I SO SO SO want this! CC? I've been studying and practicing

AMOMENT · Dec 8, 2011

I've read about two books, watched a dozen tutorials, and taken about 1,000 photos in the past week. I'm really trying to nail my focus and work on my exposure. I purchased a speedlight and used it with the following photos. I know these are far from perfect, but in terms of focus, do you guys see any improvement? I actually adjusted my settings within my camera to sharpen my photos and I think the reason many of my photos were so noisy was because my default ISO was too high. Anyway, here is my latest.....(a few with a creative flare in terms of coloring)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

AMOMENT · Dec 8, 2011

1.

2.

3.

4.

AMOMENT · Dec 8, 2011

I also know my composition wasn't too great, but I was really working on focus. Thanks everyone!

MLeeK · Dec 8, 2011

That is a LOT to review.
You cannot learn exposure basics while throwing flash in the mix. You have to do one step at a time. Which you seem to be refusing to do no matter how many times we tell you. SLOW DOWN. TAKE THE STEPS IN ORDER. It WILL happen but not this way.

photo guy · Dec 8, 2011

The first set has a little bit too much light on the face. The second set is a little better.

tirediron · Dec 8, 2011

Overall, not bad on the focus, though it seems more on the collar of her shirt than her eyes, which in a couple of cases seem slightly soft. Face is about a stop, stop-and-a-third too hot. Definite improvement.

mjhoward · Dec 8, 2011

They seem in focus to me, however the lighting in some is still somewhat harsh. If you havn't already, try picking up a shoot through umbrella or other light modifiers to soften the light and make the light source larger. Also, your white balance in post 2 photo 2 seems to be different than the others. When you're using a flash/speedlight, you can set the WB manually and get consistent WB rather than using auto. For most speedlights, you can set the WB to around 5000k, if you'd like a slightly warmer feel you can lower that temperature a bit.

AMOMENT · Dec 8, 2011

Thanks....no, MLEEK....not refusing I just can't make it outside as freaqently because of the weather around here, having a little one, and I actually have an elderly sick family member I'm attending to so leaving to go exploring is a bit tough right now. My husband was sweet to get me a speedlight for my birthday since most of my hobby time has been moved to indoors.

Yeah, some of my white balance was adjusted in pp. I explored some desaturation. My house doesn't have a lot of natural light so I have to usually use some sort of flash. It was either my pop up or my speedlight. Obviousely I used the speedlight. Exposure will come later, but right now I needed enough light just to work on focus. You know?

Kerbouchard · Dec 8, 2011

What type of speedlight did you buy? Does it have the ability to swivel?

All of these shots would have been infinitely better had the flash been bounced instead of shot straight on.

Also, does your speedlight have a built in focus assist(the red grid?). That will help immensely on focus in typical indoor conditions.

Also, why are you at 1/60th of a second? Really, a few of these are still quite soft, and they probably shouldn't be at f/5. Try bumping your shutter speed to 1/200th of a second, ISO 200, aperture around f/4, and bounce your flash off a wall/ceiling. Flash compensation should also be dialed down to about -1.3 or so.

Also, make sure you are in AF-S so that the focus assist on your flash will help out.

AMOMENT · Dec 8, 2011

lol..MLEEK, I apologize that it is a lot to review. I haven't been on here in quite a while and have taken so many pics. I don't expect a cc to each, just was giving a sampling of some of my recent attempts. Thank you for taking the time to review them.

blackrose89 · Dec 8, 2011

AMOMENT said:
I've read about two books, watched a dozen tutorials, and taken about 1,000 photos in the past week. I'm really trying to nail my focus and work on my exposure. I purchased a speedlight and used it with the following photos. I know these are far from perfect, but in terms of focus, do you guys see any improvement? I actually adjusted my settings within my camera to sharpen my photos and I think the reason many of my photos were so noisy was because my default ISO was too high. Anyway, here is my latest.....(a few with a creative flare in terms of coloring)

5.

I understand what you mean about trying to speed up your process. I have been eating, sleeping, breathing photography for a month straight now. I've been drawing for 10 years, so being a beginner at something is absolutely driving me insane.

I love her eyes in the second one of the first set, but her arms sticking straight out is kinda akward for me. #5, her expression and pose is great IMP, but it's a shame you didn't get her arms completely in frame.

AMOMENT · Dec 8, 2011

My husband surprised me with a nikon d700 speedlight. It swivels and can be positioned upright. I wasn't sure whether or not this would be a good idea because our ceilings are not white. In all honest I have no idea how to really explore my settings with my speedlight yet; I'm sure this is hugely offensive to the pros on here; lol. I pretty much was so grateful to my husband and quickly replaced my pop up flash with it. The one where my shutter was 1/60...I actually tried Aperture priority and this is the shutter speed it recommended. I usually don't do this. Also...BLACKROSE, I know what you mean! lol. I want to soak up as much as possible and sometimes being so determined actually is detrimental. However, better to be over enthusiastic!

AMOMENT · Dec 8, 2011

Thanks BTW! Yeah, I need to work on compositon but I had been struggling with getting the focus on the eyes that this was my major concern. I even visited two studios today to explore this issue. lol. With two kids in tow, one of which was strapped to me, I screamed MAJOR UNCOOL MOM attempting photography. Surprisingly, they were so sweet and helpful!

MTVision · Dec 8, 2011

Sb700 flash??

Kerbouchard · Dec 8, 2011

AMOMENT said:
My husband surprised me with a nikon d700 speedlight. It swivels and can be positioned upright. I wasn't sure whether or not this would be a good idea because our ceilings are not white. In all honest I have no idea how to really explore my settings with my speedlight yet; I'm sure this is hugely offensive to the pros on here; lol. I pretty much was so grateful to my husband and quickly replaced my pop up flash with it. The one where my shutter was 1/60...I actually tried Aperture priority and this is the shutter speed it recommended. I usually don't do this. Also...BLACKROSE, I know what you mean! lol. I want to soak up as much as possible and sometimes being so determined actually is detrimental. However, better to be over enthusiastic!

FWIW, here is my fail proof setup. It's my starting point and will generally get good results. A little tweaking based on the conditions and I get the results I want.

Flash pointed behind me to the left. Exposure compensation set at -1.3. Aperture around f/4. Shutter speed around 1/200th. For me, I usually push ISO to around 800 or much higher, but with your camera body, I would stick to ISO 400 or so. Focus to AF-S(single, this will enable your SB-700's focus assist lamp). Focus set to the center point.

Those settings are pretty much fail safe. They will work for 90% of indoor shooting. If you can't get sharp, reasonably well lit shots with those settings, either your camera is malfunctioning or you are doing something horribly wrong.