Child and Horse, first attempt

[cenote]

Friend of mine asked, and I wanted to practice taking candid and posed shots of something moving.
What better than an 6 yr old with her horses. Proved to be very changeling and missed a lot of shots. Over exposed most with new flash I was learning (430ex). Stuck with just the kit 18-55 lens, but did most on manual or Av. Boy I have lots to learn still.

here are a couple of my favorites.

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The whole set can be found here.

 

[tirediron]

Definitely a good start; one general comment I will offer is that a longer focal length and larger aperture (if possible) may offered less depth of field, and thus helped to render the background less focused and distracting. Also watch for cropped limbs (both bipeds and quadrapeds).

 

[cenote]

Thanks, thought the same thing too on lens. The only other lens I own is a 50 1.8 going to try some shots this weekend maybe with that and figure out better lighting.

 

[cenote]

Also watch for cropped limbs (both bipeds and quadrapeds).

What the general rule for cropping if you have to shorten limbs? A few i missed the feet, and wasn't sure where to take it.

 

[Overread]

Also watch for cropped limbs (both bipeds and quadrapeds).

What the general rule for cropping if you have to shorten limbs? A few i missed the feet, and wasn't sure where to take it.

The very general rule I've heard is to never cut at the joints - so you can cut the midpoint of an arm or a leg, but not the knee, wrist or ankle. This is, of course, a general rule.

Also it might be intentional and it might just be the bright clothing, but (esp in the first shot) the girl almost appears to be lit very differently to the rest of the photo (she's much brighter and more vibrant). This can be somewhat an aid in drawing the eye to the subject, but I think you might have slipped past the point where its eye drawing and moves into where she's dominating and appearing almost as if she were photoshopped in from a different photo and lighting situation (especially because she's standing so close to the second subject, the horse)