im new help, crit, and advise

Goodness! How many more are you going to post? Give people a chance to catch up for goodness sake

David

Lol. That's all for now, I had some sizing issues and after one post I wanted to make sure they were viewable. I was under the impression that you could post 1024x1024, some pics I could post close to that and some not what so ever. Any Idea why and what max size is?

Cropping that picture was something I didn't even think about, thanks!

Yes, focusing is my bane at the moment. I will try focusing on random objects. Im using manual mode so it is a little newer to me focusing on my on as opposed to auto. I do have problems telling if something it really well into focus while looking through my viewfinder, being its so small. Does anyone else have this issue or just me? Any suggestions on that front?

Thanks

What kind of camera do you have? I use an XSI and I love to use liveview. You can zoom in x10 (that's why I asked the camera) and it's a lot easier to see what the focus is. I rarely use all manual all the time, as far as focus goes. It takes so long. I usually AF and check in LV a few times. You'll get the hang of it

The picture of your daughter: I would have moved her toward the camera well away from the green door so she's filling the frame. If you want a full body shot I'd have rotated the camera into "portrait" mode. Then: choosing as wide an aperture as possible would make the door out of focus, and direct the viewer's attention onto your daughter. For outside portrait shots you want your subject to be nearer to the camera than they are to the background.

Why are you using manual focus? When you select a single point - assuming you have a DSLR and select a single point, it works really well for the type of photographs you're taking. Without a special focusing screen, manual focus through the viewfinder is a non-starter. You can use live mode an the screen, but that also is difficult outdoors.

I have another One or two with her nearer, but doors stayed in focus, aperrue on 18-55 is 4-5.6 I believe. No matter what I adjust I can't seem the get that bokeh fade.

I'm using xsi. Haven't used pve view in so long I forgot it has it...gonna have to ck that out.

You'll get it, just keep shooting. Definitely for portraits, you want to be closer. Try liveview if you're unsure of your focus, and like Frugal said, def set your af points when you need to.

With the lens you have you're not going to see the really blurry backgrounds that some people post here. However you can get enough blur by getting your subject as close to the camera as possible and as far away from the background. That's going to limit you to waist up shots, but personally I prefer those. The whole goal is to direct your attention directly to your subject. You shouldn't have to do a where's waldo. (sorry that was a joke)

Ok' maybe I'm confused,lol, but I thought I had been reading to use manual focus, but after reviewing notes I made that is for the moon and stars I guess. As far as setting af pints, care to explain? Don't have a clue about this, first I've heard of it.

Thanks for all the help,

Resize the original to 1024 width and keep under 150KB and you can upload them here no prob.

They are all out of focus and blurry except the landscape shot. Just work on that.

choose a single focus point in the camera, generally folks use the center point, instead of having it focus itself. Remember to use fast shutter speeds to help keep things focused.

Ok thanks, will try out tomorrow

Here's how I would frame a full length image of your daughter, though I'd go for more of a closeup but this pose doesn't suit that:

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Gotcha! Thanks, that lok great, cept for me being totally out of focus.lol