Playing with my camera - Part 2

 

More playing with my camera.  I love the pictures of the flowers, but my favorite is this last one.  

What about you?  

Which ones do you like or not like and why?

Ashes was enjoying the tree, and I was enjoying the setting sun and my camera.  :)  

Feel free to tell me what you think...

Family Photos

I'm definitely still learning about photography, and again I thought I would share with you my errors and fixes.  :)  Below you'll find some before and after photos, along with descriptions of what I'll do differently next time.

One thing I will note, taking photos of your own family is very difficult, especially if you want to be in the photos.  I've got a friend that I'm going to ask to do my photos this summer, to hopefully get some better shots.  I'm also about ready to start experimenting and learning with indoor lighting (I've been setting money aside to buy a starter studio kit), but I have an intense love of natural light photography, so I'm sure that will continue to be my favorite type of photography.

The examples above are all of the un-processed shots I had to choose from.  As we needed fairly level ground for this shot, and we were on a hill, I chose to shoot with the children leaning on a slight upward angle (so they wouldn't tumble backward).  Unfortunately, this meant that I would have the sidewalk and a portion of the building in the background.  I went into this portion of the shoot knowing that it would need processing (which I typically try not to do, as I prefer to attempt to perfect my ability to shoot without needing post-shoot processing).  When shooting portraits, especially with so many subjects, I tend to shoot 7 or 8 frames for each pose, in hopes of catching the best expressions in a single photo.  The shot I chose is below:

Shot with my Canon Rebel Ti1 in automatic portrait mode, I chose the photo with the best expression on everyone's face.  I cropped in as close as possible to keep all of the children in the shot and focus on their faces.  I then set the white-balance, and noticed a problem... because I was shooting in portrait mode, it narrows the depth of field, which is preferred in a portrait (blurring the background).  The unwanted side effect of this is that not all of the faces were in sharp focus.  That means this will make a nice 3x5, maybe even 5x7, but it will not look nearly as good as an 8x10, which I was hoping for.  Next time I will make certain that when I am hand-holding the camera (i.e., not in the shot), I will use an aperature-priority mode that will allow me more flexibility to control the depth of field.  I decided to use a selective un-sharp mask to sharpen and clarify my daughter's face.  I then used the clone tool to remove the sidewalk that remained in the background.  The result was a nice photo of all of my children, along with my new grandbaby.

Reviews of more photos to come.  Let me know if you like to read these things.  I've been rather quiet lately, getting used to working full-time again, enjoying spring break with our kiddos, and homeschooling.  But if you enjoy reading about the photos, getting tips and tricks from someone learning along the way, please let me know.