Working with manual settings

Here's a couple of pics taken today that I need your help on. Got a photography book and this is one of the lessons. I changed the aperture, ISO, exposure compensation and metering and took many different shots. The first shot I used Digital Photo Professional to fix it up a little.

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I'm learning a lot about settings myself - changing different settings and taking a picture to see what happens I'm mostly working with Aperture and Shutter Speed. It's funny how the different manual settings have a "purpose" but the "side effects" can do so much more.
(IE Shutter Speed and the light it lets in or potential blurs)

I haven't finished figuring out everything and I feel this will be an everlasting learning process but I encourage the changing of manual settings and taking photos to see how it goes and learning from it.

One final note: my dog looks just like that. My dog is part poodle/snouzer

glowangel wrote in post #11543894
I'm learning a lot about settings myself - changing different settings and taking a picture to see what happens I'm mostly working with Aperture and Shutter Speed. It's funny how the different manual settings have a "purpose" but the "side effects" can do so much more.
(IE Shutter Speed and the light it lets in or potential blurs)

I haven't finished figuring out everything and I feel this will be an everlasting learning process but I encourage the changing of manual settings and taking photos to see how it goes and learning from it.

One final note: my dog looks just like that. My dog is part poodle/snouzer

Sadie is a Miniature Schnauzer and a character. She is snuggling with my husband in this pic.

Focus on the part of the picture that you want to draw the eye too. I'm not sure what you were trying to focus on in picture 1, but with picture 2 try to focus on his eyes.
With shots like picture one, I think it's better to use interesting angles and play with your depth of field.
Here's an example:

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Nice work Lettie

Thanks, my boyfriend just bought me the nifty fifty for Christmas. I've been playing with it.

LettieVonDread wrote in post #11544576
Focus on the part of the picture that you want to draw the eye too. I'm not sure what you were trying to focus on in picture 1, but with picture 2 try to focus on his eyes.
With shots like picture one, I think it's better to use interesting angles and play with your depth of field.
Here's an example:

| Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

Good example of DoF - thats a lesson I'm trying to learn still.
As for focusing - something that helped me learn about what to focus on was when I was researching what the rule of thirds meant. Digital Photography School has been my "textbook" for photography and they have a good article on rule of thirds - http://www.digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds
Learning about it helped me decide my focal point.. not just how to frame it - I have to think about what I'm photographing.

LettieVonDread wrote in post #11544576
Focus on the part of the picture that you want to draw the eye too. I'm not sure what you were trying to focus on in picture 1, but with picture 2 try to focus on his eyes.
With shots like picture one, I think it's better to use interesting angles and play with your depth of field.
Here's an example:

| Byte size: ZERO | Content warning: NOT AN IMAGE

Thanks Letty. I still have so much to learn. Trying to figure out how to change the depth of field. If I remember correctly it's all about how you position your camera. Not straight at the object but angled down or up to create the illusion of depth?

I'll keep that in mind on future shots of the pets. I don't think that I used the focus points in that shot correctly.

glowangel wrote in post #11544958
Good example of DoF - thats a lesson I'm trying to learn still.
As for focusing - something that helped me learn about what to focus on was when I was researching what the rule of thirds meant. Digital Photography School has been my "textbook" for photography and they have a good article on rule of thirds - http://www.digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds
Learning about it helped me decide my focal point.. not just how to frame it - I have to think about what I'm photographing.

Thanks very much for the link and your input. I'll have to check it out later.

DoF has alot to do with aperture.

glowangel wrote in post #11544958
Good example of DoF - thats a lesson I'm trying to learn still.
As for focusing - something that helped me learn about what to focus on was when I was researching what the rule of thirds meant. Digital Photography School has been my "textbook" for photography and they have a good article on rule of thirds - http://www.digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds
Learning about it helped me decide my focal point.. not just how to frame it - I have to think about what I'm photographing.

Just came from that link. Lots of great info. for this newbie. Thanks again.

Dana