Some fall pictures

vannahcometrue · Nov 10, 2008

Here are a few of my favorite fall pictures I did for a family I know. I'm a beginner so don't be too hard on me!!

robbie_vlad · Nov 10, 2008

I think they are great photos, perhaps a bit too bright near the top in a few.

vannahcometrue · Nov 10, 2008

Yeah It was really bright. I tried keeping them in the shade but it seemed like they wanted to do their own thing instead. They didn't want too many 'posed' photos so I let them be. I regret that a little.

El2 · Nov 10, 2008

I am also just starting out. So I am going to give it a stab ccing your pictures. I think some of them are a bit too soft or/and OOF. Are you shooting in Manual mode or auto?

I would also watch out for distracting backgrounds. I think one of them had a row of parked cars. Maybe clone those out? Also, watch out for chopped limbs. I think cutting of part of the head is ok, from my understanding but the customers might not like it.

Overall, I think this is a great start. You already knew about some blown spots on some of the pictures from the previous c/c.

Great job!

vannahcometrue · Nov 10, 2008

Definately auto. I should be using manual and shooting raw. I'm still very new to all that and my camera. Wow, I didn't even noticed the cars! Haha. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll be sure to fix that. :''>

jwsciontc · Nov 10, 2008

i like the 2nd one and the 3rd to last one the best, great shots

confused_in_the_darkroom · Nov 11, 2008

I like most of them. After you get comfortable with your camera you can switch to manual and fix some of the stuff that AE is never able to get right. The brightness, especially at the tops of the photos, can be fixed with an ND Grad Filter. Its a filter you can't shoot in auto with though because it defeats the purpose. I suggest reading up on it, its a good investment.

zen_and_ink · Nov 11, 2008

Nice stuff. You have a good eye, trust yourself and you'll see an instant improvement, this doesn't really go for everyone.

When learning about exposure etc., it really comes down to making yourself go out and shoot in full manual mode, but to really see the benefits you pretty much have to shoot in RAW format (I am pretty much just learning the digital side of the art, myself but) they equate it to shooting slide film.
You see in film photography when you get prints made the person (or computer) making the prints make certain changes for you, color and density (contrast and saturation) correction are pretty much standard. So when you get the prints back any small mistakes are wiped clean and big mistakes seem small. Plus, often any kind of color filters that you use, or intentional over/underexposing are "corrected" for and thus ruin your effect.
But when you shoot slide (from what I understand about digital so far, slide film is the film equivalent to RAW file format) you actually are shooting onto the same piece of film that gets developed, cut, and put into slide sleeves, then projected onto a screen etc. so that what you shoot is what you get.
I can tell you from experience, it is extremely limiting to use automatic settings. I am stuck with them for now, as I shoot w/ a borrowed EasyShare point-n-shooter.
I can still change the exposure settings a bit, and I can tweak the shutter speeds, and aperture by using "sports mode" and various "scene" modes.

And I do, but it's so easy to fall into just shooting in full auto.

vannahcometrue · Nov 11, 2008

I really appreciate the feedback, guys. It is scary thinking about shooting in manual. Alot of this is spanish to me! I've got so much learning to do it's OVERWHELMING! Some photos I've taken have been from a point and shoot ( none of the above ) but you can get some great shots. I don't want to be hung up on Auto forever, trust me! Thanks for your help guys!!! I'd love to post some more pictures I've done but I don't want everyone to get sick of me yet ; ) !!

vannahcometrue · Nov 11, 2008

Oh and just like when I'm doing hair, I need to build up confidence = / I'm way too hard on myself which makes alot of my natural talents dwindle a bit. I'm working on that too though. Comes with time and experience I do suppose.