New Canon 300D Owner Needs Input

[TechKnowBabble]

This is one of the first shots taken with my 300D. I know I obviously need more lighting. Need to buy a small portrait/studio setup. Is that the reason why the photo quality isn't very great. It's set on large for file size, taken with all automatic settings for ease. Used a Sigma 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens. Used a Quantaray shoe mount flash (not certain of model) which was bounced off the ceiling.

http://home.comcast.net/~techknowbabble/chriseaster1.jpg

Thanks for your wisdom!

Nikki

[OviV]

Although you can definitely get better results with better lighting, your picture can be improved greatly in post processing. Take a look at my version below. All I did was some curves in PS CS and some shadow highlight adjustments. I also did some Unsharp Mask. The picture you posted, however, is of very low quality (resolution wise). I imagine you resized it to post it. If you did not then you are not shooting at a resolution that will work well for editing and printing. I suggest that you shoot at the highest resolution available for JPG to start with and start looking into shooting RAW since this will offer the greatest flexibility for post-processing. You will see blotchiness in the my version of your picture, this is due to artifacts caused by JPG compression.

http://www.shareapicture.com/vsalbum/getpic.aspx?fld=\OviV\Misc&pic=chriseaster1.jpg&OV =0

[stopbath]

The image looks like it was underexposed, then made brighter through a brightness control resulting in an image with no deep blacks. To compensate under exosure, use the curves or levels tool.

Also, the back ground here is dark, that could have monkeyed with the exposure the camera and flash figured was perfect. You might want to reshoot with mid tone subject and not bounce the flash (perhaps the flash does not have enough power to bounce at the ISO required...) Try shooting at a higher ISO...

The manual for the flash will tell you the working distance for the flash.