Pic of my wife

hey everyone, i am new here and was wondering if maybe some of you could give me some tips. New to the DSLR world. I have a Canon Rebel XT with the stock 18-55mm lens that came with it. Kinda exploring this thing. Need some opinions on my photos. Here is one of my wife. Looking for a little C & C.

for me, the crop is WAY too tight.

hawk911 wrote in post #6233786
for me, the crop is WAY too tight.

Ditto, also it appears to be soft and the focus should be on her eyes..

Well this is unedited. I haven't done anything with it...i have another pic i am about to post. Would like some feed back on it too.

Keep practicing! but in all honesty this looks too much like a snap shot. I also agree on the crop being too tight.

Here is the other one

much of flash light on face
no skin pattern
background can be softer

Hi and welcome.

I think it shows a really good idea, though there are a few things to learn in the DSLR world.

Rule number One of the Photographer Survival Guidelines, is to never photograph a loved one at a close distance with a wide angle (say 20mm or less). The distortion will cause facial 'items' to become disproportioned in the image, and put your life at risk.

Just a tip out there, take it or leave it.

Something that really helped me when I started with photography, was to look at other portrait photos. There's a really good thread in this forum "Post your wife pics" that has many great portraits. (link here: https://photography-on-the.net …light=photos+of​+your+wife )

Then, focus on a couple that you really like, and imagine what you do not see in the photo (how is the model positioned? and the sun? where is the photographer? Camera?)...

You will automatically notice some trends. Usually the portrait is above the eye-line (camera slightly higher, as if from above), distance -tough to judge- and other elements that will let you go and try again, with the idea perhaps of not just replicating the portrait you saw, but rather give it your own identity.

Anyhow, this is what has helped me most while starting out. Much like how I learned to talk, I listened, and repeated back. At first I did not know what I was doing so much, but after a few hundred times I started getting an idea of what the concept was.

Anyhow, best of luck, welcome to the world of DSLR, and post some more pics !!

hawk911 wrote in post #6233786
for me, the crop is WAY too tight.

yes thats true

and take this from me I hope to gain Admire ,,

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Thanks guys. As far cropping the pic..what program should i use for that? I have photoshop and a bunch of other programs, but don't really know how to use them. Like i said this is the first time for me on photography. I am really interested in learning this stuff and will take as much advice as i can get.

PhotoJourno wrote in post #6233852
Hi and welcome.

I think it shows a really good idea, though there are a few things to learn in the DSLR world.

Rule number One of the Photographer Survival Guidelines, is to never photograph a loved one at a close distance with a wide angle (say 20mm or less). The distortion will cause facial 'items' to become disproportioned in the image, and put your life at risk.

Just a tip out there, take it or leave it.

Something that really helped me when I started with photography, was to look at other portrait photos. There's a really good thread in this forum "Post your wife pics" that has many great portraits. (link here: https://photography-on-the.net …light=photos+of​+your+wife )

Then, focus on a couple that you really like, and imagine what you do not see in the photo (how is the model positioned? and the sun? where is the photographer? Camera?)...

You will automatically notice some trends. Usually the portrait is above the eye-line (camera slightly higher, as if from above), distance -tough to judge- and other elements that will let you go and try again, with the idea perhaps of not just replicating the portrait you saw, but rather give it your own identity.

Anyhow, this is what has helped me most while starting out. Much like how I learned to talk, I listened, and repeated back. At first I did not know what I was doing so much, but after a few hundred times I started getting an idea of what the concept was.

Anyhow, best of luck, welcome to the world of DSLR, and post some more pics !!

Thanks PhotoJourno for the tips. I will have to defnitely start playing with this stuff more. I would like to learn photoshop more, b/c i know there is a TON of stuff you can do with it. Especially now that im gonna be taking some better pics than the normal Point and Shoot stuff. I'll definitely keep practicing!

You can use photoshop, and there is a crop tool. It's a rule to learn also that you generally leave room in the original shot so you can crop later. The image size is 4x6 printable straight from the camera, but will lose parts when you crop to an 8x10 format. There are common crop sizes in your crop tool; see how the image changes when you select the different sizes.

I like #2 since you have all of her head in the shot, but as mentioned her features are distorted a bit by the proximity to you. The wife thread is good for inspriation, since you already have a willing wife.

whoami? wrote in post #6233884
Thanks guys. As far cropping the pic..what program should i use for that? I have photoshop and a bunch of other programs, but don't really know how to use them. Like i said this is the first time for me on photography. I am really interested in learning this stuff and will take as much advice as i can get.

Photoshop is the place to be. There are many other programs (Lightroom, Aperture, Elements, etc etc), but photoshop is really the standard processing program as of date. A classic, as the bard would tell us.

Advice is aplenty here in these forums. Don't be afraid to poke around, use the Search feature a lot (on the blue bar across the screen, almost to the top of the page) as there are millions of threads -I usually find 40% of my questions had already been asked by someone before me- and if in doubt, just post.

Despite being your wife, you also want to reach a level of relaxation where the neck muscles and your own camera positioning is not too weird. Funny how things are much more natural and obvious than we make them to be. Look at your wife, find her beauty, and when you are in that "Awe" moment, simply lift up the camera and take a photo. Might be too early to use flash, but natural light is usually a great ally.

thanks hawk, i'll play around with the cropping tool in photoshop. my wife loves to edit photos, so maybe i'll get her to learn this stuff as well.

I would suggest any book by Scott Kelby on whatever version of PS you have as a great starting point.