit to do with it. Post some of the pics from the day before. What kind of 50mm do you have and did you do these in manual focus or with AF? You have to be careful when shooting wide open too. The depth of field is pretty small and it is easy to miss the focus if there is any shake. What was the shutter speed for the shots too?

Side note too. When shooting pics like this take an extra minute in post and use the spot treatment to remove acne scares like the ones on her face. Just because it is a natural part of life does not mean she should have pictures that document it. :lol:

Just read that you dont use editing software. You need to change that very soon. Even film photographers edit photos.

KenkelsImages · Feb 24, 2012

I do all my portraits in Aperature mode, so honestly I don't know anything about shutter speed. Haha. i'm kind of spoiled I guess. But the only number on my camera I don't recognize is right by the aperature, which makes sense, says it's 1/1000, Shutter speed perhaps? And this was done AF, I tried this lens on my D60 a few times, but because it doesn't have the motor I never got to use the AF mode on it. The 50mm is a Nikkor lense, not sure if that's what you're asking. And I will post a few pix from the shoot before, like I said these aren't the best either, but better than the other ones.

1. This one I realize is blown out on the right side.

2.

Like I said before, this was just test shots, I was just testing the lighting and white balance and things, and honestly I thought these pictures, turned out a lot better then the shoot I actually wanted to turn out good.

cgipson1 · Feb 24, 2012

Maybe you shouldn't be shooting at 1.8! This is a very common amateur mistake. You lens is not sharp at 1.8. Your DOF at 1.8 is extremely minimal... and the slightest movement on your part or your subject will throw it out of focus.

If you are charging.. then buy some decent lenses.. (if you are going to act like PRO... use PRO equipment! And learn to use it!) You don't have a single DECENT lens..

And learn to use flash!

NickA · Feb 24, 2012

KenkelsImages said:
As you can see from the above pictures, I'm not a complete idiot. I do know what I'm doing, somewhat. Just not sure what happened here. Obviously the combination of the new camera and the new lens, through me for a loop. Thanks for looking, and thanks for your input!

KenkelsImages said:
I do all my portraits in Aperature mode, so honestly I don't know anything about shutter speed.

Read the manual. How can you expect to take good pictures without understanding how the camera works? You would be better off setting it on Auto if you don't understand things like aperture (not aperature), shutter speed and ISO.

KenkelsImages · Feb 24, 2012

I never said I was pro, actually if you didn't notice, this thread is actually posted in the beginners forum. I hope to never be a pro, as most of the ones I've seen who claim to be pro, maybe pro at photography, but not so much at being nice to others new to the industry.
My 50mm lens I actually paid over $500. I just started. And just spent $1300 on my new camera, my next big purchase is a lens.
And I've NEVER had to use flash, and I actually have some half way decent photos, without using flash. What kind of flash do you suggest?

KenkelsImages · Feb 24, 2012

NickA.
When I first got my Nikon D60, I read the manual, bought the $50 book, bought some photography for dummies books. NONE of this helped me, hence why I started off with a mentor. I didn't think my leap from a D60 to a D7000 would be so huge, that I would have to go through all this again. I guess I thought maybe what I thought was knowledge would go with me from one camera to the next. I was taught by my mentor to shoot in Aperature mode, when I first went to him, I was using childrens mode. So that was a huge step.

NickA · Feb 24, 2012

KenkelsImages said:
I never said I was pro, actually if you didn't notice, this thread is actually posted in the beginners forum. I hope to never be a pro, as most of the ones I've seen who claim to be pro, maybe pro at photography, but not so much at being nice to others new to the industry.
My 50mm lens I actually paid over $500. I just started. And just spent $1300 on my new camera, my next big purchase is a lens.
And I've NEVER had to use flash, and I actually have some half way decent photos, without using flash. What kind of flash do you suggest?

You could have spent three times as much on a camera and lens, and it won't help you take better pictures until you understand things like the exposure triangle. Just sayin'...

photoentrepreneur · Feb 24, 2012

Hi

You will have to start learning what all those button do on the camera to use it properly. Although your on AF (I used that sometimes too) the camera will have no idea what you want to focus on. Us the focus points to change that if you want to use AF.

The 1/1000 means your shooting one thousand of a second. If your working in low light at an ISO of 100 you will have blurring because your aperture is really wide open. Just because you have a fast shutter does not mean it will not blur.

Are you using auto ISO too?

Olly

cgipson1 · Feb 24, 2012

The Exif data is in the photos for anyone that wants to look.. btw!

KenkelsImages · Feb 24, 2012

@Olly
I know how to change my focal points. I honestly don't know why I said I was using AF. What I was "trying" to explain there was, I wasn't using manual focus. Lol. I guess you can blame that on working the night shift, and it's well past my bed time.
And no I do not use Auto Iso. I think I may have tried it once, but I couldn't even tell you for certain.

RebeccaAPhotography · Feb 24, 2012

KenkelsImages said:
I do all my portraits in Aperature mode, so honestly I don't know anything about shutter speed. Haha. i'm kind of spoiled I guess. But the only number on my camera I don't recognize is right by the aperature, which makes sense, says it's 1/1000, Shutter speed perhaps? And this was done AF, I tried this lens on my D60 a few times, but because it doesn't have the motor I never got to use the AF mode on it. The 50mm is a Nikkor lense, not sure if that's what you're asking. And I will post a few pix from the shoot before, like I said these aren't the best either, but better than the other ones.

1. This one I realize is blown out on the right side.

2.

Like I said before, this was just test shots, I was just testing the lighting and white balance and things, and honestly I thought these pictures, turned out a lot better then the shoot I actually wanted to turn out good.

Maybe you shouldn't be charging either since you dont even know what 1/1000 is....... Dont shoot at 1.8 ur dof is off. Sounds like you really need to learn what the exposure traingle is and be able to manipulate it. Instead of relying on your camera to do it.