New guy needs some critiquing please

[creisinger]

Nice shots - third one needs more fill on the pretty lady.

50mm 1.8 is great for starters but forces you to get quite close for portraits and therefore you'll see some distortion. The 85mm would be better for portraits. Other than that the 50mm is great!

 

[indeedies]

Nice shots - third one needs more fill on the pretty lady.

50mm 1.8 is great for starters but forces you to get quite close for portraits and therefore you'll see some distortion. The 85mm would be better for portraits. Other than that the 50mm is great!

I would love this lens but can't afford the extra couple of hundred. I'm a poor college student now

And as far as more fill I'm assuming light but I was afraid the external flash would make it so the rainbow would wash out too much. Is this wrong? What would you guys have done with the same equipment?

Nikon D70s 55-200mm VR with SB 600 flash

 

[creisinger]

Nice shots - third one needs more fill on the pretty lady.

50mm 1.8 is great for starters but forces you to get quite close for portraits and therefore you'll see some distortion. The 85mm would be better for portraits. Other than that the 50mm is great!

I would love this lens but can't afford the extra couple of hundred. I'm a poor college student now

And as far as more fill I'm assuming light but I was afraid the external flash would make it so the rainbow would wash out too much. Is this wrong? What would you guys have done with the same equipment?

Nikon D70s 55-200mm VR with SB 600 flash

If you're happy with the background the way it looks like now just use the same settings (shutter speed, ISO, aperture) and your SB-600 as a fill flash. Preferably use a diffuser to soften the light and make the foreground a bit lighter. That's it.

 

[indeedies]

Nice shots - third one needs more fill on the pretty lady.

50mm 1.8 is great for starters but forces you to get quite close for portraits and therefore you'll see some distortion. The 85mm would be better for portraits. Other than that the 50mm is great!

I would love this lens but can't afford the extra couple of hundred. I'm a poor college student now

And as far as more fill I'm assuming light but I was afraid the external flash would make it so the rainbow would wash out too much. Is this wrong? What would you guys have done with the same equipment?

Nikon D70s 55-200mm VR with SB 600 flash

If you're happy with the background the way it looks like now just use the same settings (shutter speed, ISO, aperture) and your SB-600 as a fill flash. Preferably use a diffuser to soften the light and make the foreground a bit lighter. That's it.

I'm kind of looking for a bit of a more distorted backround. I've read that a 50mm 1.8 will do this for me. I'm not very eager about being right on top of someone when shooting though :er:

 

[creisinger]

I assume with "distorted background" you mean "Bokeh" or very shallow depth of field. going down to 1.8 does give you very shallow depth of field - so you're going to be good.

 

[OGDaniel]

I think the first is more than a snapshot. It has a certain energy about it.
The second one is great although i think more of the tree should be in the scene.
I agree with Rifleman1776 that #3 is a little busy and conflicting.

Good shots all around =), keep it up.

 

[sburatorul]

don't quite understand why people see number one as a snapshot, it seems great to me! good focus, good contrast between the clothing and the leafes on the ground, i love it! just because maybe it was an instant shot doesn't mean its just a common snapshot. i love number two as well, good mood(made my day better). love your work and keep up!

dont worry about the 50mm, it is a great lens, great for portraits not to mention that on a crop factor its 75mm. and dont worry that will have to be on top of someone cause it is not the case. and distortion? none!

 

[KKJUN]

i love number two as well, good mood(made my day better). love your work and keep up!

I definately agree with that. This photo really gives you a warm feeling.

 

[indeedies]

I assume with "distorted background" you mean "Bokeh" or very shallow depth of field. going down to 1.8 does give you very shallow depth of field - so you're going to be good.

I did mean Bokeh but I thought I had to be a pro before using such technical terms like that

 

[indeedies]

I think the first is more than a snapshot. It has a certain energy about it.
The second one is great although i think more of the tree should be in the scene.
I agree with Rifleman1776 that #3 is a little busy and conflicting.

Good shots all around =), keep it up.

I kind of agree with this somewhat now that you guys mention it. Next year when the colors come back I'll give this another go.

 

[indeedies]

don't quite understand why people see number one as a snapshot, it seems great to me! good focus, good contrast between the clothing and the leafes on the ground, i love it! just because maybe it was an instant shot doesn't mean its just a common snapshot. i love number two as well, good mood(made my day better). love your work and keep up!

dont worry about the 50mm, it is a great lens, great for portraits not to mention that on a crop factor its 75mm. and dont worry that will have to be on top of someone cause it is not the case. and distortion? none!

Thanks for the encouragement. I can see both points of the argument but I guess I'm a little biased to yours lol.

And I do think I'm going to be going with the 50mm. How close am I going to have to be to the subject in order to get a nice soft "bokeh'ish" backround? If the subject is about 6 ft from the backround for instance?

 

[iolair]

1 - lovely photo, wouldn't change a thing. (Just don't shoot kids from that angle all the time - but I'm sure you don't).

2 - nice, but not grabbing... there's only a certain level of excitement you can get from a photo of a tree, I guess. It seems technically good, would be good as a background.

3 - good composition, but poor technically. I think others have already commented enough on why. If you have the equipment to do it, expose for the background and then light your foreground subect using external flash(es).