What am I doing wrong?

[Eva D]

I am a beginner and I am still learning the art of photography. My cousin asked me to take her maternity pics and this is what I captured. I showed up at her house and after a few hours of procrastinating she finally got ready. It so happened that the sun was going down and my light was pretty much non-existent by the time we started shooting which was the reason for my 50mm and a slower shutter speed. Besides these flaws what can I do better next time and what could I do to make my photography any better? Thank you in advance for looking at my post. Any feedback and comments are greatly appreciated.


1. Canon T2i with 50mm lens. f/6.3 1/15shutter speed ISO 200

 

[Tomasko]

Don't cut off body parts However, tighter crop would be probably more suitable here, because the background isn't really adding any value to the image.

 

[KmH]

Be sure an learn the science of photography too.

You could have increased your ISO a full stop to ISO 400. That would have gotten you a full stop more of shutter speed - 1/30, and exactly the same exposure.

You could have opened the lens aperture a full stop to f/4.5 and had a bit more selective focus (blurred background). That would have gotten you another full stop of shutter speed too - 1/60, and exactly the same exposure.

If you had used some off camera strobed light (flash), you could have used a shutter speed of 1/200 to control the ambient light exposure separately from the strobed light exposure and turned the ISO down to ISO 100. When using strobed light, the short duration of the flash of light stop s motion, and lens aperture controls the strobed light exposure.

By using 1/200 for the shutter speed, the background would be much darker than your subjects really making the couple 'pop' .

 

[table1349]

Also, as in real estate. Location, Location, Location!. Not only is the fence distracting, but the patches of missing grass and pathway in the background add nothing to the shot.

 

[480sparky]

Her arms don't match. Her left arm looks fine, but her right arm looks very masculine and appears to be growing out of her neck.

 

[Ron Evers]

Her arms don't match. Her left arm looks fine, but her right arm looks very masculine and appears to be growing out of her neck.

Laf! I had to go back for a second look.

 

[manaheim]

What they said... plus they're all tangled up like a pretzel.

 

[pixilstudio]

all really great tips plus unless you are using a tripod 1/15th is no good (unless you are stiff as stone) a 60th is about as slow as i like to go. plus your subjects need to be really still at a 15th

 

[Starskream666]

Cannot... un see

 

[vtf]

Her arms don't match. Her left arm looks fine, but her right arm looks very masculine and appears to be growing out of her neck.

Laf! I had to go back for a second look.

Same here.

 

[WesternGuy]

I suppose that as a beginner, a lot can be forgiven - just a couple of comments as others have noticed - watch the cropping of body parts, can sometimes ruin an otherwise good image. Skin tone looks a little orange to me, so something else to watch as well...and the background - a beginner's mistake, I am sure we have all made it - you have walkways running through their heads and the building in the background is a no-no... - these all detract from the image quality. As well, the "lettering" on his sweater attracts attention because it constrasts so much with the sweater's black background. Hope this helps for next time.

Personally, I would not have waited "a few hours" - they are either ready or they are not - your time is valuable too - she asked you - her responsibility to show up - only my opinion - but if someone asks me to take pictures of them, for them...and I show up on time, then they better be ready.

Regards,

WesternGuy

 

[cgipson1]

Try having them wear clothing that doesn't blend together... different colors / shades. Use a fast aperture (as mentioned) to kill that background.. get some bokeh going!

 

[Eva D]

Thank all of you for the very helpful tips. I dont have a strobe flash yet, I am saving up for it but Hopefully soon. I am going to do another shoot in a couple weeks with them and I will definately take all of your advice into consideration as well as not allowing my light to fade away before my eyes. I am taking a couple classes to learn more and I have been reading a lot of books on every concept of photography. I have noticed there is an improvement from when I started a few months ago. Thank you so much again for helping me I appreciate it tremendously!