How should I have taken this pic?

[Lisablueeyes]

Newbie to photography.. Hubby just bought me the EF 50mm f1.8 II Lens. Got the Canon T3i for xmas My first DSLR!

Please tell me how I should have taken this picture to make it better? Thanks


005 by Lisablueeyes10, on Flickr

 

[480sparky]

Use a fill light or a reflector.

Shoot in portrait orientation.

Make some noise or have someone dance around to get the ears up.

Move to your left so the Christmas tree fills the background.


On the plus side, you NAILED the bokeh.

 

[Mully]

Needed off camera flash but you could open up the mid tones and that would help it.

 

[Lisablueeyes]

I had the setting on Av, ISO @ 800 and flash was off!
Is there anything else I should note?

 

[480sparky]

I had the setting on Av, ISO @ 800 and flash was off!
.......

Camera	Canon EOS REBEL T3i
Exposure	0.1 sec (1/10)
Aperture	f/1.8
Focal Length	50 mm
ISO Speed	800
Exposure Bias	0 EV
Flash	Off, Did not fire
Orientation	Horizontal (normal)
X-Resolution	72 dpi
Y-Resolution	72 dpi
Date and Time (Modified)	2012:12:30 18:09:18
YCbCr Positioning	Co-sited
Exposure Program	Program AE
Sensitivity Type	Recommended Exposure Index
Recommended Exposure Index	800
Date and Time (Original)	2012:12:30 18:09:18
Date and Time (Digitized)	2012:12:30 18:09:18
Metering Mode	Multi-segment
Sub Sec Time	59
Sub Sec Time Original	59
Sub Sec Time Digitized	59
Color Space	sRGB
Focal Plane X-Resolution	5728.176796 dpi
Focal Plane Y-Resolution	5808.403361 dpi
Custom Rendered	Normal
Exposure Mode	Auto
White Balance	Auto
Scene Capture Type	Standard
Serial Number	232176077012
Lens Info	50mm f/?
Lens Model	EF50mm f/1.8 II
Lens Serial Number	0000000000
Macro Mode	Normal
Self Timer	Off
Quality	Fine
Canon Flash Mode	Off
Continuous Drive	Single
Focus Mode	One-shot AF
Record Mode	JPEG
Canon Image Size	Large
Easy Mode	Manual
Digital Zoom	None
Contrast	Normal
Saturation	Normal
Focus Range	Not Known
Canon Exposure Mode	Program AE
Lens Type	Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Short Focal	50 mm
Focal Units	1/mm
Max Aperture	1.8
Min Aperture	23
Flash Activity	0
Flash Bits	(none)
Zoom Source Width	0
Zoom Target Width	0
Manual Flash Output	n/a
Color Tone	Normal
Auto ISO	100
Base ISO	800
Measured EV	2.00
Target Aperture	1.8
Target Exposure Time	1/10
White Balance	Auto
Slow Shutter	None
Sequence Number	0
Optical Zoom Code	n/a
Camera Temperature	35 C
Flash Guide Number	0
Flash Exposure Comp	0
Auto Exposure Bracketing	Off
AEBBracket Value	0
Control Mode	Camera Local Control
Measured EV2	2
Bulb Duration	0
Camera Type	EOS High-end
NDFilter	n/a
Canon Firmware Version	Firmware Version 1.0.2
Highlight Tone Priority	Off
Flash Metering Mode	Off
Camera Orientation	Horizontal (normal)
Focus Distance Upper	0 m
Focus Distance Lower	0 m
Color Temperature	5200
Picture Style	Portrait
Firmware Version	1.0.2
File Index	355
Directory Index	100
Contrast Standard	0
Sharpness Standard	3
Saturation Standard	0
Color Tone Standard	0
Contrast Portrait	0
Sharpness Portrait	2
Saturation Portrait	0
Color Tone Portrait	0
Contrast Landscape	0
Sharpness Landscape	4
Saturation Landscape	0
Color Tone Landscape	0
Contrast Neutral	0
Sharpness Neutral	0
Saturation Neutral	0
Color Tone Neutral	0
Contrast Faithful	0
Sharpness Faithful	0
Saturation Faithful	0
Color Tone Faithful	0
Contrast Monochrome	0
Sharpness Monochrome	3
Filter Effect Monochrome	None
Toning Effect Monochrome	None
Contrast User Def1	0
Sharpness User Def1	3
Saturation User Def1	0
Color Tone User Def1	0
Filter Effect User Def1	None
Toning Effect User Def1	None
Contrast User Def2	0
Sharpness User Def2	3
Saturation User Def2	0
Color Tone User Def2	0
Filter Effect User Def2	None
Toning Effect User Def2	None
Contrast User Def3	0
Sharpness User Def3	3
Saturation User Def3	0
Color Tone User Def3	0
Filter Effect User Def3	None
Toning Effect User Def3	None
User Def1 Picture Style	Auto
User Def2 Picture Style	Auto
User Def3 Picture Style	Auto
Canon Model ID	EOS Rebel T3i / 600D / Kiss X5
AFArea Mode	Single-point AF
Num AFPoints	9
Valid AFPoints	1
AFArea Widths	518 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
AFArea Heights	691 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
AFPoints Selected	0
Original Decision Data Offset	0
Bracket Mode	Off
Bracket Value	0
Bracket Shot Number	0
Raw Jpg Size	Large
WBBracket Mode	Off
WBBracket Value AB	0
WBBracket Value GM	0
Live View Shooting	On
Flash Exposure Lock	Off
Lens Model	EF50mm f/1.8 II
Internal Serial Number	ZC1462562
Dust Removal Data	(Binary data 1024 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Crop Left Margin	0
Crop Right Margin	0
Crop Top Margin	0
Crop Bottom Margin	0
Aspect Ratio	3:2
Cropped Image Width	5184
Cropped Image Height	3456
Tone Curve	Standard
Sharpness	2
Sharpness Frequency	n/a
Sensor Red Level	0
Sensor Blue Level	0
White Balance Red	0
White Balance Blue	0
Digital Gain	0
WBShift AB	0
WBShift GM	0
Measured RGGB	1079 1024 1024 310
Color Space	sRGB
VRDOffset	0
Sensor Width	5344 (152-5335 used)
Sensor Height	3516 (56-3511 used)
Black Mask Left Border	0
Black Mask Top Border	0
Black Mask Right Border	0
Black Mask Bottom Border	0
Color Data Version	10 (600D)
White Balance RGGB Levels	1492 1024 1024 2444
Color Temperature	3205
WB_ RGGBLevels Measured	1492 1024 1024 2444
Color Temp Measured	3205
Raw Measured RGGB	85375 78104 77145 21939
Peripheral Lighting	Off
Peripheral Lighting Value	0
Original Image Width	5184
Original Image Height	3456
Peripheral Lighting Setting	Off
Auto Lighting Optimizer	Standard
Ambience Selection	Standard
Exposure Level Increments	1/3 Stop
ISOExpansion	Off
Flash Sync Speed Av	Auto
High ISONoise Reduction	Off
Highlight Tone Priority	Disable
AFAssist Beam	Emits
Mirror Lockup	Disable
Shutter Button AFOn Button	Metering + AF start
Set Button When Shooting	Normal (disabled)
LCDDisplay At Power On	Display
Add Original Decision Data	Off
Compression	JPEG (old-style)
Rating	0
Date Acquired	2012:12:30 18:11:17.265

