Childrens Portraits

[Remorhaz]

I've lurked in this forum for a while since I purchased my first ever D-SLR (the Nikon D90) about 9 months ago.

I am but a mere amateur (photography is a very enjoyable hobby of mine (becoming more serious all the time however ). I'm becoming more and more interested in the creative aspect of my photography and increasingly enjoying creating photos and try to do something (photographically speaking) more and more often. I like to learn new things and try out and experiment with new ideas and techniques - hey it's almost all new to me

Being an IT person I feel I'm now reasonably well versed in the theory - technical aspects of techniques and so forth (blogs, books, training materials, podcasts, forums, etc) however there's a vast bridge between that and actual good photography and only practice and feedback appears to solve that loop.

I don't actually know any other "real" photographers in person and I'm probably at that stage now where I'd really appreciate some serious constructive criticism of my work and also suggestions of things to do and try – or even things not to do (from an impartial eye so to speak ).

I believe the thing I tend to generally photograph the most are candid shots and impromptu portraiture of children doing what they do (having a number of my own and a hundred other willing participants in friends, etc - however I'll have to limit the photos to ones predominantly of my own family) so I'll start there but if you kind folks would indulge me I'll post some other threads which include other types of shots later...

Tamron 90mm f/2.8 - 1/2500 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 200
Cremorne Point in Sydney (taken the day after I got this lens)


Tamron 90mm f/2.8 - 1/250 sec @ f/4, ISO 200


Nikon 50mm f/1.8 - 1/400 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 200
Running through the Autumn Leaves


Tamron 90mm f/2.8 - 1/250 sec @ f/4, ISO 200


If anyone is interested in jumping ahead and looking at a more varied range of my photos you can of course check out...
My Personal Blog: http://www.rc.au.net/blog/ - I try to post something new (with photos) at least once a week.
My Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rodneycampbell/

[sirhc55]

What can one say? These just WORK. Class yourself as a semi- pro from now on

[Marvin]

I agree. I think the last one is lovely. I am a bit distracted by the rock (?) in the top right of the first but the subject is very engaging. I love the third as well.

[aim54x]

These work well...I would however look at warming up the images a bit just to remove the cold cast they seem to have. Also, #2 and #3 can do with a bit more DOF.

Great stuff!

[Remorhaz]

Thanks - yes I was wondering about the lack of depth of field in the one with the girls running towards me through the leaves - it was more a happy accident that it was my daughter (the one further away) which ended up in focus and the other child out than actual good planning. Since they were running at me I figured I needed a decent shutter speed to freeze them and this lead to shooting more wide open. Now that I've talked myself into seeing it this way I kind of like it that way (puts more focus on my daughter) but I do get that it might have worked overall better if they were both in "focus".

I do have another version of the second pic where all three of my girls are within the field of focus (which I had printed on canvas) which I'll post up here later - but I kind of like the very close framing of this one better.

Thanks all for the feedback

[gstark]

Hi, and welcome.

I'm glad to see that you're coming out of the closet, so to speak.

an IT person

You will feel right at home here; many other members are in the IT field as well.

however there's a vast bridge between that and actual good photography and only practice and feedback appears to solve that loop.

That's about the size of it. Understanding the theory is one thing, but being able to put that theory to the test, in a real world situation, is an entirely different ball of wax.

The more that you shoot and post, and accept and act upon the feedback, then the better you should become.

I don't actually know any other "real" photographers in person

Well, that's very easily cured. We have a number of different things happening this Saturday, and you're welcome to attend any and/or all of them. You'll get to meet other members here, play with some interesting toys, and I would be very surprised and disappointed if you didn't learn heaps.

Check the calendar section on the portal page for details of each of these.

and I'm probably at that stage now where I'd really appreciate some serious constructive criticism of my work and also suggestions of things to do and try – or even things not to do (from an impartial eye so to speak ).

Let's start with something that's not so obvious. I see you have the Tamron 90mm f/2.8, which is truly a great lens, as well as a Nikon 50mm f/1.8. Both are great lenses, and fast. You've made some good choices there.

One of the advantages of a fast lens is that the aperture can be opened up wide. That's also often a disadvantage, if you don't understand how its features and limitations affect your images.

Having a fast lens means that you can open the lens up to f/2.8 or f/4 - as you've done in these images - but that narrows the range available to you in terms of depth of field. Let's look at the third image here, and we can see that the girl on the lh side is pretty much dead centre of the image. She also seems, to me, to be in sharp focus, and that makes sense, as the centre of the image is probably where your focus point was set.

