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

[ababysean]

what is wrong with noisy photos? I love me some noise! shurg... sometimes it just works. I'd rather have noisy photos right in camera then underexpose them and try to bring them back in PS and get crappy noise.

but whatever works. The OP flash use does NOT work. Stay on topic and lets try to help her! It is how we learn, trial and error. I am sure everyone has been there! Overuse wrong use of flash is a common mistake....

 

[fjrabon]

so I teach LSAT classes, which is obviously extremely different from photography, but I think one principle (at least one) applies very clearly here.

Practice in and of itself does very little. You have to be practicing something. You have to take some technique that you're trying to learn and practice that. I can't tell that you're doing that. From your posts, it just looks like you are kind of taking a lot of pictures and calling it practice. Now, don't feel bad, a lot of people do that, with everything in life. But before you practice, you need to have a very clear view of what you want to do. Without a clear vision of what you want to do, all you are doing is practicing bad habits.

Every time you are practicing, remember, you should be practicing some specific technique. You should have something specific in mind that you're after. You should spend at least as much time personally reviewing your results, trying to figure out what you liked and disliked about each of them as you do taking shots and then posting here, and then listening to the cacophony of varying responses. You need to first review all of your images and try to figure out, as best you can, yourself what was good and bad about them. Sure, outside eyes can help you find things you missed. But C&C should be secondary to your own personal reflections on what you got right and wrong.

When you are practicing you should review every image, reflect on what your intent was, reflect on how well you pulled off that intent, what you could have done better to pull off that intent, see what you can do to fix it and try again. Here it looks like you just shot lots of images, posted them here, and awaited comments.

While photography is about capturing very small moments, it's really, from a photographer's perspective about thousands more moments leading up, the building of the image, be it instantaneous and candid or in a studio. The building of the image. Even if you're just shooting your kids, if you want photographs instead of snapshots, you need to think about them a lot more in advance. Especially at first. As you gain experience, then you will be able to grab your camera and take a well considered photograph quickly, because you will have built all the things you practiced into habits. But right now you'll need to spend a fair amount of time thinking through the steps. I know that sounds like a lot of time to just shoot some shots of your adorable little kids, but that's why it's photography and not just snapshooting.

So, I guess my main point here, is your biggest issue is that your photographs need to be much more considered. You need to think more closely about what you want out of that photograph, and then what technical demands are required to get it.

Im by no means a great photographer, but before I take a shot, my thought process is something like this:

1) What am I shooting, where do I want to frame it? Where should I move to in order to get to the best point of view for this shot? When will the moment I want to happen actually happen?
2) Would it be practical to shoot this with a tripod? Monopod? Gripster? Beanbag?
3) What is the lighting situation? What ISO should I be at? Do I need flash?
4) What kind of depth of field do I want? What f/stop should my camera be at?
5) With those two settings, is my shutter speed fast enough given my focal length and handheld/tripod?
6) Take the shot
7) Reevaluate steps 1-5 very closely try to figure out what would make it better
8) Take it again

And that's kind of the bare minimum of what you think about for every shot. A lot of times even more goes into it. And yes, it's very hard, and very slow at this point. I get a lot of it wrong. But the key is when you're considering those things and more, very closely, for every shot, you're actually practicing, instead of just taking random shots. Taking random shots isn't practicing, it's just putting shutter actuations on your camera.

 

[MTVision]

"Blah Blah Blah, I take photos of my daughter in a dark with with an ISO of 6400, because I'm learning what noisy photos look like, and my trash bin is limitless. But when I have to actually try and get a decent photo in, like at a birthday party, I guess I'll throw that pesky flash on".

That's what I read. MWAC.

Blah blah blah........if you actually read what I wrote I said I don't use a flash with my daughter. Hmmmmm....wonder what that means....

Oooooohhhhh......mom with a camera - I might cry a little since you hurt my feelings so damn much. What a joke!! You must be a DWAC.

 

[zcar21]

all pictures are overexposed, if you're not sure about the focus, just keep changing the aperture, or distance until you're satisfied.

