My second post...LOL

[Minkmommy]

Here is my very handsome husband....in black and white. I love my 20D! I used my 35-105 (I have two lenses...) and the B&W mode. I think it really brings out the person in the picture. Any thoughts? I also plan on doing some personal pix....any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

No more posting now, am going to bed.....:D

[ayotnoms]

The photo looks a little over sharpened on my screen.
You did capture a nice expression on his face however :-)

[Minkmommy]

Hmm....I used the microsoft photo editor to birighten it up so I could see it on my monitor. Might be time for a new monitor....

Thanks!

[RichardtheSane]

Hmm....I used the microsoft photo editor to birighten it up so I could see it on my monitor. Might be time for a new monitor....

Thanks!
I would consider not using the microsoft photo editor...

Very nice shot though

[Bama]

Nice expression....

Should it not be a better picture if the top of the head is not cropped out?

Thank you
Bama

[KevC]

Try gimp! It's hard to learn, but very powerful :) And free, till you can get some money for photoshop.

[Minkmommy]

GIMP: open source photo editor? Will look into that one. I notice you said *until* I can get photoshop...so this would be a stop-gap not a replacement?

I see what you mean about not cropping the top of the head out. I hadn't thought of it, I tend to try to do as much cropping for my shot while taking it. I was looking at the expression more than the edges of the frame...

Thanks for the compliments, all!:)

[KevC]

Yes, GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program. You can download a Windows or OSX build I believe.

http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

It's a very powerful program, but I am already used to using Photoshop so I can't really be bothered to learn it :)

I believe it's up to you to decide if it's a replacement or a stop-gap. It very well can be a replacement, many people use it. But there are so many plug-ins and filters online for Photoshop and not GIMP, you might just wanna move to Photoshop.

But since it's open source, you have no reason not to try it ;)

[cerveza4lu]

One tip: You might want to be careful about too much in-camera cropping. Because of the formats used by different picture sizes, a perfectly cropped photo for a 5x7 might result in losing some of the same picture for an 8x10. Trust me I've learned this the hard way! Alot of people reccomend leaving some extra space around your subject for flexibility.

BTW, great capture of his expression, it feels very 'natural'.

[exposingmyself]

minkmommy: welcome to the forums! :D

i agree with cerveza4lu about capturing more via the viewfinder which will allow for cropping later but sometimes thats hard to do esp like you said I was looking at the expression more than the edges of the frame... sometimes it really is about the capturing the moment.

the glaze and his smile look very natural. i love the natural light and bw. i like it as is even with cropped head. better a cropped head then cropped chin-way i see it.

[dsze]

Nice expression. If you like B&W, (when you get PS or something) you might try getting away from the in-camera B&W setting and shoot everything in A.RGB. Then you can process the B&W more to individual taste in post processing. ...and you've still got the original color version.

-daniel

[Minkmommy]

A.RGB?? Please explain? I am not deep into digital except for the instant gratification :-). My last camera was the A2E I cleaned houses for...before that was my first camera, my trusty Pentax K1000! I have been dragged into the technological revolution by necessity and impatience.LOL.

Thanks for all the input! Looks like I will be taking my good friend up on the rest of the Photoshop lessons after all.........Is it better than the edition that came with the camera? The full Photoshop edition?

[Minkmommy]

I figured out the ARGB thing. I set my camera to that and will start playing with photoshop. I took lots of pictures at our local parade yesterday and got some nice fireworks pictures too. It's nice getting back into photography....guess I have missed being behind the camera.

[DavidEB]

One of the discs that came with your 20D contains photoshop elements 2, which is excellent. Much easier to learn than GIMP, and most of what you need. The upgrade to PS-E3 is cheap.

nice photo.

[Andy_T]

Minkmommy,

welcome to the forum!

Apart from using Microsoft Photo Editor and Open Source software, you might consider examining the disks that came with your 20D.

There should be some version of Photoshop (e.g. Elements or Limited edition) included ... a very powerful and reasonable piece of software.

While I like the tight crop, it might be a good idea to not too tightly crop in the camera, but rather later (as was mentioned).

Best regards,
Andy