CC welcome beginner

[camilledavis87]

Im a stay at home mom who bought a dslr.. 🙂 your just itching to spit out negatives right? i kid.. but I have found that I do love taking photos.. I however have no time to take classes. I have read lots and study lots of what is available to me.. Understanding exposure, A couple of online photo workshops.. A light room subscription to jinkyart. and a few others. As I said I am just starting out but would love some CC of my photos.. things I could work on with in a budget.. I have a canon xsi 50mm and 18-55..  I shoot in manual. I do use light room for small adjustments. My camera does not handle low light well… 400 and above gets pretty noisy. I have taken mostly images of my children but recent did take some for some friends for practice. Thanks!

 

flickr images: https://www.flickr.com/photos/123733839@N03/

[camilledavis87]

my daughter.. A quick snap as she was showing some attitude.

[camilledavis87]

ok cant get it to upload photos..

 

[fautox1977]

From what I see, I would say that you have taken some time to learn.

This level can be accomplished by at least a year shooting and practicing. (There are fautogs out there shooting for 15 years and cannot take this kind of photos)

I do not see WOW photos, but I think you are getting there. I liked most of your photos, except the one named “ryker”, although composition wise it is correct, I do not like the tight crop or the processing.

Obviously you’ve taken some time to learn how to shoot in natural light, using windows, back lit portraits etc.

What I am trying to say actually is to keep up the good work.

 

[cameraclicker]

My favourite is “kinley’s eyes”.  I also like “ryker”, though DOF could be just a little deeper.   “easter 2014 (7 of 7)” could also stand just a little more DOF.  Focus seems to be on his forehead instead of his eyes.

Second favourite is “ryker back light (1 of 1)”.   He is occupied and you see his environment.  I would think about running a healing brush over the garbage in the background, particularly the faded plastic jug.

Processing of “flicker (1 of 5)” seems to be a problem, or focus was off.  His skin looks artificially smoothed.

“20140413-IMG_5376” is good too.  I like the eyes.  I see someone has an education!

You are doing well.  Keep going.

 

[Worst Case Scenario]

Fauxtogs bank on the fact that your mommy goggles will make their pics look better than they are, and the same is true of shots that you take your self. BUT that’s not to say your pics are rubbish. In fact, I like them as well. But shooting your own kids won’t help you to learn much. Sure you can use them to practice on, but in the real world you’ll find so many challenges that don’t exist in your back yard.

Keep shooting and you’ll keep getting better!

[camilledavis87]

ok thank you all for your feedback.. as for the trash lol.. oops uploaded sooc instead of the one where I took some stuff out.. is there anything specific things I can do to improve? exercises per say.. or books to read? also what is the best way to get people to let you take pictures to learn.. I think I prefer photographing people.. and yes all have been in natural lighting.. I have not read how to use flash.. other than as fill flash and even then I find I don’t like the way it looks much.. probably because I’m not doing it right.. I only have in camera flash, I haven’t invested in anything else… I did do two newborn “shoots” practices recently.. and that was challenging to me.. as for getting photos of my kids haha they aren’t into it so. alot of these have been lucky shots where they stopped for 2 seconds.. 🙂 again thanks for the feedback I appreciate it.. Still trying to learn..

[camilledavis87]

oh and those are two different little blonde girls lol.. not sure if yall were thinking they were the same..one is my daughter.. and the little girl on the bed is a friends child.. I took that during a break with her newborn sister.. she was getting bored.. so I threw a blanket on her and played where is skylar? she thought that was fun..

[cameraclicker]

Lots of kids are not into it.  In the general population, very few are naturally comfortable in front of the camera.  A common method is to shoot often enough that you are ignored.  This works pretty well if you are the parent but does not work as well if you are working because you don’t have the time required to become part of the furniture.  If you are shooting kids while they are running around, you will want a medium aperture for depth of field and a fast shutter speed to freeze motion, so extra light is a help.  Speedlites have a very brief flash duration so even with moderate shutter speed, they pulse of light will stop motion.  High Speed Sync is useful for fill light, setting a slower (sync speed or below) shutter speed and using a single flash pop is better for stopping motion.

The best thing about a pop-up flash in newer bodies is that it can control an off camera flash.  To a degree it can even control studio strobes if they are set up for it.  The worst thing about a pop-up flash is that it is perfectly positioned to inflict red eye upon your photos.   There are a few gimmicks that are offered to help tame a pop-up flash, but none are that wonderful and you are better off saving up for a Speedlite.  There are third party flashes available at usually for less money than the Canon lights, I have not tried any of the current crop.  I have old third party flashes from the film days and was never very impressed by them.  I was really impressed when I put a Canon 430 EX II on my hot shoe.  It delivered excellent results.  I also have a 580 EX II which is similar but a little larger and it can control the 430 using flashes of light.  The best arrangement is the 600 EX RT which has a radio built in.  This lets you use a ST-E3-RT transmitter to control up to 15 lamps in up to 5 groups, and you can adjust power to each group from the camera.   You can also put a 600 EX RT in the hot shoe and use it to control other flashes, there is a lot of flexibility.  The drawback is the cost.  My collection of 600 EX RT’s cost the same as my studio flashes.  But they are easier to take on location because they are smaller and lighter.  Nikon make nice stand and umbrella kits that come with a carry bag.  Wescott have softbox kits with stands, you can get round or rectangular softboxes so you can choose the catch light shape you desire.  You can get little softboxes, grids, snoots and bounce sheets that work with the flash on or off camera.  There is a lot of light modification gear available now.

Outdoors, or if there is good window light, you might benefit from a reflector or two.  You can use white foam core from your local craft shop.  You can frequently get it for a couple of dollars per sheet, which is a lot less than a dedicated reflector will cost.  Dedicated reflectors are more durable and usually do some other tricks, but at 20 to 60 times the cost, you can throw away a lot of foam core before you get to the expense of a dedicated reflector.

Here are a couple of videos you might like:

[cameraclicker]

One more video.  It was in the YouTube suggestions today.  It shows some natural light shots, aided by flash, then one is adjusted with Photoshop, so it gives a quick look at a number of concepts.

[camilledavis87]

thanks! I will check them out

[nesgran]

There are actually some really good third party flashes out there now. The Yungnuo are probably the best known ones and their flashes go for very reasonable money, just make sure you look at what functions the flash you are looking at actually offers as some are very basic.

[EyeDocPhotog]

I’d ask for your business card if I were looking for a photog to shoot kids… 🙂

[petrock]

A great website to learn about off camera flash is http://www.strobist.com . It’s free content and I’d recommend it to any photographer. It has a great “lighting 101” tutorial that walks you through what to buy and how to use it in a very understandable way. The gear itself will probably run you around $100 on Amazon, a cheap hotshoe flash, a stand, an umbrella, and a sync cord.

Your work looks very promising, a few things we could nitpick but overall very good. Keep it up! 🙂

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