 

[fjrabon]

if you're not sure about the focus, just keep changing the aperture, or distance until you're satisfied.

changing the aperture doesn't change the focus. It just changes the 'quickness' with which things go into and out of focus. You should never change the aperture because you missed your focal point. You change it if you want more of the picture in focus. But not because you were focused in the wrong place.

 

[KmH]

The light needs to come from off the camera so shadows are created that give the facial mask a sense of depth and character. www.strobist.com

The light for a child portrait needs to be modified so it is softer and has more diffuse shadow edges. www.planetneil.com

In the shots posted by the OP, the kid is nuked by the light.

Posting for C&C every few days, when progress is best evaluated in a time frame of weeks or months, is counter-productive.

Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It: Learn Step by Step How to Go from Empty Studio to Finished Image

 

[rambler]

Understanding Flash Photography by Bryan Peterson - Book - eBook - Random House

Scott Kelby Digital Photography Book 2 has a lot on info and hints on taking flash for portraits.

 

[MTVision]

changing the aperture doesn't change the focus. It just changes the 'quickness' with which things go into and out of focus. You should never change the aperture because you missed your focal point. You change it if you want more of the picture in focus. But not because you were focused in the wrong place.

You are right but if you are missing focus because of a shallow DOF then distance does make a difference. Take a 50mm lens at f/3.5. 3 feet away your depth of field will be around 1.5" but at 10 feet away your depth of field will be around 1.6 feet and at 20 feet away DOF will be around 6 1/2 feet. If you are missing focus at f/5.6 - either you aren't focusing right or you are way too close

 

[Tee]

Maybe the wrong word was used there, but I would have read it as the poster was saying that the image was soft due to an inappropriate choice of shutter speed for the situation.

Yes. Poor choice of phraseology on my part. I've already given myself 10 lashings on my part.

Focus has nothing to do with shutter speed. Absolutely zero. Nada. Maybe the OP should be ignoring the advice of about 90% of the shooters on here...including the ones that liked your post.

Again, focus has nothing to do with shutter speed. That you think it does makes you unqualified to offer an opinion.

Now, if you had said, "Your lack of apparent sharpness may be due to shutter speed and not focus", I might have agreed. But that isn't what you said.

This entire thread is a joke. Again, on TPF, mob mentality rules and a few 'established' members direct the way a thread goes, and that direction is usually downhill.

Sorry- I used poor phrasing. I shall kiss your ring. The mob mentality is selective. You've definitely piled on but that's ok when you do it. Right?

 

[fjrabon]

changing the aperture doesn't change the focus. It just changes the 'quickness' with which things go into and out of focus. You should never change the aperture because you missed your focal point. You change it if you want more of the picture in focus. But not because you were focused in the wrong place.

You are right but if you are missing focus because of a shallow DOF then distance does make a difference. Take a 50mm lens at f/3.5. 3 feet away your depth of field will be around 1.5" but at 10 feet away your depth of field will be around 1.6 feet and at 20 feet away DOF will be around 6 1/2 feet. If you are missing focus at f/5.6 - either you aren't focusing right or you are way too close

yes, of course. my point was that a lot of times, if you're missing your focal point, changing the aperture is just masking it, instead of fixing it. Now, of course, at extreme apertures and extreme close ups, your DOF can get so small that it's nearly impossible to have anything in focus. But the way the post I was responding to was worded could make it seem to someone who doesn't understand aperture like aperture changes focus itself.

I was just trying to clear up that aperture doesn't fix missing your focus, it masks it. Also, my second point is that DOF should not be a decision the photographer makes to 'fix focus'. DOF should be set because that's the DOF you want for the shot.

 

[MTVision]

yes, of course. my point was that a lot of times, if you're missing your focal point, changing the aperture is just masking it, instead of fixing it. Now, of course, at extreme apertures and extreme close ups, your DOF can get so small that it's nearly impossible to have anything in focus. But the way the post I was responding to was worded could make it seem to someone who doesn't understand aperture like aperture changes focus itself.

I was just trying to clear up that aperture doesn't fix missing your focus, it masks it. Also, my second point is that DOF should not be a decision the photographer makes to 'fix focus'. DOF should be set because that's the DOF you want for the shot.

