First post C&C on some pics from an event at my church

[Hudd]

I know these photos suck but i would like to know what i can do to start taking better photos.
1

2

3

4

 

[D40]

LOL I just got done doing photos for VBS. Shot most of them in the first day and ended up with over 200. Events like that are hard because you can't control the lighting and things going on like in a portrait session.

 

[Emerana]

What kind fo camera are you using? Lenses? How much have you shot before? Have you read books? How good do you want to get? Do you know about aperture, shutter speed, metering, etc? I know I suck but want to get better is a pretty general cry for help, tell more about what you want to learn.

Shooting events are very hard. Lighting, commotion, busy backgrounds, etc. An narrower depth of field would be better for all of these, however that is hard when things are so quick moving. A fill flash would have been nice too along with more careful metering. The composition is uninteresting, just like snap shots.

I think #3 was most successful.

 

[AverageJoe]

Third image is really out of focus, the others are pretty good. Second being my favorite, I cloned out a few things and adjusted the curves:

 

[Emerana]

yeah but #2 had major blown out highlights
I did a little edit of #3 for kicks (cooled it off and lightened it, thats all)...I dont see it all that oof

 

[Hudd]

Im shooting on a rebel xt with a canon 70-200mm f4 lens and a sigma ef-530 flash. I haven’t read to may books but im going to start. This was really my first experience shooting people. its always been shooting things that don’t move before that i can play with the aptiture and shutter speed to get the effect I want. I found it quite hard to shoot people that are moving so fast and it was also hard to get them to stop looking at the camera. Thanks for all the comments.

 

[Emerana]

Have you read Understanding Exposure? Thats sort of the holy grail around here

 

[rufus5150]

The handbag in #2 makes the kid look like he's got an earring.