My Beach Boys

My3Boys · Jul 10, 2008

Took these shots of my boys at Lake Michigan last weekend. I really wish they were a bit 'sharper', but I'm still learning and still working on learning my photo editing program as well. Any c/c would be welcome and very much appreciated! Thanks!

Seth, 2 years

Andrew, 3 years

Carl, 4 years

LaFoto · Jul 11, 2008

Yes, I'm afraid their being "soft" is what caught my attention first. Then I thought it was maybe because they were scanned prints, but no, you have Rebel XT (same as I, I think, if it is the same as a 350D?), so they are digital photos, all right.

Their smiles are lovely and I so like dimples!
Next time you photograph them, try to have them in a place where they need not squint into brightness and then work with their eyes. If Seth's eyes are anything to go by, the three of them must have gorgeous eyes!

My3Boys · Jul 11, 2008

Thanks for the comment and suggestion with the eyes. It was 5:30 pm in the evening with I took these. I did them on a whim at the beach. I now know that if I was going to do an actual 'photo shoot' there, I'd definetly have to go a few hours later so the sun wasn't so bright.

And about the 'softness' of the photos...why is it like that? I see so many beautiful crisp photos on this forum and that's the look I'm wanting to achieve. Does that just come with experience, a better lens, a steadier hand? Or is it in PP?

kellylindseyphotography · Jul 11, 2008

They are soft because it doesn't look like they were correctly exposed. You can read up on exposure and how to create a properly exposed picture in your manual or a book or tutorials on youtube perhaps.
You also shot in harsh, direct sunlight, which even the best photo's have a hard time with.

You should learn about spot metering and how to use it in a situation like this. It appears you shot in perhaps auto or AV, and used the evaluative metering (I think its called) where it meters for the whole scene. If you spot metered your sons' faces, you would have more accurate reading, better exposure, and sharper shots