The problem here is that the girl on the rh side is a foot or two closer to you, and as such, she has moved beyond the boundaries of the depth of field that your lens provides at that distance and aperture combination; she's somewhat out of focus. A smaller aperture (f/8), coupled with higher ISO to help preserve your 1/400 shutter speed would have helped address this issue.

The downside of that is that you have also attained some great selective focus - look at the out of focus houses in the background, and the similarly OOF leaves in both the foreground and background. Stopping down the lens will remove some of that, which is also probably not desirable.

The answer? Probably best to have asked the girls to run together, in the same plane, and retain the original settings.

As others have mentioned, the wb looks a little off; I'm not one who trusts the camera'sauto wb all that much (others disagree, and that's fine) and on my cameras, even the default wb settings don't suit how I like to see my images, but that's all personal choice. Here I see images that were shot in what appears to be open cloud; I would like to see them warmed up a little. Did you shoot raw or jpg?

I'll post some other threads which include other types of shots later...

We're looking forward to seeing them.

[surenj]

These are very nice indeed.

I particularly like #2 and #3 although there are mild DOF issues.

Where is the light for #3 coming from? Looks like there is a light source from the camera left. Did you use flash?

Looking forward to your next installment.

[Remorhaz]

Where is the light for #3 coming from? Looks like there is a light source from the camera left. Did you use flash?

No flash - just taken in the afternoon (3PM) - the sun would have been to the back and slightly left of me.

[Remorhaz]

Thankyou, thankyou - this is all exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for

Let's start with something that's not so obvious. I see you have the Tamron 90mm f/2.8, which is truly a great lens, as well as a Nikon 50mm f/1.8. Both are great lenses, and fast. You've made some good choices there.

Yep - I started with the Nikon 18-200mm VRII lens (thinking that would be the only lens I'd ever use - talked myself into believing I couldn't be bothered changing/carrying lenses - blah blah blah) and was extremely happy with the results (hey I guess I was comparing it to my crappy P&S) - I'm really into selective focus and blurring out the background (and foreground) and I did already know something about photography so was quite aware of the limitations I was having in the P&S world and not being able to get the shots like I wanted - e.g. selective use of aperture combined with sensor size and focal length - i.e. the P&S having near infinite DoF!

So I was very happy with the results I was getting with the 18-200 and probably would have blindly remained so had I not decided to grab the uber cheap nifty fifty (and well things went downhill from there) - unfortunately I could see the difference in sharpness, in the level of selective focus and perhaps even the quality of the bokeh... so as I generally took portraiture and I wanted to try some macro I jumped on the Tamron 90mm (macro shots later ) and recently I bought the Sigma 8-16mm UWA - it's not so sharp but it is fun to use

My neighbour recently bought a D90 (I guess on my recommendation) and he also bought the Nikon 105mm f/2.8 macro (drool) but that does mean I'll get to use it sometimes I'm even hoping we'll get some more toys to play with soon - perhaps something with a 1.4 in it's name.

For interest I also have an SB-600 (which I havn't progressed beyond fairly basic usage) - but at some stage would be interested in practicing some strobist technique - again I've read lots (e.g. Joe McNally, Strobist and more) but not actually practiced (e.g. shoot through umbrellas, softboxes and so on)

I also use Lightroom (3 now) but don't use Photoshop or anything else.

As others have mentioned, the wb looks a little off; I'm not one who trusts the camera'sauto wb all that much (others disagree, and that's fine) and on my cameras, even the default wb settings don't suit how I like to see my images, but that's all personal choice. Here I see images that were shot in what appears to be open cloud; I would like to see them warmed up a little. Did you shoot raw or jpg?

I do shoot in RAW only and sometimes do some basic tinkering in Lightroom (WB controls, Tone controls, Cropping) but thats mostly it so far.

Just checking LR now and the WB for image 3 is as it was from camera, however the WB for image 1 & 2 I had set to Daylight in LR and image 4 again is as shot.

Here is the other version of image 2 I promised:

Tamron 90mm f/2.8 - 1/400 sec @ f/3.2, ISO 200

[aim54x]

looking pretty good!

[Alpha_7]

Hi Rodney,

Welcome to the forum - looks like you have a good knack with the kids shots that can always bit a little challenging, and looks like you've developed a good case of lens lust / GAS (gear accquistion syndrome) all on your lonesome (mine didn't hit until I joined the forum). The 1st and last shot were my pick from the original post, and your updated version of the three girls with a bit more DOF so they are all sharp is great, and I'm sure looked good on canvas!

As Gary mentioned it's not too hard to hook up with some of the local photographers if you do want to mingle ( I personally have found it one of the best ways to learn and get more out of the hobby/obsession of photography).