That's my boy!

[mom2eight]

Sorry to ask you so many questions, but how do you sharpen for the web? What noise reducer do you use?

 

[FarrahJ]

I use noiseware...and there are a couple of ways to sharpen for the web...what software do you use? I'm personally a fan of smart sharpen, because I can control the amount

 

[mom2eight]

I use photoshop elements to do my pp. Not a great sharpener or maybe im just not good at it.

 

[FarrahJ]

I'm not too familiar with PSE. =( Sorry.

 

[mom2eight]

I gave those programs a quick look but I don't think they are compatible with PSE. I hope to get a new version soon so when I change ill look into them more.

 

[Pugs]

The admonition against using the on board flash is stems from how flat and harsh that light is. If you have a speedlite, you can bounce it, diffuse, take it off camera, etc... all of which mitigate how flat and harsh the light is. With the on camera flash... you don't have any of that control.

In the scenario you were in, even if you had raised the ISO, you might still have trouble properly exposing his face. Not only is it dusk and getting darker, but he's also wearing a wide-brimmed hat that casts more shadow on the face AND the scene is very strongly back-lit. You were right to think that you needed some sort of fill.

As a snapshot, the on-camera flash works fine and you've done better here than the VAST majority of parents could dream of. As a portrait, off camera lighting is needed, even a simple reflector might have sufficed.

The slight orange cast to his skin is likely caused by the White Balance being slightly funky because of the different temperature of the on-board flash and the ambient light.

Good looking boy. EXCELLENT snapshot. Different lighting could have made for a GREAT portrait. Keep shooting!

 

[mom2eight]

In a setting like this outside just using my speedlight, what could I bounce off of. It was an opened area? Is that where a reflector would come in?

 

[mom2eight]

By the way, again thank you all so much for taking the time to help me. You don't know what that means to me.

 

[Pugs]

Well, with him being back-lit like that, you might have been able to use a reflector with no other lighting instruments. With the speedlight, if there wasn't a wall or anything handy to bounce the light off of, a diffuser on the speedlight would have helped, or a cable to get the speedlight off of the camera body and held off to the side at arms length. A stand for the speedlight would allow you get it further away from the camera to increase the angle that the light is coming in at him from. Having the light come in from an angle allows shadows that give the face and its features some depth and dimensionality.