Photos in raw pre processing

My first shots with new 7D - happy with sharpness but no coloring - give me some critiqueing and maybe some lightroom 3 tips - thx in advance....

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After some processing

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The first photo. In the edited version I can still see a slice of someone's head. Crop that out.

I think the edit for the first photo is a bit too overexposed. The highlights on the girl's hair are looking blown out. Not sure what else to say, others can give their input. Honestly the first shot is sharp and has good saturation to my eyes. I'm not sure I would brighten it much at all, but to me your edit is overexposed.

patspicasa wrote in post #11547636
My first shots with new 7D - happy with sharpness but no coloring - give me some critiqueing and maybe some lightroom 3 tips - thx in advance....

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IMG_3738-3 by destin_utopia, on Flickr

Hi there,

7D! I hate you! I would do a lot of things to have it!:P
Now, I tkink you shoud work on your composition and crop. You have got some lovely, period furniture there and you should use it. is that your doughter unwrapping her christmas presents? Try to capture the moment, her face, her eyes as she opens the long awaited gift. Open up your aparture. Blur all but her. Lose that plant, lose the curtain, move around, try different angle.

I can't help you with Lightroom but your edited photo is too bright. Tone it down and crop it again - try a 2x3 format starting just the the right of the head in the lower left corner.

Neat capture of the helicopter. But get one coming at you. I believe it has flashing lights? It's a good example of what a flash will do for you since the shutter was at 1/60 but the blades are still stopped.

I was going to ask about the 1/60 thing. A month ago I would not have known what you meant but i did notice this.

I have a 580 ex I have not used yet. Should I be suing this all the time on indoor shots?

patspicasa wrote in post #11551727
I was going to ask about the 1/60 thing. A month ago I would not have known what you meant but i did notice this.

I have a 580 ex I have not used yet. Should I be suing this all the time on indoor shots?

If your other choice is the built in flash,yes, use the 580EX. It's not that it will stop action any better but you can bounce the light from the 580 by swiveling the head. Bouncing light off a wall or the ceiling increases the apparent size of the light source which softens the light.

Or better yet, use the 580EX as a slave to the 7D. That way you can set the 580 off to one side and get off camera flash with full ETTL.

Check out these short tutorials - http://www.usa.canon.c​om …ArticleAct&arti​cleID=3167

I think my learning curve will have me using the 580 off camera soon

The 7D has a built in remote - correct?

Are you learning on a 7D?? If so, wow. That camera should keep you busy for some time!!

patspicasa wrote in post #11552042
The 7D has a built in remote - correct?

Right. You can enable it and make other settings in the first menu under flash.