Teach me something - C&C please

f3nr15 wrote:

About me- 37 years old, in Australia. Two fantastic kids aged 6 and 3 who are my reason. Meant to be studying for my specialist exams as a doctor but I've got an artistic itch that needs to be scratched. So I'm taking up photography as an exercise in procrastination

Hi Peter, and welcome. It's always nice to know a little something about who's behind the camera.

Photog background - in my penultimate year of high-school, I did a six month subject in photography (1992). We built a dark-room, and learned to use a film SLR camera - but I never got it. My photos were always crap, such that I had to steal a friend's photos for my final assessment. It left a bad taste in my mouth so that I've only ever used point-and-shoot since, and haven't actually owned a camera personally. My wife purchased a 1000D 3 years ago to take photos of the kids, and we've had it in auto mode the whole time. As part of my current "procrastination", I've bought a Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 non-VC lens late last year, and turned the dial on the 1000D to M. Oh. My. God. I think I'm hooked. Treated myself to a cheap second hand 650D body on eBay last month.

You have a background in photography. Whether you view it as good or bad, at least that's a good start. Grow from that experience. Learn about the capabilities/potential of your camera and explore beyond the "M" mode. It might (will) be frustrating at times but your photography skills will expand. Move at your own pace. Get some photography books about using the light, use of shutter speed and aperture, etc.

This thread - I'd like to post some photos that I've taken to learn from your amazing collective knowledge and skill. I don't have many occasions to shoot, but that's even more reason for me to learn enough to get it right more often.

Getting it "right" can be quite subjective. Use what you learn here and apply it to what you like. People have different artistic ideas and styles. That's what's cool about photography--there are no "rules" but there are good guidelines. It's an art form in itself. Don't hesitate to get creative.

I'll only post one photo or one set at a time. I'll try to keep them all in one thread as a record of my progress and your advice.

Posting sample photos is always good when asking questions. However, start a new thread with a new subject line for each one otherwise it could get a little messy. You can keep track of your threads (or any thread/post) here under More Options.

Apologies in advance - I love taking photos of my kids. I love having a go at post-processing in iPhoto (yikes!), but I've also just downloaded Elements. I love cropping pics into widescreen format (sorry). I love chopping off bits of things in the photos because I think it makes you wonder about the whole (double sorry).

You're already developing your own style Post processing (PP) can be a lot of fun for some people. Learn about, and consider shooting RAW at some point.

First photo - took this last week. It was a very overcast day, and my daughter was playing at the bottom of a war memorial as a storm was blowing in. I had the WB set to cloudy, but the image was too brown, so I faded it slightly in iPhoto to separate the grey of the stones from my daughter's skin tone and her shirt.

Good you're exploring different camera settings. You've found out that 'cloudy' warms the image quite a bit--maybe too much for your taste.

My wife LOVES the photo. I know what I don't like about it, but I'd like to get your feedback.

A Storm Coming

Nice candid photo! Often better than stiff poses IMHO. My comments would be that it's cropped a little too tight in the foreground, and the upper left corner is somewhat distracting, especially since it's so close to your subject. The good bokeh helped, though, by using a large aperture (small f/number). Her face and hair around it is a little dark. This could easily be "corrected" with a touch of fill light in PP to lighten that area up, but to your taste (if you even want to) not mine.

Remember, it's all subjective. These are just some thoughts I had.

Keep posting and shoot a lot. It's good for both learning and procrastination

Nick