Brand new here - 3 photos from first shoot

Hi everyone! I'm brand new to the world of photography. I'm one of those people that researches the heck out of things before getting into it, and photography was no different. I've owned a T1i for 4 days and have shot roughly 400 shots. Of those, about 14 were "decent" to me.

Per the advice of some close friends that are much more into photography than me (2 are professionals), I did a few things. 1. I bought good glass: EF 24-70 f/2.8 L 2. I am only shooting in Full-Manual mode for a long time, until I really appreciate the interplay between all the settings.

I've been reading these forums for about a month (getting ahead before I got my camera) and I've made it half-way through The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby to give me a good baseline knowledge.

So...here are 3 of my first shots - seriously, they were taken within 2 hrs of getting the batteries in my cam for the first time.

Let the critiques begin. Be as critical as you like. Tell me what changes in my settings would make things better. I enjoy learning by others teaching, so please be candid. (I know you will be, that's the point of this forum).

Here's the specs again for completeness:

--Canon T1i
--Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L
--All hand-held unless indicated (I know, I know....tripods make a world of difference, but I went with a substantially more expensive lens and will get a good tripod & head when my bank account allows)
--These are straight from the camera - no crops, no PP, none.

1.

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Welcome and congratulations with your camera.
#1 and #3 have a far too shallow depth of field. Is that on purpose (I sort of like the effect in #3)?

Suppose you shot from about 1.25M distance and with a focal length of 45 mm your DOF is only 12 cm and at a focal length of 70mm that goes down to 5 cm. (roughly 50% in front and 50% behind the point you focus on).

Thanks vk2gwk -

Yes, that was the effect I was going for. I really like the bokeh shots I've seen and since I have a pretty fast lens, I've been messing with it quite a bit. I picked the "nose" shot, but if you saw the sequence of shots before and after you'd see what I was doing. I was manually changing my focus point without really moving the camera. First shot, his eye was in focus, 2nd shot (by changing my focus point only) his nose was in focus, and third shot his ear was in focus...hope that makes sense.

Question: can you "overdue" it with bokeh? I guess a better question is: how do you learn when to use a very small DOF and when to crank up the aperature to get a large DOF when you only have a single subject?

Wow. You completely put me to shame.

Personally, I think the DOF on the first shot should be a tad deeper so that the shoulders, arms, and bits of the hair aren't OOF. I like to have the subject I'm shooting in focus but what you did in shot #3 is really cool!

With that said, *Hangs head in shame and drags my feet out the door*

beecee wrote in post #9280946
Thanks vk2gwk -

Yes, that was the effect I was going for. I really like the bokeh shots I've seen and since I have a pretty fast lens, I've been messing with it quite a bit. I picked the "nose" shot, but if you saw the sequence of shots before and after you'd see what I was doing. I was manually changing my focus point without really moving the camera. First shot, his eye was in focus, 2nd shot (by changing my focus point only) his nose was in focus, and third shot his ear was in focus...hope that makes sense.

Question: can you "overdue" it with bokeh? I guess a better question is: how do you learn when to use a very small DOF and when to crank up the aperature to get a large DOF when you only have a single subject?

You describe an excellent way to learn to understand DOF which IMHO is one of the most essential elements of photography. How you choose your DOF depends on where you want to draw the attention of your audience. Shooting people/faces it is a sort of "rule" to get the eyes well and truly in focus and get as much of the face, ears and hair within the DOF.
But in my book the focus should be there and as deep as what you want to be the essential element in your photo and it is one of the things you can play with. Keep practising.

b.han wrote in post #9280963
Wow. You completely put me to shame.

Personally, I think the DOF on the first shot should be a tad deeper so that the shoulders, arms, and bits of the hair aren't OOF. I like to have the subject I'm shooting in focus but what you did in shot #3 is really cool!

With that said, *Hangs head in shame and drags my feet out the door*

Ahh, man! I was looking at one of your threads earlier and was really impressed! A lot of this art is personal style. You're style is different than mine, but your shots are impressive nonetheless.

We're both new & corresponding with pro's (which is awesome). We just need to keep on practicing practicing practicing....

vk2gwk wrote in post #9280973
You describe an excellent way to learn to understand DOF which IMHO is one of the most essential elements of photography. How you choose your DOF depends on where you want to draw the attention of your audience. Shooting people/faces it is a sort of "rule" to get the eyes well and truly in focus and get as much of the face, ears and hair within the DOF.
But in my book the focus should be there and as deep as what you want to be the essential element in your photo and it is one of the things you can play with. Keep practising.

This is very helpful info. I guess I'm just mostly fascinated by what an awesome lens can do....I've always thought bokeh was created with PP, now that I know I can do it raw with the camera - I'm sort of obsessed (as much as you can be on your 4th day shooting) with the effect.

I'm trying to keep perspective and appreciate the do's and don't's of good photography. I can already see that managing DOF appropriately is important (among many other things) and can change the "story" of the picture drastically.

These shots are decent I think.

1. Technically pretty good. Looks like the shot is in focus and well exposed. If I were to have my subject leaning on a hand in that fashion, I would have them do it on the other side of their face. That would let the viewer of the photo "in" a little more. As is the viewer seems to be shut out by that arm in front of them.

2. Only complaint I have is that the WB is too warm.

3. Interesting shot. 99 times out of 100 I want the eyes in focus, but the texture of the dog's nose is interesting too.

Welcome to POTN and photography - you came to the right place. Nice first time gear you have - it will definitely make things easier than someone fumbling around with a slow kit lens.

Lonnie -

Thanks for the input. I totally see what you mean about #1. I think I positioned myself on that side to capture the contrast and shadows that are on her left (camera right). Since the light source is from the camera left, being on that side kind of blew the shot out. It was pretty sunny out and a ton of snow was on the ground creating a lot of white reflective light. Oh, and this wasn't posed....I was just "practicing" by shooting everything that moved...haha!

Thanks again! I'll have some new shots to post soon.

BC