daughter and some water pics C&C

socal82 · Jan 20, 2012

The ones of my daughter I put a black fleece blanket on the wall and used my pop up flash. Saw this little water area and thought it would be a good shot, I want to go back and take a sunset pic. what do you guys think?

jwbryson1 · Jan 20, 2012

I think they are cute and I know they hold emotional significance for you (I have a daughter about the same age--I get it). But I think you will likely hear that they are simple shots with flat lighting. It's never really a good idea to use the pop up flash on your camera if you can avoid it because it creates flat lighting. Focus is a bit soft on #4.

The photos of the pond don't do it for me. Just my $0.02. Shots like these have been done a zillion times.

socal82 · Jan 20, 2012

I know there simple shots.. Just trying to get the basic down lighting, focus, etc.. If i had another flash I would use it but only have the pop up flash for now.

jwbryson1 · Jan 20, 2012

I completely understand. Just giving you some feedback. I'm not sure what brand of camera you are using but something as simple as this that will allow you to bounce light off the ceiling will dramatically improve your photos:

Nikon SB-400 Speedlight i-TTL Shoe Mount Flash 4806 B&H Photo

A better flash would allow you to swivel the head left and right so you can bounce light off the wall. For example:

sb-700

Austin Greene · Jan 20, 2012

While definitely not great, I think you would have been better served trying something like this with the framing and coloring.

MTVision · Jan 20, 2012

socal82 said:
I know there simple shots.. Just trying to get the basic down lighting, focus, etc.. If i had another flash I would use it but only have the pop up flash for now.

Not sure what camera you have but....you might be able to go into the menu and change the flash power to manual and then lower the power on it. Flash shot directly in the face will rarely make for a pleasing photo. I wouldn't worry about supplemental lighting, such as flash, until you have a flash that can bounce or take off camera. Work on exposure, composition and focus. The exposure triangle works differently with flash anyways.

You can always raise your ISO to take pictures in low light. I, personally, would rather have some noise in the pictures then have the pop-up flash in the face.

socal82 · Jan 20, 2012

togalive said:
While definitely not great, I think you would have been better served trying something like this with the framing and coloring.

I see what your saying. A lot of "pop" in the color. thanks.

Im using a canon t3

socal82 · Jan 20, 2012

what program are you using to do post work on photos?

The_Traveler · Jan 20, 2012

socal82 said:
I know there simple shots.. Just trying to get the basic down lighting, focus, etc.. If i had another flash I would use it but only have the pop up flash for now.

What is it that you want to hear about?

The photos of your daughter are in focus and bright enough but that's not important because the camera does that.
How do you think they compare with other shots from more experienced shooters and what do you see as the difference?

Austin Greene · Jan 20, 2012

socal82 said:
what program are you using to do post work on photos?

I just edited your photo in Photoshop CS5, mainly because I have it and have been using photoshop for a number of years. If your looking for a good post production program, I would recommend Lightroom. You can do a lot with both of those programs, what I did only took about 30 seconds, though more could have been done with more time.