Oh I agree with you about not changing the aperture and everything else. I was just adding to to your post that changing the distance can help (so they were right about that) if missed focus is due to shallow DOF (which is what the OP has issues with).

 

[Pau1]

9 photos and they all look identical. What were you practicing? You're stuck indoors with NO sunlight??

 

[Kerbouchard]

Maybe the wrong word was used there, but I would have read it as the poster was saying that the image was soft due to an inappropriate choice of shutter speed for the situation.

Yes. Poor choice of phraseology on my part. I've already given myself 10 lashings on my part.

Focus has nothing to do with shutter speed. Absolutely zero. Nada. Maybe the OP should be ignoring the advice of about 90% of the shooters on here...including the ones that liked your post.

Again, focus has nothing to do with shutter speed. That you think it does makes you unqualified to offer an opinion.

Now, if you had said, "Your lack of apparent sharpness may be due to shutter speed and not focus", I might have agreed. But that isn't what you said.

This entire thread is a joke. Again, on TPF, mob mentality rules and a few 'established' members direct the way a thread goes, and that direction is usually downhill.

Sorry- I used poor phrasing. I shall kiss your ring. The mob mentality is selective. You've definitely piled on but that's ok when you do it. Right?

Leave my ring alone...

And no, piling on is never ok. The only time I post things like I did are when people are harassing the OP, haven't read the entire thread, provide misinformation and have been liked by Bitter Jewler or O Hey Tyler. Other than that, I pretty much let it go. Also, I don't think I can be accused of 'piling on' when I am the first one to say something is wrong. Perhaps another use of 'poor phrasing'?

As far as the mob mentality being selective, I believe I am one of the only ones going against the grain and giving advice to the OP about how to get better quickly instead of just telling her she is going too fast.

My apologies if I hurt hurt your feelings. Just go back and read from the start of this thread and imagine what the OP feels considering all the crap that was thrown her way.

 

[fjrabon]

As far as the mob mentality being selective, I believe I am one of the only ones going against the grain and giving advice to the OP about how to get better quickly instead of just telling her she is going too fast.

I don't think the OP's issue is that she is going too fast, it's that she isn't really doing anything with her practice time. Which I don't think is something she realizes. I think OP has fallen under the spell of "if I just take a LOT of pictures I'll get better, practice makes perfect!" Which is very counter productive, IMHO. I think OP started taking photography seriously about the same time I did. I don't think it's absurd that she would be working in a speedlight at this juncture. But the problem is, I think at least, that she's just piling things on, hoping they fix other issues, without actually ever really thinking very hard about fixing those issues.

I agree with you that adding in a speedlight occasionally shouldn't be that big of a deal. However, she needs to think about what she's doing with it a lot more. It is pretty evident that she just stuck the sucker on there and fired er up and let er rip. Which, I mean I guess we all did that at first. But my point was that she should have looked at those photos and said 'wow, really cooked her face on that one, let me read my manual and figure out how to turn this sucker down.'

 

[MTVision]

Leave my ring alone...

And no, piling on is never ok. The only time I post things like I did are when people are harassing the OP, haven't read the entire thread, provide misinformation and have been liked by Bitter Jewler or O Hey Tyler. Other than that, I pretty much let it go. Also, I don't think I can be accused of 'piling on' when I am the first one to say something is wrong. Perhaps another use of 'poor phrasing'?

As far as the mob mentality being selective, I believe I am one of the only ones going against the grain and giving advice to the OP about how to get better quickly instead of just telling her she is going too fast.

My apologies if I hurt hurt your feelings. Just go back and read from the start of this thread and imagine what the OP feels considering all the crap that was thrown her way.

The whole thing with focus - it obviously isn't about lack of light since she's been using her pop-up pretty much the whole time indoors - which is really no different then what she did in these photos. That's what all the replies were about. This is the 8th thread about focus and basically was given all the same advice. Going too fast in terms of trying to do everything at once. A speedlight is great and will help but it's not going to solve all the issues.