Photographing Children

[fotogrl_08]

I have been trying to get some quality photos of my grandaughter, but I keep ending up with mediocre photos. What can I do (and I am going to have to do it with the only two lenses in sig) to take better photos of her?? Or will I only be able to take snapshot quality with these lenses?

[tonydee]

The 40D is capable of great photos with any lens. I think the main problem here is lighting... strong direct sunlight has very high contrast and will blow highlights while leaving the shadow areas flat, as in the photo above. Try shooting under the shade of a building or tree, or in a bright indoor area, or using your flash for fill (which is a kick arse flash compared to the rest of your equipment...!). Kids are tough because it's hard to get them and keep them where it's good to photograph them, but hang in there and some shoots will turn out beaut. Eye contact's good too... get down low and you've the best chance. Cheers, Tony

[fotogrl_08]

This was on her 1st birthday at TGIFriday's, but it's still only snapshot quality. I will keep trying:confused: Thank you Tony for the advice. I appreciate any and all advice. Hopefully someday I will be able to post one with the quality I have seen of others here!

[ArvThePie]

To make it a little more dramatic, try shooting wide open ,this was f5.6 @ 47mm, see what that brings you @ F/3.5.;)

[advaitin]

No. 1 definitely has a white balance problem. Perhaps you had taken it off AWB setting by accident?

Plus your exposure is weighted to the shadows burning out some highlights. What looks great on the review of the led is often way different once you see it on the monitor.

For that scene you might have kept your highlight warning on and adjusted your -/+ until the flashing warning was gone.

For the second shot, vertical hold, wide open (use your AV, rather than P) and get lower and closer.

[ArvThePie]

How about this?

[mullkv]

How about this?

Thats a nice conversion.

[fotogrl_08]

ArvThePie~ BRAVO!!! I like that a LOT. Did you just convert it to BW or did you do more?

[ArvThePie]

I just played with the standard canon DPP, sharpened a little, minimised saturation, played with contrast a tad.;)Glad you like it.

[fotogrl_08]

One more....and can anyone tell me why there is so much distortion when I upload? I know this was only 92kb but even at 150 which is the max that is allowed they are awfullly distorted on the web. Do I need to change the settings in my camera first? They start off 3888 by 2592 dimmension and 4 or more MB, and then I have to keep reducing the pixels to fall into the 150kb limit. So sorry to bother with all these questions...I just reallywant to figure this out.

[fotogrl_08]

so sorry, I just can't put this to bed tonight:oops: But gonna have to quit cause hubby is stomping around mumbling something abut how he thought that getting me all this photography gear would inspire me to devote myself to satisfying his two most primal needs and thus far all I do is shoot or edit and completly forget about him :)

[tonydee]

Re "distortion" when preparing the files for upload... sounds like you're setting the JPEG quality factor too high, forcing you to save in very low resolution (horiz vs vertical pixels size). What I do is resize to something reasonable - say 800 pixels on the longer axis though POTN now accepts 1024 - and then change the quality until the size is under 150kb. This is easy with the GIMP software, as I can click the "preview" checkbox and it will tell me the size of file it's generating, as well as show me the quality. The process may not be so streamlined in other software, but generally a quality factor of 75 should look ok and be well under the 150kb mark (it does depend on the particular photo).

Your hubby thought a camera would help satisfy his 2 most primal needs? He wants to be a model? And prove his manhood by lugging your heavy backpack full of kit? What a man... ;-).

A lot of the pics exhibit the same issue with light sources. Try to get something where the light is falling gently across the face (giving it a more 3D look), rather than strong light on the back of the head.

Best of luck,
Tony

[F4 Cyborg]

tinkering whilst awaiting my morning coffee.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3550/3374829079_899094dfbb_o.jpg

[fotogrl_08]

Cyborg that does look better. I guess I am going to( 1.) learn more about my 40D( 2. )learn how to use my photo editing software and (3.) keep trying :) Re: Tony, To have a willing model that is also willing to carry my gear.........I should be so lucky!!!!
Thanks to all! Going out today to try and shoot some better pictures!

