Critique Needed for Easter Session

[born2teachsc]

Hello! I am thoroughly enjoying playing with my camera. I have so far had 2 photo sessions and each session I get more excited for the next. I'm still learning about Photoshop and so because of that, I sent my pictures from my first session to a lady on Etsy for her to review them and get her to edit them for me. She said that out of the 50 pictures I took, I had about only 8 good ones. After paying $60 to have her fix all 8 for me, I decided it was time to take a beginners lesson on Photoshop. My biggest problem has been with my focus points being off, my shutter speed being too low causing a noticeable camera shake, and depth of field.
I was wondering if I could get you to take a look at some of my pictures and give me some feedback on them. These 9 pictures were pulled straight off my camera and are still saved in Raw. One of my pictures is saved as a JPEG file because I tried for the first time to edit the picture using Photoshop. I bought the Nik Collection and Topaz Lab filters for photoshop and used some of them along with some free actions I found online. I'm still thinking the one that I edited looks funny.
Thank you so much for any feedback you have for me.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4tLfA62NSpYU19xT2t1WU5ZVGc&usp=sharing

 

[CdTSnap]

Got to be honest, I think most of them have missed apart from the last one which is great.

Need to watch the cropping and exposure, also maybe the angles

 

[born2teachsc]

My camera is a Canon Rebel T3 and I'm still trying to figure out how to make it work with different settings. I hate that it doesn't have spot metering on it, so I've mostly been shooting in Evaluative mode. When you say the last one which is great, are you referring to the JPG one because if so, I edited that one on Photoshop, so a lot was corrected with that picture. Thanks so much for replying and taking the time to look. I'm always trying to get suggestions because this has become a real fun hobby to have taken up. Luckily my sessions have been only with my niece and nephew so I'm not getting paid for doing them but would like to move towards that one day when I get better with my camera.

 

[tirediron]

I'm going to be very blunt: you need to spend a LOT more time working on the basics of exposure, composition, and processing before you take on "sessions". You're images aren't bad, but your skills need to mature. A lot. Once you can properly expose a man in a black tuxedo and a woman wearing a bright dress, outdoors, at noon on a clear August day, THEN think about business. Not to worry, we all started here too, and with sufficient effort it doesn't have to take too long. Posting here is a great way to improve quickly

Apologies: I just read your post; I assumed your use of the word "sessions" in your OP you being paid. Disregard the babble about business, but not the practice part.

 

[manaheim]

^ concur.

 

[born2teachsc]

I'm going to be very blunt: you need to spend a LOT more time working on the basics of exposure, composition, and processing before you take on "sessions". You're images aren't bad, but your skills need to mature. A lot. Once you can properly expose a man in a black tuxedo and a woman wearing a bright dress, outdoors, at noon on a clear August day, THEN think about business. Not to worry, we all started here too, and with sufficient effort it doesn't have to take too long. Posting here is a great way to improve quickly

Apologies: I just read your post; I assumed your use of the word "sessions" in your OP you being paid. Disregard the babble about business, but not the practice part.

I agree about everything you are saying. I've been just enjoying my camera and trying to get creative with pictures of my niece and nephew when I go to visit them. I call them sessions because I basically kidnap them for an hour and play dress up and put them in baskets to take pictures of them. I made that backdrop using wallpaper so I'm really trying to get serious with photography and building on my hobby. My niece has never slept when I've wanted to work with her and their space is very small to work in, so there's times where I'm feeling rushed to take pictures. Like I said the space is not only small, but it's also got poor lighting and so I cheated with my settings by shooting in Shutter Priority and put the ISO and White Balance in Auto to get that to help with the lighting issue. I also have never tried to take pics of my niece in any poses besides on her back and this was my first time getting help with propping her up. I was going to watch a YouTube video and figure out how to crop out my mom's hand.
Exposure can be corrected in photoshop, my biggest concern was with whether my shots were properly focused. I have a natural shake in my arm and so I was trying to work hard not to shake when I was shooting.

 

[manaheim]

Exposure can only be corrected slightly in photoshop... and then only when you are using RAW. And even then, it's going to cost you. The more you have to adjust, the greater the cost. And I'm betting you're not shooting RAW. You really need to get as close to nailing it in the camera as possible.

Go buy yourself a basic flash that you can bounce off the ceiling or a wall. It will take you a long way towards better shots.

Avoid auto-ISO like the plague.

 

[sarah_19_nz]

I agree you need to go way back to the basics... or use some form of Auto mode if you want to practice the creativity side of things initially? Once you have mastered the basics 'exposure triangle', focus points, etc etc THEN you can let the creative side flow! Take your time and practice, practice, practice!... at times it will feel like "oh im never going to get it!" but you will. Keep practicing.

 

[IronMaskDuval]

I find that the best way to learn your camera and the general movements of people is by taking candid shots while applying basic compositional techniques. This way, you aren't wasting anyone's time, and at the same time, you're able to practice and increase your experience in getting good shots without any pressure. Once you can turn your candid shots into what appears to be portraits then start booking sessions with family and friends. Their time is valuable. Even if you aren't producing top notch stuff, it'll be better than they can imagine and you wouldn't have wasted their time. Photography is often about the moment and what better way to practice capturing it than when you don't know what and when to expect?