A picture to share using a backdrop

MelissaM said:

I finally got a backdrop and put it to use tonight using practice
shots. I took several shots. One was 1/125 at f/8 and one that was
1/125 f/16 of which is the one I am posting in here. I wanted to
share this one.

Nevermind the wrinkles or pose. I will work on those later.

Melissa



--
http://www.pbase.com/mnewco/inboxf/4.5-5.6 E



See my profile for equipment
I have an email. Pbase supporter

Click to expand...

RodneyBlair said:

It bothers me that you will not get a little more serious about
what you are doing. Your image here isn't great and it isn't
horrible either. Ok, I'm being kind.

I like your backdrop. If you'll practice working with it, you'll
enjoy it.

Why did you take a shot at F/8 and another at f/16?

Shutter speed doesn't matter as long as you do not exceet your max
sync speed which I believe is 1/125 on the S2 and do not go low
enough that ambient light affects the exposure.

If you really want to learn to use your equipment in a studio type
lighting environment, hear what I'm saying here and people will
jump in to help you out.

Forget Photo Shop!
Forget in-camera High Sharpening level! Set it to the lowest.
Forget RAW files! You are way too unexperienced to attempt
adjusting RAW files! The S2 takes great JPG images that require
little or no post-processing.

Now that we understand what you should forget, let's go to the next
step. Work with one(1) subject until you get the feel for what you
are doing. Take one child and make certain his or her face is
freshly washed...don't try to remove cookie dough with Photo Shop!

Your child is now all cleaned up and ready to have his/her portrait
taken. Pose your subject where he will be and get a meter reading
for your exposure. Tell him not to move. Walk back to your
camera, set the f/stop, look in the viewfinder and make adjustments
to camera height and angle and take the picture. Come back and
post the image at preferrably 600x400 pixels. Size, but don't crop!

After you post your image, others will make suggestions on how to
proceed and hopfully you will get a better understand how aperture
affects your image along the way. No one here cares if your
background is wrinkled...Get the exposure right and then you can
worry with fine details.

If you will do as everyone has suggested to you in the past, you'll
find it is rather easy to understand the basics wich you do not
understand today.

Good luck,
Rodney

MelissaM said:

I finally got a backdrop and put it to use tonight using practice
shots. I took several shots. One was 1/125 at f/8 and one that was
1/125 f/16 of which is the one I am posting in here. I wanted to
share this one.

Nevermind the wrinkles or pose. I will work on those later.

Melissa



--
http://www.pbase.com/mnewco/inboxf/4.5-5.6 E



See my profile for equipment
I have an email. Pbase supporter

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

RodneyBlair said:

Good luck,
Rodney

RodneyBlair said:

It bothers me that you will not get a little more serious about
what you are doing. Your image here isn't great and it isn't
horrible either. Ok, I'm being kind.

I like your backdrop. If you'll practice working with it, you'll
enjoy it.

Why did you take a shot at F/8 and another at f/16?

Shutter speed doesn't matter as long as you do not exceet your max
sync speed which I believe is 1/125 on the S2 and do not go low
enough that ambient light affects the exposure.

If you really want to learn to use your equipment in a studio type
lighting environment, hear what I'm saying here and people will
jump in to help you out.

Forget Photo Shop!
Forget in-camera High Sharpening level! Set it to the lowest.
Forget RAW files! You are way too unexperienced to attempt
adjusting RAW files! The S2 takes great JPG images that require
little or no post-processing.

Now that we understand what you should forget, let's go to the next
step. Work with one(1) subject until you get the feel for what you
are doing. Take one child and make certain his or her face is
freshly washed...don't try to remove cookie dough with Photo Shop!

Your child is now all cleaned up and ready to have his/her portrait
taken. Pose your subject where he will be and get a meter reading
for your exposure. Tell him not to move. Walk back to your
camera, set the f/stop, look in the viewfinder and make adjustments
to camera height and angle and take the picture. Come back and
post the image at preferrably 600x400 pixels. Size, but don't crop!

After you post your image, others will make suggestions on how to
proceed and hopfully you will get a better understand how aperture
affects your image along the way. No one here cares if your
background is wrinkled...Get the exposure right and then you can
worry with fine details.

If you will do as everyone has suggested to you in the past, you'll
find it is rather easy to understand the basics wich you do not
understand today.

Good luck,
Rodney

MelissaM said:

I finally got a backdrop and put it to use tonight using practice
shots. I took several shots. One was 1/125 at f/8 and one that was
1/125 f/16 of which is the one I am posting in here. I wanted to
share this one.