[chopper5654]

from what i remember, the higher the contrast in the scene, the more you will like conversion to B/W. i would try to take some of the blue out in pp, but it may end up a bit pink like the editing Cyborg did....although it looks better.

with cluttered backgrounds, like the TGIF pic, try to shoot as wide open as possible. even f/3.5 may not be enough without distance to the objects in the background, but it's worth a shot. i'm not great, but the main thing i see in "snapshots" is it looks like the photographer just grabbed a camera and started clicking. instead, the pros seem to only take shots when the lighting, backgrounds, subjects, etc, look right. its an experience thing that takes plenty of practice. and, through a lot of ho-hum pics, you will start to see what you are looking for before you even pop the cover off the lens. try different angles....get lower, go profile, go to the other profile...all the while, looking into the background for colors/objects that would enhance the photo. in other words, sit on the other side of her and see if the background doesnt improve. squat down and look up at the new background the ceiling would create. etc, etc. most importantly, play around with all the angles and HAVE FUN.

if you are indoors a lot, like restaurants and gyms, i would look into saving for the nifty fifty. something that opens to f/2, or better, would really help to blur the backgrounds. and the nifty-fifty is still running under $100 last time i checked, so it shouldn't completely blow a budget.

[fotogrl_08]

back at it

[ArvThePie]

Deffinately an improvement, well done, keep going like me i take 30-40 pictures of a flower just to seive through and find one or two you can feel good about.
Try changing metering to evaluate!
And lower your F/number so its wide open.
Tv(Shutter Speed)
1/250Sec.
Av(Aperture Value)
F7.1
Metering Modes
Spot
Exposure Compensation
0
ISO Speed
100
Lens
-
Focal Length
105.0 mm
Image size
249 x 360
Image Quality
-
Flash
On

Its a great hobby isn't it.
Ps, your little girl is beautiful, both me and my wife think so.;)

[fotogrl_08]

Thank you for your comments and encouragement!!! I still have much to learn, but seeing improvement keeps me going :)

[tharmsen]

I'm a big fan of artificial lighting. Outdoor shots are fun, but I always seem to catch those special moments sitting around in the living room after work. So I have a camera close by at all times. :)

Here's a couple of my more recent favorites.

http://www.intempusphotography.com/photos/487646835_CysU7-L.jpg

http://www.intempusphotography.com/photos/487646612_NrfeJ-L.jpg

http://www.intempusphotography.com/photos/489491520_4ku7J-L.jpg

[fotogrl_08]

Awwwww Tharmsen, What a cutie you have! Controlled lighting may be a lot eaiser to work with! But she just loves to be outdoors...and so do I LOL :) We are gonna keep trying lots of different stuff.

[Flo]

To me the shots are really sharpened too much and the saturation is super heavy?( the OP)

What setting do you have the camera set at? ( as per Landscape, Portrait, etc?) It was recently pointed out to me to use Faithful instead of the others until we master shooting RAW..and it made a world of difference.

[ArvThePie]

Tharmsen, man that first one made me spit out my chicken Pie!!:D:D
So funny, and i can emagine just a few seconds with them lovely little hands caked with food all over your camera and lens as well:eek::p

[tharmsen]

Tharmsen, man that first one made me spit out my chicken Pie!!:D:D
So funny, and i can emagine just a few seconds with them lovely little hands caked with food all over your camera and lens as well:eek::p
LOL, yeah... that pic cracks me up too. Every time I look at it I laugh. We call him "mister hands" right now because those little hands are on EVERYTHING. :)

[nwa2]

Kids are hard to capture and also very easy. Hard to get what YOU wanted, easy to get something very spontaneous.

Your first shot was done in manual WB and a custom program mode. Turn WB to auto, and shoot in Av. Get down to your grand daughters level, or like the one in the tree shoot from below. Then just work on your AF technique and see what happens, but you have to be fast with kids.

[John Photography]

here's a few i've shot...love snapping pix of children, so raw.

http://johnphotography.zenfolio.com/img/v8/p627853665-3.jpg
http://johnphotography.zenfolio.com/img/v8/p814850738-3.jpg
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh228/jsalangs/Christmas%20NY%20Day%204/IMG_6511.jpg

[fotogrl_08]

I have the camera set on portrait. But I have wanted to try out Faithful because I have heard the same about it.

[Flo]

I have the camera set on portrait. But I have wanted to try out Faithful because I have heard the same about it.

Give it a try.it changes the whole saturation levels.;)

[jjdurrant]

I'm a big fan of artificial lighting. Outdoor shots are fun, but I always seem to catch those special moments sitting around in the living room after work. So I have a camera close by at all times. :)

Here's a couple of my more recent favorites.

http://www.intempusphotography.com/photos/487646835_CysU7-L.jpg

http://www.intempusphotography.com/photos/487646612_NrfeJ-L.jpg

http://www.intempusphotography.com/photos/489491520_4ku7J-L.jpg




ha.. that first shot had my entire family rolling.. superb!