Child playing piano

[Aayria]

I have been trying to take a few shots each day to keep practicing and learning, and wanted to share one from today that I was really happy with

Don't worry- if you have constructive criticism of it, I wont' be offended even though I personally liked this shot =P If anything, the honest replies and suggestions from people here have been an INVALUABLE part of learning so far!

I almost didn't get a chance to take out the camera today, as I was watching my niece and nephew, and had a pretty busy house for the afternoon! But I couldn't resist when my youngest little boy sat down to play the piano with his cousin and came out with this shot among others:mrgreen:

What I liked most was that the front hand was in very sharp (to my eye) focus, and I had a nice gradual blur effect to the back hand. Lately, my biggest struggle has been keeping things in sharp focus, and my second greatest struggle has been getting the depth of field that I was hoping for- not just what my camera happened to come up with.

Thanks for looking!

 

[Rosshole]

I like the feel of the shot, but a couple things stuck out to me right away...

1. the angle. Was it intentional?
2. seems underexposed
3. WB may need some tweaking too.

 

[Aayria]

I like the feel of the shot, but a couple things stuck out to me right away...

1. the angle. Was it intentional?
2. seems underexposed
3. WB may need some tweaking too.

Thanks for the input!

1- I was aiming for a different, quirky sort of angle for this one. I wanted it to feel somewhat playful, since it was a young child playing.

2- I think you may be right, I had to boost the brightness a bit, I shot this indoors with my kit lens at the lowest aperture I could get in manual mode. I'm still getting used to what "works" and was glad to see I got it a bit close at least The lighting was very dim, just a yellow-ish lamp on the piano edge

3- I can see what you mean, that may have been from my post processing. I'll try lowering the saturation/ temperature a bit and see if that helps. This was shot with auto white balancing, ISO 1200 I think

 

[shortpballer]

I don't know if you are shooting canon or nikon. But either way get yourself a 50mm 1.8 . They are super cheap (80 bucks used). That will give you the short depth of field you are looking for and give you damn sharp images. Best money spent. It is the lens I learned on and it helps you out soooo much!

Hope this helps,
Eric

 

[JenLavazza]

White Balance is off, but I like everything else about it!!

 

[gsgary]

First thing i spotted was the nearest hand is not that sharp due to shutter speed and i would have focussed on the other hand playing, the angle is wrong and the piano keys look pink

 

[Aayria]

I don't know if you are shooting canon or nikon. But either way get yourself a 50mm 1.8 . They are super cheap (80 bucks used). That will give you the short depth of field you are looking for and give you damn sharp images. Best money spent. It is the lens I learned on and it helps you out soooo much!

Hope this helps,
Eric

Funny you say that, because I actually have a 50mm 1.4 Nikor lens coming soon as a wedding anniversary present:mrgreen:

 

[clee27]

the angle is too boring for me

 

[misstwinklytoes]

The white balance bothers me, but I still think it's a decent shot and a lovely idea!