Nevermind the wrinkles or pose. I will work on those later.

Melissa



--
http://www.pbase.com/mnewco/inboxf/4.5-5.6 E



See my profile for equipment
I have an email. Pbase supporter

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

MelissaM said:

I need to get to my photogrpaphy club meeeting where I can also get
some pros answers too.

Thank you...Melissa

RodneyBlair said:

Good luck,
Rodney

RodneyBlair said:

It bothers me that you will not get a little more serious about
what you are doing. Your image here isn't great and it isn't
horrible either. Ok, I'm being kind.

I like your backdrop. If you'll practice working with it, you'll
enjoy it.

Why did you take a shot at F/8 and another at f/16?

Shutter speed doesn't matter as long as you do not exceet your max
sync speed which I believe is 1/125 on the S2 and do not go low
enough that ambient light affects the exposure.

If you really want to learn to use your equipment in a studio type
lighting environment, hear what I'm saying here and people will
jump in to help you out.

Forget Photo Shop!
Forget in-camera High Sharpening level! Set it to the lowest.
Forget RAW files! You are way too unexperienced to attempt
adjusting RAW files! The S2 takes great JPG images that require
little or no post-processing.

Now that we understand what you should forget, let's go to the next
step. Work with one(1) subject until you get the feel for what you
are doing. Take one child and make certain his or her face is
freshly washed...don't try to remove cookie dough with Photo Shop!

Your child is now all cleaned up and ready to have his/her portrait
taken. Pose your subject where he will be and get a meter reading
for your exposure. Tell him not to move. Walk back to your
camera, set the f/stop, look in the viewfinder and make adjustments
to camera height and angle and take the picture. Come back and
post the image at preferrably 600x400 pixels. Size, but don't crop!

After you post your image, others will make suggestions on how to
proceed and hopfully you will get a better understand how aperture
affects your image along the way. No one here cares if your
background is wrinkled...Get the exposure right and then you can
worry with fine details.

If you will do as everyone has suggested to you in the past, you'll
find it is rather easy to understand the basics wich you do not
understand today.

Good luck,
Rodney

MelissaM said:

I finally got a backdrop and put it to use tonight using practice
shots. I took several shots. One was 1/125 at f/8 and one that was
1/125 f/16 of which is the one I am posting in here. I wanted to
share this one.

Nevermind the wrinkles or pose. I will work on those later.

Melissa



--
http://www.pbase.com/mnewco/inboxf/4.5-5.6 E



See my profile for equipment
I have an email. Pbase supporter

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/mnewco/inboxf/4.5-5.6 E



See my profile for equipment
I have an email. Pbase supporter

Click to expand...

RodneyBlair said:

Hi Melissa,

I’m not condemning your work here. It could have been one of those
priceless moments if you had taken the time to get suitable
clothing and cleaned up the boys face just a little.

I still do not understand why you have two meter readings.

Cropping is ok after you get the hang of framing the image in your
viewfinder. If you expect people here to be able to help you, you
need to post the images as close to what you get straight out of
the camera.

PhotoShop is a great tool, but you gotta have something to work
with first. Again, you need to show here what you originally have
straight out of camera so they can help you. This particular image
looks very “fixed-up” to me on my monitor. Maybe it has this look
because it is so small.

No one here wants to see you put out fabulous images more than I
do...I think I’ve proved that to you. I swore I’d never post a
self-portrait and ask for help, but I ended up doing it mainly so
you could see how to get others to help you on this forum. Follow
the threads and see what I started out with and when instructions
were provided, I went back and did it again. I didn’t end up with
professional quality images, but I did learn something and I did
improve and you can follow the progress.

There is another here who is doing about the same as you. He posts
an image asking for help and gets good advice, but does nothing
with it. He’ll come back and post a similar image and you can see
that he tried nothing that was previously suggested.

Melissa, you have two simple choices here. 1. Do as everyone has
been suggesting and watch yourself evolve into a good photographer.
2. Keep explaining why you are or aren’t doing what is suggested
and continue to be a snap shooter with lots of fancy equipment. It
is your choice to make. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but that is the
simplicity of it.

Good luck,
Rodney

Click to expand...

RodneyBlair said:

Hi Melissa,

I’m not condemning your work here. It could have been one of those
priceless moments if you had taken the time to get suitable
clothing and cleaned up the boys face just a little.

