Newbie C&C

[john89011]

Hello, total newbie here coming from a point and shoot.

I just bought the 60d a week ago and took a few shots..

MY boy, Rex

My wife, 8 months pregnant

 

[giulio1993]

The first is nice but there's no strong contrast between the dog and the background and there's a huge less of details on the right. The 5th is underexposed

 

[subscuck]

The dog pics don't do much for me, the angle kinda bothers me. The first pic of your wife has some serious light coming from the left. I'm thinking window or patio door. Without a reflector or some off camera flash, you'll always end up with strong shadows like this. The second one of her I like as a candid, but portrait orientation would have worked better and gotten more of her love bump in the shot. Congrats, btw. Is it your first?

 

[john89011]

Thanks for the input guys! Yes our first baby, that's the main reason I got the 60d. Now I have 1 month to practice taking good pictures.

 

[tirediron]

C&C per req:

The dog pictures share a couple of common issues. One is composition, the other is exposure. When shooting animals as with people, be at there eye-level and have them look into the camera. Generally a 3/4 profile works well for a sitting dog, and consider using portrati (vertical) orientation. Your exposure was problematic here because of the large bright sky behind the [relatively] dark face of the dog. Grab your camera's manual and read up on spot metering, and when faced with situations like this, consider using a flash to provide fill light or moving to a different area.

The first picture of your wife shares the above exposure issues. The bright light camera left has fooled the meter. You have a couple of choices, use a reflector to your right to redirect the window light toward her face, use a flash to provide fill light, or turn her around to take advantage of the light.

The last image is the strongest, but would be better if it were lesss centered and shot in portrait orientation.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John