Monday, April 26, 2010

Some Shots

I love to take pictures. I truly, dooly-do (can't remember where that line came from, but it popped into my head just now, and seemed appropriate). My sweet man bought me a really good camera about a year ago, BUT. I obviously need to take some photography classes because I'm at a loss on how to manage the settings on it. My pictures often come out grainy. I've put the ISO on as low as it goes, but I have no clue about aperture and what to do with it. I think it's important.

Being that I dropped out of radiology school because I could not "get" the class on how to run and repair the x-ray cameras and machinery, there may not be much hope. I would love to take a photography class, but have not the time or the mou-la right now.

So, I guess you'll just have to put up with my amateur photography skills. Here's a few I've been pleased with:















7 comments:

Tammy said...

They look nice. I love taking pictures to. Sadly my camera is wearing out on me : ( But hubby and I are going to get a really nice one as a joint christmas gift Lord willing this year. all smiles there!!!!

Anonymous said...

They are all adorable. You do a great job.

Wendi and Benjamin Wood said...

love the one of eli in the tree and the two babes at the door. u can do photog online. and get training and tips for free. google it.

what happened to the camera i sent u guys? does it still work? we invested into a canon 7d. LOVE it!

Chan said...

You did a great job on the pics!!! Now you will see me with my camera permantly attatched to my hand!!! I finally finished up my course last week!!! Yay! I will be shooting some senior portraits in the next couple of weeks which I am estatic about!!! Come over and visit my blog page at momentsintimebychan.blogspot.com I will posting pics there and and hopefully funny stories about my adventures and a new photographer!!! Love ya and hope to chat soon!!!

MameyJane said...

Thanks for the tip, Wendi! That camera died on us several years ago, but we still have it. Not sure what went wrong with it, it just stopped responding to the batteries.

Natural Mama said...

maybe there's a tutorial or something on you tube??

All of the pictures look nice, what a cutie in the first one. :)

Rebecca said...

Finally here. SOrry it took so long!

First of all~ I think you are too hard on yourself. These are great photos and are well beyond average for a beginner. They are well beyond some of the other participants of Foto Friday too, that have been posting since the beginning. So-don't feel intimidated by your work.

Second of all~you don't need to take a photography class! Get out your manual and start fiddling around. That is how I did it. YOu will wind up deleting more photos than saving-but you will LEARN something. Your manual is your BEST friend. Instead of trying to learn everything all at once, go to the Aperture page and learn all you can about aperture and then experiment only with THAT. Then move on to something else. Eventually, you will know a bit about everything!

Now-for the critiques:

You do well on focus. I can't tell you how many people THINK they are focusing and they aren't. If there is even a TOUCH of blur, it isn't focused properly (unless you TRIED to blur it of course) and you position your subjects well within the frame too. So good job! You have some pretty adoreable subjects too!

For the outdoor shots-especially the two of the girls. Your older girl couldn't look at the camera because the sun was behind you and it would hurt her eyes. Position the sun behind HER and it would be easier. Or better yet: go under a tree! Having outdoor, but INDIRECT sunlight is the most PERFECT light ever and doesn't create harsh shadows (like the chair shot) or squinty eyes (like your girl). Always try for indirect light but if you can't, try and position your subject in FRONT of the sun.

When taking photos of subjects, I really like to get head-on shots, not looking down shots. While there is nothing wrong with it and it is crisply in focus, the geranium shot would be more profound had you gotten down to its' level and shot it HEAD ON. Same with baby shots. If you can position yourself on the same plane as they are (the top one is slightly looking down on her) you can find amazing shots you didn't know you had.

And always, always ALWAYS, focus on the eyes. Your last shot is beautiful, but it wasn't entirely in focus. I know that because the eyes are blurry. If you focus (behind the camera) on the eys, you will get a great photo EVERY TIME.

Hope you found the tips helpful.
Take heart-you are already surpassing MANY picture-snappers!

I hope to see you participate in FF sometime!