I still do not understand why you have two meter readings.

Cropping is ok after you get the hang of framing the image in your
viewfinder. If you expect people here to be able to help you, you
need to post the images as close to what you get straight out of
the camera.

PhotoShop is a great tool, but you gotta have something to work
with first. Again, you need to show here what you originally have
straight out of camera so they can help you. This particular image
looks very “fixed-up” to me on my monitor. Maybe it has this look
because it is so small.

No one here wants to see you put out fabulous images more than I
do...I think I’ve proved that to you. I swore I’d never post a
self-portrait and ask for help, but I ended up doing it mainly so
you could see how to get others to help you on this forum. Follow
the threads and see what I started out with and when instructions
were provided, I went back and did it again. I didn’t end up with
professional quality images, but I did learn something and I did
improve and you can follow the progress.

There is another here who is doing about the same as you. He posts
an image asking for help and gets good advice, but does nothing
with it. He’ll come back and post a similar image and you can see
that he tried nothing that was previously suggested.

Melissa, you have two simple choices here. 1. Do as everyone has
been suggesting and watch yourself evolve into a good photographer.
2. Keep explaining why you are or aren’t doing what is suggested
and continue to be a snap shooter with lots of fancy equipment. It
is your choice to make. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but that is the
simplicity of it.

Good luck,
Rodney

Click to expand...

MelissaM said:

I finally got a backdrop and put it to use tonight using practice
shots. I took several shots. One was 1/125 at f/8 and one that was
1/125 f/16 of which is the one I am posting in here. I wanted to
share this one.

Nevermind the wrinkles or pose. I will work on those later.

Melissa



--
http://www.pbase.com/mnewco/inboxf/4.5-5.6 E



See my profile for equipment
I have an email. Pbase supporter

Click to expand...

Joe Peoples said:

RodneyBlair said:

Hi Melissa,

I’m not condemning your work here. It could have been one of those
priceless moments if you had taken the time to get suitable
clothing and cleaned up the boys face just a little.

I still do not understand why you have two meter readings.

Cropping is ok after you get the hang of framing the image in your
viewfinder. If you expect people here to be able to help you, you
need to post the images as close to what you get straight out of
the camera.

PhotoShop is a great tool, but you gotta have something to work
with first. Again, you need to show here what you originally have
straight out of camera so they can help you. This particular image
looks very “fixed-up” to me on my monitor. Maybe it has this look
because it is so small.

No one here wants to see you put out fabulous images more than I
do...I think I’ve proved that to you. I swore I’d never post a
self-portrait and ask for help, but I ended up doing it mainly so
you could see how to get others to help you on this forum. Follow
the threads and see what I started out with and when instructions
were provided, I went back and did it again. I didn’t end up with
professional quality images, but I did learn something and I did
improve and you can follow the progress.

There is another here who is doing about the same as you. He posts
an image asking for help and gets good advice, but does nothing
with it. He’ll come back and post a similar image and you can see
that he tried nothing that was previously suggested.

Melissa, you have two simple choices here. 1. Do as everyone has
been suggesting and watch yourself evolve into a good photographer.
2. Keep explaining why you are or aren’t doing what is suggested
and continue to be a snap shooter with lots of fancy equipment. It
is your choice to make. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but that is the
simplicity of it.

Good luck,
Rodney

Click to expand...

Joe Peoples writes:

From what little I've read about Melissa's posts, I've noticed that
she's become the Resident Whipping Girl, and I'm not sure why.
First of all, you can't nail Jell-O to a wall. People learn what
they want, when they want. It would be much better for you to
continue on your own journey, post the pics here, along with
comments and thoughts, and take others along with you.

As far as your comments about "proper clothing" and "cleaning up
the boy's face": There are two trains of thought concerning
portraits. One is the Mount Rushmore approach, where knowledge of
the proper head turn, brightest part of the picture, 3.72583:1
lighting ratio, comes in handy. The other is the "Slice of Life"
portrait. I LOVE the pajamas and the girl's "biker" look. If the
boy is a sloppy eater, why not mush MORE food on his face...if
that's who he is. Most of the studio portraiture you see is so
devoid of personality, the people are just another prop. The
backgrounds, which are only supposed to be "limbo" and add some
perceived depth, have become the stars of the images. Follow your
instincts, take a few risks, have some FUN.

Click to expand...

azroin said:

RodneyBlair said:

Hi Melissa,

I’m not condemning your work here. It could have been one of those
priceless moments if you had taken the time to get suitable
clothing and cleaned up the boys face just a little.

