new here (feedback would be great)

[akridge25]

So after browsing around this forum for a couple days I decided to join it. Found a lot of useful info here and am inspired by a lot of your guys' work! I have always loved photography just haven't had the money to get into it... I finally just purchased a canon rebel xti..... I'm in love, but I'm currently reading my butt off b/c I didn't know how to do anything with it.

These are pictures I took with my canon powershot and edited in photoshop. Looking back I don't like them, they are too bright..what do you think? I'm thinking lay off diffuse glow It was a phase.

1. My Son

2.

OKay so here are the most recent pics edited after taking them with the new Canon Rebel I got Keep in mind I had no idea what I was doing. I have a better idea of what the settings are used for now after skimming through a few books. I'm really excited to try again! Any tips? **most of the pics are my son - go figure**

3.

4.

5.

6.

7. tooo bright/white??

8. LOOK AT THE NOSTRILS and then Look at the mouth as well. I was going to work on the shadow in the mouth but do you think the picture is worth the time?

8a NOSTRILS EDITED

(dont know if I should fix it since the eyes are so dark too...)

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15. i hate that i cut his legs too short

{phew I promise never to post that many pictures at once again!}

I'm wanting to get into portrait photograpy once I get a handle on things. i feel confident since I can get around in photoshop, but i need to know if my stuff looks good, because I have seen some ppl try to use photoshop and it looks aweful. HOnest opinions!! I don't think I want to do full time photography because I am going to school for graphic design (web and print) So i guess I"d just like to eventually do a little of everything.

 

[Dubious Drewski]

Forget a 56k warning, even Broadband users need a warning for this page! Geez! Just kidding (but not really).

All of the images that you call too "bright", are actually just too contrasty; the darks are too dark as well. That's what happens when you adjust contrast with the "contrast" tool instead of the "levels" tool. Out of all the things you may want to learn for good post-processing, learn what levels are. Once you understand it, you'll likely use it for every picture you ever take form now on, it is that useful.

Shot #2 is scarily surreal. I like it alot, but I also just tend to like "artsy" shots.

In shot #9, the coloured version has more "pop" and is better than the B&W variant.

When you are shooting people, and you want a really cool blurred background, set your Rebel to "portrait" mode and get as close to your subject as possible to emphasize the bokeh. Trust me, this will look good.

 

[akridge25]

ehhh yeah sorry! Actually those were done with levels. I think the diffuse glow is throwing you off. I don't use contrast very often.

Is there technique to levels.. books... good tutorials out there? I just play around til' I get something that looks ... different I guess. It's probably not working though and it kind of takes a long time.

thakns for the the feedback .. definatly was what I was looking for.

**** I"m officially a retard... thanks for the link i read to fast ****

 

[GeorgiaOwl]

I've seen alot worse, and called "professional", too. If you don't think at least some of those are worthy, I think maybe you're being too hard on yourself! I love #2 ( it's a little soft though, isn't it?), #3 and #5....all for the same reason....I see creative juices flowing and not just another bland-blah-yadda-yadda portrait.