Me, My Girls, & My New 40D!!

This is my first post here so let me briefly introduce myself. If you don't care about all this just ignore it. It won't hurt my feelings any but I feel kinda funny just throwing up a coule of photos without at least an introduction.

I have been reading this forum for almost a year now. Joined a couple of weeks ago but haven't posted until now.

I have been "into" photography intermittently for about 25 years as an occassional hobby. I remember my father giving me my first SLR when I was 9 years old. Completely manual. No such thing as auto or "priority". Manual film advance, manual settings, everything. I even had a hand-held light meter because I had no TTL metering! During the 1980s I lusted after a Canon AE-1 or Canon A1. But back then I was poor. Finally in the mid 1990s I got a Canon EOS Elan. That was a different world for me. About a year ago I finally went to digital and got a Rebel XTi. It was a "cheap" way to get into digital and see if I could stand it. Wasn't long before I wanted to upgrade. I looked at the 5D for a long time and really wanted it badly. But then along came the 40D. It had so many great features that I wanted. Besides, I already had a couple of EF-S lenses so why should I convert over to full frame? So I just recently acquired a new Canon EOS 40D and sold the XTi to a coworker.

Now I casually shoot different things: my family, some landscapes, a bit of macro.

I wanted to post a couple of photos of my two girls taken with my new beautiful 40D. These were taken rather quickly after returning home from Trick-or-Treating. They dressed up as a Southern Belle and Sleeping Beauty for Halloween. They are 5 and 3 years old respectively.

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Welcome!
You've got some beautiful girls there.
I love #2, despite some hot spots on the white dress and umbrella. What kind of lighting did you use on that?
#1 is cute too, maybe the pose would have been a bit better if it wasn't one of those "stop and snap" deals but I know how that goes with kids excited to go trick or treating, mine wouldn't pose for me either!
Look forward seeing more from you in the future!

Thanks for the kind words!
Lighting: I had two Vivitar 285HVs. One set on camera left bounced into silver umbrella on I believe 1/4 power manual and one on camera right shot through white satin umbrella on 1/2 power. I often leave that setup in the basement and drag the children over for a shot or two.
I did adjust the exposure a bit on the white dress to make it REALLY bright white and may have overdone it.

ChucklesKY wrote in post #4281016
Thanks for the kind words!
Lighting: I had two Vivitar 285HVs. One set on camera left bounced into silver umbrella on I believe 1/4 power manual and one on camera right shot through white satin umbrella on 1/2 power. I often leave that setup in the basement and drag the children over for a shot or two.
I did adjust the exposure a bit on the white dress to make it REALLY bright white and may have overdone it.

Probably the processing that did it then if you adjusted it to make it really white. How did you adjust it if you don't mind me asking?
Its not bright all over, if you follow the handle of the umbrella up to it, the section over the "handle" is hot. And then the part under her arm and over towards her "butt" is hot. But the rest looks fine.
Still a nice pic and my favorite, she looks like a doll...both of them do.

TSEE wrote in post #4281069
Probably the processing that did it then if you adjusted it to make it really white. How did you adjust it if you don't mind me asking?
Its not bright all over, if you follow the handle of the umbrella up to it, the section over the "handle" is hot. And then the part under her arm and over towards her "butt" is hot. But the rest looks fine.
Still a nice pic and my favorite, she looks like a doll...both of them do.

Man, you're more observant than me on my own photos!
I didn't do anything fancy really. I just slightly played with the exposure and brightness in PS3 Bridge then a slight tweak to the shadows/highlights. But I can't remember exactly. I usually just do a bunch of stuff until it looks good to me. It may be more of the lighting with the flashes and the umbrellas in the basement too. I don't know.

Welcome to POTN!

You have a couple of gorgeous little girls there, and they photograph very nicely! I really like the second one. I love that pose!

I like it

Welcome to the POTN ChucklesKY.

Nice shots agree with TSEE on it being a little hot. How far are the girls from the backdrop, maybe move them out just a bit? Just getting started in portrait stuff myself so I can't really give you sound advice other than from what I have read and learned here. Good luck to you.

I grew up just across the river from Ashland, where abouts do you roam in the bluegrass?

burntpixel wrote in post #4281351
Welcome to the POTN ChucklesKY.

Nice shots agree with TSEE on it being a little hot. How far are the girls from the backdrop, maybe move them out just a bit? Just getting started in portrait stuff myself so I can't really give you sound advice other than from what I have read and learned here. Good luck to you.

I grew up just across the river from Ashland, where abouts do you roam in the bluegrass?

After I did those I started thinking that if I moved them out from the backdrop it would give better separation and contrast. Live and learn I guess. BTW, that's a $5 Lowes paper drop cloth backdrop.:o

I roam just north of Lexington near Paris, Kentucky.

They're both adorable shots and girls. Number 1 seems a little flat. You might pump up the contrast a bit on that one. Great expressions both. Beautiful first posts.

ChucklesKY wrote in post #4281372
I roam just north of Lexington near Paris, Kentucky.

Beautiful country!

Just a thought Take your southern bell out to one of the horse farms, have her lean against one of the miles of white fence, shoot from a bit of side view with a large aperture to where the fence fades off into the background. Might make for a pretty nice shot.

The nifty-fifty lens would/will do a great job of this.

burntpixel wrote in post #4283184
Beautiful country!

Just a thought Take your southern bell out to one of the horse farms, have her lean against one of the miles of white fence, shoot from a bit of side view with a large aperture to where the fence fades off into the background. Might make for a pretty nice shot.

The nifty-fifty lens would/will do a great job of this.

Hey, thanks. Great idea!! I have the nifty fifty and there are billions of miles of horse fence all around my house. Heck, there's some of the rare white fence within walking distance of me at an equine center. I love this forum so far.

I figured you might be close to some of that fence, seems like it goes forever. Be sure to post your results. I have certainly learned quite a bit from this forum.

ChucklesKY wrote in post #4284923
Hey, thanks. Great idea!! I have the nifty fifty and there are billions of miles of horse fence all around my house. Heck, there's some of the rare white fence within walking distance of me at an equine center. I love this forum so far.

That's a great idea

Cute shots, and 2 very cute daughters. One thing about muslin, don't store it folded up. Bunch it up, irregular wrinkles are more fun and not so deep. And there you were trying to be neat

Welcome to POTN!

ChucklesKY wrote in post #4281141
Man, you're more observant than me on my own photos!
I didn't do anything fancy really. I just slightly played with the exposure and brightness in PS3 Bridge then a slight tweak to the shadows/highlights. But I can't remember exactly. I usually just do a bunch of stuff until it looks good to me. It may be more of the lighting with the flashes and the umbrellas in the basement too. I don't know.

LOL blame YEARS on POTN on that. Sorry. I've learned to nitpick while being here, its a bad bad habit.
I don't have PS# Bridge so not sure what those steps would do.
But play with it some more and see if you can bring down those hot spots, otherwise its a nice photo. And I agree with the other poster about doing the southern belle photo by a fence...sounds like a great photo to me too!