I still do not understand why you have two meter readings.

Cropping is ok after you get the hang of framing the image in your
viewfinder. If you expect people here to be able to help you, you
need to post the images as close to what you get straight out of
the camera.

PhotoShop is a great tool, but you gotta have something to work
with first. Again, you need to show here what you originally have
straight out of camera so they can help you. This particular image
looks very “fixed-up” to me on my monitor. Maybe it has this look
because it is so small.

No one here wants to see you put out fabulous images more than I
do...I think I’ve proved that to you. I swore I’d never post a
self-portrait and ask for help, but I ended up doing it mainly so
you could see how to get others to help you on this forum. Follow
the threads and see what I started out with and when instructions
were provided, I went back and did it again. I didn’t end up with
professional quality images, but I did learn something and I did
improve and you can follow the progress.

There is another here who is doing about the same as you. He posts
an image asking for help and gets good advice, but does nothing
with it. He’ll come back and post a similar image and you can see
that he tried nothing that was previously suggested.

Melissa, you have two simple choices here. 1. Do as everyone has
been suggesting and watch yourself evolve into a good photographer.
2. Keep explaining why you are or aren’t doing what is suggested
and continue to be a snap shooter with lots of fancy equipment. It
is your choice to make. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but that is the
simplicity of it.

Good luck,
Rodney

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

azroin said:

Wow What a jerk...Rodney you sound like you are getting paid for
resonding to this post...If you don't like the way this young lady
is working
then keep it to yourself...This place is about learning....you need
to learn how real pro's give advice.Your rank way of giving you
adivce make it real
plain how much of a amature your are.
Stephen

Click to expand...

azroin said:

RodneyBlair said:

Hi Melissa,

I’m not condemning your work here. It could have been one of those
priceless moments if you had taken the time to get suitable
clothing and cleaned up the boys face just a little.

I still do not understand why you have two meter readings.

Cropping is ok after you get the hang of framing the image in your
viewfinder. If you expect people here to be able to help you, you
need to post the images as close to what you get straight out of
the camera.

PhotoShop is a great tool, but you gotta have something to work
with first. Again, you need to show here what you originally have
straight out of camera so they can help you. This particular image
looks very “fixed-up” to me on my monitor. Maybe it has this look
because it is so small.

No one here wants to see you put out fabulous images more than I
do...I think I’ve proved that to you. I swore I’d never post a
self-portrait and ask for help, but I ended up doing it mainly so
you could see how to get others to help you on this forum. Follow
the threads and see what I started out with and when instructions
were provided, I went back and did it again. I didn’t end up with
professional quality images, but I did learn something and I did
improve and you can follow the progress.

There is another here who is doing about the same as you. He posts
an image asking for help and gets good advice, but does nothing
with it. He’ll come back and post a similar image and you can see
that he tried nothing that was previously suggested.

Melissa, you have two simple choices here. 1. Do as everyone has
been suggesting and watch yourself evolve into a good photographer.
2. Keep explaining why you are or aren’t doing what is suggested
and continue to be a snap shooter with lots of fancy equipment. It
is your choice to make. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but that is the
simplicity of it.

Good luck,
Rodney

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Member said:

As far as your comments about "proper clothing" and "cleaning up
the boy's face": There are two trains of thought concerning
portraits. One is the Mount Rushmore approach, where knowledge of
the proper head turn, brightest part of the picture, 3.72583:1
lighting ratio, comes in handy. The other is the "Slice of Life"
portrait. I LOVE the pajamas and the girl's "biker" look. If the
boy is a sloppy eater, why not mush MORE food on his face...if
that's who he is. Most of the studio portraiture you see is so
devoid of personality, the people are just another prop. The
backgrounds, which are only supposed to be "limbo" and add some
perceived depth, have become the stars of the images. Follow your
instincts, take a few risks, have some FUN.

Click to expand...

MelissaM said:

I finally got a backdrop and put it to use tonight using practice
shots. I took several shots. One was 1/125 at f/8 and one that was
1/125 f/16 of which is the one I am posting in here. I wanted to
share this one.

Nevermind the wrinkles or pose. I will work on those later.

Melissa



--
http://www.pbase.com/mnewco/inboxf/4.5-5.6 E



See my profile for equipment
I have an email. Pbase supporter

Click to expand...

RodneyBlair said:

The link to the original file is below. The file is large for slow
connections.

http://www.pbase.com/image/26229822/original

Rodney

Click to expand...