 

[Lisablueeyes]

Needed off camera flash but you could open up the mid tones and that would help it.

How do I open up "mid tones"? i did not edit the picture as of yet.. Thats something I'm learning how to do.

 

[texkam]

Shoot it in raw.

 

[pic_chick]

raw will help with editing as it stores a lot more data then a jep. Take a photo in auto see what setting the camera choose these are great starting point. now look at the photo see what you dislike about it write down the auto setting go to M put in the same setting then change just the one one at a time ans see what changes it makes in your photo keep notes of your changes and keep looking at each photo side by side to see the differences as you make them. this way you will leanr what each funtion does and how it effects your image. This is time consuming but it helped me out a lot.

more light would have "opened the midtones" if you do not have an off camera flash sry taping a white card to your popup and bonucing the light of a white wall back to you subject from side or the celing if a wall is not handy a white posterboard or sheet will work.

[h=1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvNTB5A1noA[/h]

For times when you got to get the shot for now don't feel like you are cheating by going to full auto

 

[xposurepro]

Just some general info for you. You shot f/1.8 .. ISO800 .. 1/10 sec .. 50mm

Increasing ISO introduces color noise .. the higher you go the more you introduce. It will be most noticeable to you in the darker area of the fireplace on the left. See how it looks splotchy. It's not bad in this shot but in some conditions it will completely ruin the image and make it good for only small viewing, like 4x6 prints or online.

1/10 .. that was your shutter speed. If you're not using a tripod a good rule of thumb is that your focal length is never greater than the speed. Your camera has a crop factor of 1.6 so your 50mm should be considered a 80mm focal length. That means your safe shutter speed would be 1/80 .. You were way under it. View your image at 100% actual pixels and you'll see that it's not in focus. This was from the camera shake from shooting at 1/10 on that lens.

f/1.8 .. I shoot with apertures like this all the time. The thing to realize though is that your depth of field is very shallow. This means the area in front and behind the spot you focus on is very small. It's great for creating the Bokeh that 480Sparky mentioned but it means you also have to be extra careful of things like camera shake or multiple points that need to be in focus. For example if you had a kid in the pic with the puppy. One would be in focus and the other would not because they fell outside of the depth of field.

Just some fun stuff for you to learn and congrats on getting such an exciting Christmas present. I'm sure the hubby scored some extra brownie points with that one.

 

[shefjr]

After further investigation, I removed my post due to misinformation. Sorry :/
Cute puppy BTW.

 

[Photo Lady]

Newbie to photography.. Hubby just bought me the EF 50mm f1.8 II Lens. Got the Canon T3i for xmas My first DSLR!

Please tell me how I should have taken this picture to make it better? Thanks


005 by Lisablueeyes10, on Flickr

he is adorable

 

[Lisablueeyes]

Thanks!!