I need help! I'm trying to get a good Father's Day photo of my boys. Some people were helping me in the general photography forum, but my thread won't allow me to see second page. Here is my newest batch of about 200 photos. I don't have one I love yet, and have zero pp skills! Any input? None of these are pp or cropped yet.

[elpolodiablo]

I am not expert, just some observation from a fellow novice

1. upper side of the 2nd one is a bit distracting, maybe a crop?
2. horizon of the third one is a bit off

[SpecialK]

I wondered what happened to the second page...

Eh, it's all about the details.

1. Under exposed
2. Over exposed
3. Tilting horizon.
4. Distracting background.

I don't have any great PP skills but I use Adobe Elements version 6 (it's up to v8 which I have seen on sale for about $60). There is also the free FastStone Image Viewer, Screen Capture, Photo Resizer ... image viewer/editor among others.

With Elements, it's very easy to fix 1, 2 and 3 with almost just a single click, and perhaps (a) if you shoot RAW - moving sliders or (b) if you shoot jpgs - changing numerical values...adjust the brightness and contrast to see what works best.

Even removing background clutter in 4 is not too difficult. And it can lighten shadows, etc.

Howzabout a similar pose in the front or back yard with a prettier portion of your house as the background? (The house is not the subject, necessarily, but a decent background). Use a white sheet on the ground or draped on a chair out of the shot in front of the kids to bounce some light up and open the shadows. Try different f-stops. The smaller the number (larger the aperture) will help make the background a little softer.

And finally, use the center point to autofocus (I think you can set that though you can not see the focus point in the viewfinder on the K-x) by pressing the shutter 1/2 way, but then recompose the shot so that their heads are not dead center with way too much sky above them. Try to balance the mass in the frame - and watch the corners for trashcans :-)

Here's a quick edit - hope you don't mind.

[lowspark86]

I don't have much advice for portraiture that hasn't already been given by others in the last two threads. I did notice that it appears you have a dust speck on the sensor in image 3 of this post (above the younger mans head). It was also visible in another photograph in the previous thread. I don't know if someone has mentioned it as that thread seems to be corrupt.

[wshi]

Don't forget that for portraits, you can of course shoot in portrait orientation! I think that would work much better for 1 or 4 to get rid of some of that cluttered background.

[kmets]

Oh I have so much to learn!! I forgot to mention I have Photoshop CS3 Extended, just don't know how to use it so well yet....kinda like my camera .

I am making notes of all your suggestions. I don't mind the edits at all. My boys were impressed with the editing actually!

I did not notice, nor did anyone mention the dust on sensor! I did clean it last night though, so thanks.

I believe for some of them, maybe not the ones I posted, I had set to portrait. I would really like to take them back down to reshoot this one today though....

Get them out of the sun, up higher and cropped in.

[kmets]

I also am going to go to Amazon and order Understanding Exposure today!

[kyricom]

good looking sons. Good luck.


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