Member said:

First of all Joe, I was not aiming for posing and I asked the kids to sit down long enough for me to take a picture using this backdrop. Posing and kids getting dressed up for practice pictures is not what I want for now. I am aiming for exposure and DOF. These kids are not too patient to want to sit for more than one or two pictures. I can't pose them get them to sit still because they won't. I'm lucky to have them them for a few minutes so I do what I can when I can and that is good enough for me for now. Joe Peoples wrote:

RodneyBlair said:

Hi Melissa,

I’m not condemning your work here. It could have been one of those
priceless moments if you had taken the time to get suitable
clothing and cleaned up the boys face just a little.

I still do not understand why you have two meter readings.

Cropping is ok after you get the hang of framing the image in your
viewfinder. If you expect people here to be able to help you, you
need to post the images as close to what you get straight out of
the camera.

PhotoShop is a great tool, but you gotta have something to work
with first. Again, you need to show here what you originally have
straight out of camera so they can help you. This particular image
looks very “fixed-up” to me on my monitor. Maybe it has this look
because it is so small.

No one here wants to see you put out fabulous images more than I
do...I think I’ve proved that to you. I swore I’d never post a
self-portrait and ask for help, but I ended up doing it mainly so
you could see how to get others to help you on this forum. Follow
the threads and see what I started out with and when instructions
were provided, I went back and did it again. I didn’t end up with
professional quality images, but I did learn something and I did
improve and you can follow the progress.

There is another here who is doing about the same as you. He posts
an image asking for help and gets good advice, but does nothing
with it. He’ll come back and post a similar image and you can see
that he tried nothing that was previously suggested.

Melissa, you have two simple choices here. 1. Do as everyone has
been suggesting and watch yourself evolve into a good photographer.
2. Keep explaining why you are or aren’t doing what is suggested
and continue to be a snap shooter with lots of fancy equipment. It
is your choice to make. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but that is the
simplicity of it.

Good luck,
Rodney

Click to expand...

Joe Peoples writes:

From what little I've read about Melissa's posts, I've noticed that
she's become the Resident Whipping Girl, and I'm not sure why.
First of all, you can't nail Jell-O to a wall. People learn what
they want, when they want. It would be much better for you to
continue on your own journey, post the pics here, along with
comments and thoughts, and take others along with you.

As far as your comments about "proper clothing" and "cleaning up
the boy's face": There are two trains of thought concerning
portraits. One is the Mount Rushmore approach, where knowledge of
the proper head turn, brightest part of the picture, 3.72583:1
lighting ratio, comes in handy. The other is the "Slice of Life"
portrait. I LOVE the pajamas and the girl's "biker" look. If the
boy is a sloppy eater, why not mush MORE food on his face...if
that's who he is. Most of the studio portraiture you see is so
devoid of personality, the people are just another prop. The
backgrounds, which are only supposed to be "limbo" and add some
perceived depth, have become the stars of the images. Follow your
instincts, take a few risks, have some FUN.

Click to expand...

Melanie Kipp said:

azroin said:

Wow What a jerk...Rodney you sound like you are getting paid for
resonding to this post...If you don't like the way this young lady
is working
then keep it to yourself...This place is about learning....you need
to learn how real pro's give advice.Your rank way of giving you
adivce make it real
plain how much of a amature your are.
Stephen

Click to expand...

--
Please visit me at:
http://www.caughtintimephotography.com

Click to expand...

MelissaM said:

Melanie Kipp said:

azroin said:

Wow What a jerk...Rodney you sound like you are getting paid for
resonding to this post...If you don't like the way this young lady
is working
then keep it to yourself...This place is about learning....you need
to learn how real pro's give advice.Your rank way of giving you
adivce make it real
plain how much of a amature your are.
Stephen

Click to expand...

--
Please visit me at:
http://www.caughtintimephotography.com

Click to expand...

--
http://www.pbase.com/mnewco/inboxf/4.5-5.6 E



See my profile for equipment
I have an email. Pbase supporter

Click to expand...

MelissaM said:

I think you need to back off from condeming me to other members. I
get really tired of people like you that think you are so perfect
yourself. No one is a fast learner and photography, lighting, DOF
etc is a slow process for me. I don't practice everyday like you
must do because I have 4 children to raise. You started somewhere
once too and maybe it wasn't a learning curve for you but it is for
me and you coming in and talking bad about me to other members such

Click to expand...