Teach me something - C&C please

f3nr15 wrote:

A Little Wonder

Had the occasion to visit friends who have a one week old bub today. Took the opportunity to play with my new acquisitions - the 40mm pancake STM, and a 430EX II speedlite. I only took a handful of snaps, and I still don't know anything about using the speedlite, but I liked this shot.

I'm still frustrated by focusing - in this photo, the focus seems to be on my wife's upper sleeve, even though the autofocus confirmation flashed over the babe's face, which mas my intended target.

How do you guys and gals approach focusing? Is it a matter of russian roulette with the AF? (Either half-pressing the shutter-button repeatedly until the satisfactory AF point is auto-selected, or taking so many photos that one of them will have the appropriate AF point?) Or do you focus manually, and risk missing "the moment"?

There are all kinds of approaches to focusing involving setting off-center focus points or using them all. My preference is the old standby of selecting the center focus point, putting it on the part of the photo which must be in focus, half-pressing the shutter to get focus, then shifting the camera to get the right framing - then take the photo. It's easy, quick, and generally works well.

Any focusing tips or C&C of the photo would be welcomed.

(PS: Used the clone tool in Elements to remove the edge of an iPod that was sitting on the arm of the couch, thanks for the tip dave vichich!)

Re this photo - I think I'd have tried to get more of the adults' faces in it if they were meant to be in the picture (and I am sure they were). There is a large dark area of hair taking up too much of the photo. Also this is a good example of why I shoot RAW, because it makes it easy to go in and adjust the white balance. For my taste this photo is too 'orange-y' and doesn't look like the real scene did. It's almost more like a sepia-tint monochrome. If that's the look you wanted then you did get it, but it's not what I'd choose.

This is not a bad 'snapshot' - type of photo but you should try (assuming you didn't) to get some shots with just a good view of that beautiful new youngster, especially his face. Certainly take pics of the baby with the older generation! I'm big on kids and babies and family shots myself. But look for the special photo that sometimes is within the scene, not just the overall scene.

You're welcome to click on my username and view my gallery. I have a 'baby pics' album. Maybe you'll get some ideas. I'm a big believer in looking at what others do that works well and then drawing inspiration from them. I do it all the time. Good luck and keep shooting.