C&C please :)

[JeffieLove]

Okay, so these are not even close to what I've been shooting for "practice" so I wanted to post these and see if they looked "okay" We went to story time this morning at the local B&N... There was a fireman there with all his gear! He let me take some pics of his helmet, and then I took some pics of the kids coloring...

There is no PP on these yet since we just got home, and only have about 5 minutes before our next "playdate" with mommy

I know there are some "composition" issues since they aren't cropped or anything... I tried my best with the "area" given with the hat... I also tried to get in close enough on the kids that I wouldn't cut anything off, but wouldn't have too much in the background

Now, these looked good to me on the camera... They didn't look too bad on the big screen to me (except the blurry kid behind my son, the wheels of the stroller behind my daughter, and my daughters legs and the corner of the paper with the fireman helmet) so I wanted to see what you all thought

**I will be trying again with the phone pictures later this evening

 

[gsgary]

Your making basic mistakes, did you check your shutter speed and ISO ?
ISO100 shooting indoors 1/15 @ 55mm :thumbdown: you need 1/80 on a crop sensor up your iso to get 1/80 and use your 50mmF1.8 instead of your kit lens

 

[JeffieLove]

I was going more off if what the meter was telling me. I did not think to change the iso. I am still a little bit afraid of iso and the noise it can create.

I adjusted aperture and shutter speed based on what the meter was telling me to get a proper exposure.

I'm still a newb. I'll get there eventually

 

[indeedies]

Gary mentioned the technical aspects. I'm going to assume you didn't after your 50 with you. If that's the case increase your ISO in order to get a faster shutter speed. That way when shooting zoomed all the way out and forced to use that F/5.6 you can at least increase the shutter speed to get a decent exposure.

As far as composure it's almost easier to compose without having to crop. This not only will save you time in post but will challenge you to think about your image. The hat is too centered to be interesing. It would be cool maybe to have it propped on the back corner of a chair in the kids section of the bookstore. It would make me wonder why a fireman's hat is there. It looks like you tried getting on the same level of the kids but just a tad bit lower may have helped. Seems like you may have had a good oppurtunity with the last one. I see other crayons on the left side of the frame. Putting the subject in the right two-thirds of the image and having the crayons and table on the other side may have been interesting.

I wasn't there though and you could have been fighting with so many elements that these may have been your only way to capture what you wanted.

A good start though!

 

[Jeremy Z]

gsgary's a tough critic. Considering these are grab shots, I think you did pretty well.

Agreed that you need to bump up the ISO. On my DSLR, the pictures are just great up to ISO 800, especially when reduced to this size. It's better to have a sharp pic with some noise than blur. He's also right about using the f/1.8 lens. It would have allowed the aperture to be wider, which would further blur any distracting background elements. But then who knows if you'd have had room to frame it properly.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

The XSi isn't too bad at 800. But at the high ISO's you really have to nail the exposure.

Remember what I told you...the first step is analyzing your light, and set your ISO.
Then play the meter game.

 

[JeffieLove]

I'm going to assume you didn't after your 50 with you. If that's the case increase your ISO in order to get a faster shutter speed. That way when shooting zoomed all the way out and forced to use that F/5.6 you can at least increase the shutter speed to get a decent exposure.

You're absolutely right I did not have the 50mm with me because the way I was looking at it, it would be easier to zoom than to make sure I position myself perfectly with the 50mm...

As far as composure it's almost easier to compose without having to crop. This not only will save you time in post but will challenge you to think about your image. The hat is too centered to be interesing.

I do have another picture of the fireman's hat where it wasn't centered, and my daughter's legs weren't in the fram... i was considering posting that one but it looked a bit underexposed to me...

gsgary's a tough critic. Considering these are grab shots, I think you did pretty well.

Agreed that you need to bump up the ISO. On my DSLR, the pictures are just great up to ISO 800, especially when reduced to this size. It's better to have a sharp pic with some noise than blur. He's also right about using the f/1.8 lens. It would have allowed the aperture to be wider, which would further blur any distracting background elements. But then who knows if you'd have had room to frame it properly.

I don't think I would have had room if I had used the 50mm... There was limited space and a lot of "obstacles" to move around and shoot around... not to mention the 20 some odd kids ranging from 12 months to 4 years old that were there...

The XSi isn't too bad at 800. But at the high ISO's you really have to nail the exposure.

Remember what I told you...the first step is analyzing your light, and set your ISO.
Then play the meter game.

Got it Light, ISO, meter game lol... Bitter, I didn't like your "attitude" with C&C when I first started posting pics, but the way you put things makes me laugh now for some reason It's definitely good C&C, and you are one of the ones that I KNOW to listen to

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

Welcome to the Darkside?

 

[gsgary]

I'm going to assume you didn't after your 50 with you. If that's the case increase your ISO in order to get a faster shutter speed. That way when shooting zoomed all the way out and forced to use that F/5.6 you can at least increase the shutter speed to get a decent exposure.

You're absolutely right I did not have the 50mm with me because the way I was looking at it, it would be easier to zoom than to make sure I position myself perfectly with the 50mm...

As far as composure it's almost easier to compose without having to crop. This not only will save you time in post but will challenge you to think about your image. The hat is too centered to be interesing.

I do have another picture of the fireman's hat where it wasn't centered, and my daughter's legs weren't in the fram... i was considering posting that one but it looked a bit underexposed to me...

gsgary's a tough critic. Considering these are grab shots, I think you did pretty well.

Agreed that you need to bump up the ISO. On my DSLR, the pictures are just great up to ISO 800, especially when reduced to this size. It's better to have a sharp pic with some noise than blur. He's also right about using the f/1.8 lens. It would have allowed the aperture to be wider, which would further blur any distracting background elements. But then who knows if you'd have had room to frame it properly.

I don't think I would have had room if I had used the 50mm... There was limited space and a lot of "obstacles" to move around and shoot around... not to mention the 20 some odd kids ranging from 12 months to 4 years old that were there...

The XSi isn't too bad at 800. But at the high ISO's you really have to nail the exposure.

Remember what I told you...the first step is analyzing your light, and set your ISO.
Then play the meter game.

Got it Light, ISO, meter game lol... Bitter, I didn't like your "attitude" with C&C when I first started posting pics, but the way you put things makes me laugh now for some reason It's definitely good C&C, and you are one of the ones that I KNOW to listen to

If you check the exif you were shooting at 55mm, everone says i'm a tough critic, but you have to be cruel to be kind if you shoot at 55mm on a 35mm camera to be on the safe side you need to be shooting at 1/60, you say the meter was exposing correct but you still need a shutter speed that will counter act camera shake