first portraits with the D90, human and dog.

Shot these with the 85mm 1.8D. Really enjoying this camera. Could not have gotten that shot of the dog without the faster focusing of this camera over my previous m4/3 gear.

C&C appreciated!

Lovely shot. I like the use of leading lines, but I find them to be a bit distracting in this frame.

As an exercise in leading lines, if you can re-do the shot try this: have the fence start just about the lower-right corner of the frame, and disappear just to the right of the upper-left photo. Turn on your rule of thirds grid in the viewfinder...I forget which menu option it is. Have you model pose against a post, put her eye near the upper-right intersection of the lines (the rule of thirds grid will look like this: #, you're looking at the intersection of the top line and the left-most line.)

What this does is create a 'crash point'. Straight lines lead the eye somewhere before 'crashing'. In this frame, the fence leads the eye along for a bit before it sees your model and goes "oh...she's pretty. I wonder what else is along this line?" and keeps going...to nothing. There isn't a solid 'crash point'.

In the exercise I suggested above, you should immediately notice the fence leads the eye to your model, and the model the hides the rest of the fence = she is the crash point.

Not trying to knock your photo, it's really good...I just think you have a good setup to play with leading lines and crash points which will really improve your photography.

jam91 said:

Shot these with the 85mm 1.8D. Really enjoying this camera. Could not have gotten that shot of the dog without the faster focusing of this camera over my previous m4/3 gear.

C&C appreciated!

Click to expand...

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"In technology I'm placing all my trust"
http://www.AdamMooz.com

Great advice above and I would also add that a shutter speed of 1/80 on 85mm d on a DX camera is too low to avoid camera shake.

You got lucky with the dog (lovely picture, btw) but you can see a slight hint of camera shake blur in the second photo (again a lovely photo in terms of composition and exposure).

The minimum shutter speed=Focal length rule of thumb means the focal length X the crop factor which is 1.5 on the D90. So 85 X 1.5=127.5. So your shutter speed should be at least equal to or over that number to get out of the camera shake zone.

Like the tonal range of the dog shot, actually like the shadow vs, light, shows the dog nicely. Nice shot.

Lovely portraits of the girl, very natural, showing her pretty smile well and nicely composed. She looks happy and relaxed. Was wondering about the first shot with her back left out, but after all dont think it takes away. Really natural.

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.....Just from an amateur......'Sometimes it's to your advantage for people to think you're crazy.”

Terry, thanks for the shutter speed advice. I had kind of forgotten about that inverse of the focal length rule with my m4/3 gear, because the internal image stabilization spoiled me I guess. But I was getting quite frustrated getting blurred shots. I guess that explains it.

Bajerunner, thanks for pointing that out. I knew it was going to detract from the shot a little bit, but I didn't have enough room to back up. The stream we were standing in was a little rough for my taste. I wasn't feeling quite that adventurous with my shiny new gear.

Amooz, thanks a lot for your advice. I just set the grid lines to the function button on my D90 so I'll be able to use them next time. I'm trying to picture what you're saying, and I wanted to ask, Is it better to have her in the foreground or the fence in the foreground? Can the lines work both ways--leading from the background to her or leading from the foreground to her? I wanted to keep her in the foreground for this shot, but I'm not so sure the effect with the lines would be quite as strong this way. Further description please?

Thanks everyone!

Hi, this is Barney, my daddy, Steve's Golden Retriever. In the interests of fairness and equality for dogs and dog models everywhere, I would like to call attention to the fact that the lighting on the dog in the picture was not carried out in the best fashion. There should have been a fill light on the darker side of the dog's nose, and a hair light behind. How can you humanoids forget a hair light on a dog?

But did you hear anyone critique the lighting? No! The dog's picture was hardly mentioned. And I'll bet that dog wasn't paid modeling fees, either. As far as I know, Mako and my daddy are the only ones here who pay union-scale modeling fees to their dogs. (By the way, here is a shout-out to Mako's drop-dead beautiful dog!)

So, you folks have been warned. Treat us fairly, OR ELSE!

If you get the chance, come back here with an example of each shot you've proposed. The best way to learn is to just go out and do it - maybe you'll get something that looks fantastic that completely blows my suggestion out of the water.

Digital pictures aren't just cheap, they're free. Never be afraid to try something.

jam91 said:

Amooz, thanks a lot for your advice. I just set the grid lines to the function button on my D90 so I'll be able to use them next time. I'm trying to picture what you're saying, and I wanted to ask, Is it better to have her in the foreground or the fence in the foreground? Can the lines work both ways--leading from the background to her or leading from the foreground to her? I wanted to keep her in the foreground for this shot, but I'm not so sure the effect with the lines would be quite as strong this way. Further description please?

Thanks everyone!

Click to expand...

--
"In technology I'm placing all my trust"
http://www.AdamMooz.com