Last CC request for the night I promise.

[AMOMENT]

Just figured I'd put up some of the latest photos I've taken in hopes for the most improvement possible. As you can see, I have been practicing. IMO, I'm still not always nailing my focus. For most of these photos I used spot metering and single point auto focus. I selected my auto focus point and tried to aim it directly at my subject's eye. I raised my aperture sometimes to increase my DOF and for some, simply stood back in hopes of having more of the picture in focus.


1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

 

[tirediron]

Shadows, shadows, shadows, or, to put in another way, lack of fill light, lack of fill light, lack of fill light!

 

[MTVision]

You actually only used spot metering for one of these shots. You gotta keep that flash done. Its not very flattering! You need to work on lighting but you also have to work on your composition a little bit.

 

[Heitz]

they look kind of soft

 

[MTVision]

The black and white conversions need work hun. I've found that its better to stay away from b/w, selective color, etc. in the beginning. You should learn how to do a clean edit first. A clean edit is when you fix any problems and you can't tell by looking at it that its been edited. Its much easier to get a nice b/w photo from a perfectly exposed photo.

 

[LifterCatcher]

Megan,

I gotta hand it to you. You give the best feedback!

Chris

 

[MTVision]

Megan,

I gotta hand it to you. You give the best feedback!

Chris

Wow! Thanks! I may not always know what I'm taking about - but I try!

 

[AMOMENT]

You do well, Meg!!! Okay, correct the newbie over here. I thought fill flash or light is when you use your pop up flash to fill in shadowy areas? If I keep my flash down than I can't do that. There are two setting components regarding flash and exposure that I can use. One represents how strong my flash is (which I'm guessing is my fill flash) and the other, my exposure compensation. I have been playing around with those. If my picture is properly exposed than it will show it on my meter, right? Some of these pics definitely did have overwhleming shadows but I actually was going for that. haha. (maybe I shouldn't have) I found some of the shadows to give an interesting look. lol. Guess not. hahhaha!

 

[thereyougo!14 2]

Fill in is also one of the dials in Photoshop and Lightroom and many other photo editing software. You can use this to bring out more detail in the shadows. There is too much contrast in some of these shots. Number 1 there is a huge fall off of light on the top of the girl on the right's head. Using single point is good, but you need to get eye contact from them which means predicting where they are going to look, focussing and then getting their attention while holding the shutter halfway to hold the focus. You will most likely get a few misses, but you'll also get lots of keepers this way. The lighting does look a little harsh - was this doen in the middle of the day? Use the histgram on your camera's viewfinder if it has one to make sure the shot is well exposed.

 

[MTVision]

Too much fill light in editing isn't good though so don't rely on just that.

I said it in your other thread - raise your ISO.

 

[thereyougo!14 2]

Too much fill light in editing isn't good though so don't rely on just that.

I said it in your other thread - raise your ISO.

Depends whether you're shooting in manual or using the metering in Av or Tv as raising the ISO won't make any difference to the shot. The shutter speed will either increase or the aperture will change. Yes you should be careful how much fill in you use in post, as they can make the image flat and bring in artefacts and noise. I think what could be of real use is a 3 in one reflector to use natural light to fill in the shadows especially with outdoor shots. It can also soften the light somewhat.

 

[MTVision]

Depends whether you're shooting in manual or using the metering in Av or Tv as raising the ISO won't make any difference to the shot. The shutter speed will either increase or the aperture will change. Yes you should be careful how much fill in you use in post, as they can make the image flat and bring in artefacts and noise. I think what could be of real use is a 3 in one reflector to use natural light to fill in the shadows especially with outdoor shots. It can also soften the light somewhat.

If the shutter speed increases or aperture changes - then that could make a huge difference in the shot.

 

[MTVision]

If your shutter speed is 1/20 then it's pretty much impossible to take a non blurry shot of a kid. By raising your ISO your shutter speed will increase thus letting you take a picture of your kid using the available light and it won't be blurry

 

[thereyougo!14 2]

Depends whether you're shooting in manual or using the metering in Av or Tv as raising the ISO won't make any difference to the shot. The shutter speed will either increase or the aperture will change. Yes you should be careful how much fill in you use in post, as they can make the image flat and bring in artefacts and noise. I think what could be of real use is a 3 in one reflector to use natural light to fill in the shadows especially with outdoor shots. It can also soften the light somewhat.

If the shutter speed increases or aperture changes - then that could make a huge difference in the shot.

I could be barking up the wrong tree, but if the aperture changes then the shot can change as it will change DOF. When on Av though, depth of field stays the same. I can see the need to increase ISO when trying to make sure that you freeze the action, I did this when taking a photograph of a bird. When it's pretty static though, raising the ISO on Av mode will produce the same level of exposure (not that I'm trying to restart that whole debate again) but with more noise. With children, you will want a fast shutter speed in order to catch them. Using a higher ISO would not have changed the amount of shadow in these shots, and they look like pretty static shots so I don't think that changing ISO would have helped. Using something to act as a reflector would have made a difference. It could be as simple as a large piece of white card and some baking foil.

To the OP I'd say: Take your time. Try and get one thing right at a time

 

[MTVision]

I could be barking up the wrong tree, but if the aperture changes then the shot can change as it will change DOF. When on Av though, depth of field stays the same. I can see the need to increase ISO when trying to make sure that you freeze the action, I did this when taking a photograph of a bird. When it's pretty static though, raising the ISO on Av mode will produce the same level of exposure (not that I'm trying to restart that whole debate again) but with more noise. With children, you will want a fast shutter speed in order to catch them. Using a higher ISO would not have changed the amount of shadow in these shots, and they look like pretty static shots so I don't think that changing ISO would have helped. Using something to act as a reflector would have made a difference. It could be as simple as a large piece of white card and some baking foil.

To the OP I'd say: Take your time. Try and get one thing right at a time

She doesn't shoot in aperture priority so it's kind of a moot point. In manual you adjust the settings do you can keep the same aperture.

I wasn't talking about these shots in particular. She has another thread from last night about flash so instead of using flash - inside her house - she could jut raise ISO and make use of the available light.