Jon loves researching this kind of stuff, so he found this Canon 50 mm lens which is also cheap. The photos I took from yesterday's post were taken indoors at f 1.8 while the boys played at the kitchen island. I didn't do any photo editing but I will.
For anyone interested in taking better photos, here are some general guidelines (not from me, from every photography book ever):
1. Turn off the flash. Everything looks better in natural light, particularly people.
2. Get closer. Most people take pictures from too far away. Get up close. Then take a couple more steps closer.
3. Take a lot of pictures. A lot of pictures. Keep on snapping. For every 20 photos, you'll end up with (maybe) one good shot. Delete everything you don't love. Figure out why you love particular photos and why you hate particular photos. Then take some more pictures.
4. Don't just take posed photos. That's not going to be the one that melts your heart.
This is one of my favorite photos I've taken of the boys and it follows the above guidelines. I took over 100 pictures the day at the pumpkin farm. This picture tells a story to me.
Here's what happened that same day. I tried to take a posed shot - the classic "children sitting on hay bale at pumpkin patch" picture. The boys didn't look at the camera. Nate's jean snaps opened up showing his diaper! I didn't notice the black tube or the red wire or Nate's exposed diaper. And the lighting is horrible. And seriously, Nate's diaper. That's awesome.
Now to go back to the guidelines. Get up close, take a lot of pictures, and turn off the flash.
7 comments:
I love you! THANK YOU for that tutorial. And thank Nate for busting open his pants and giving us a laugh.
Keep us "posted" on your photography progress.
You're inspiring me to ask for a new lens for my camera for Christmas... I love my Nikon D50 and I keep the flash off whenever possible, but it's so hard to get halfway decent light indoors. And you're the 2nd person to mention a fixed lens instead of zoom (also Walker at Blogtime in Twin Town). Wish list, here I come.
Mind if I add you to my blog links? Feel free to leave a comment or email me (goddessinprogress [dot] blog [at] gmail [dot] com)
Hey I was just looking at that same camera the other day and BEGGING hubby to get it for me for Christmas, we'll see...I agree, the close up flash-off pictures capture your "subjects" so much better.
I think the exposed diaper picture is awesome. When they're teenagers and bring a girlfriend home make sure that's the kind of pictures you drag out.
These pictures are indeed fantastic! I'm tempted to curse you for showing me such a nice lens, but it's cheap, too, so I'll spare that... and then there's the f1.8 magic - comes in handy for the depth of field like you nailed so perfectly with the pile-of-leaves picture. So now I have to go analyze the last zillion or so pictures I took and decide if I can use a fixed length lens such as this.
Desibo - I'll get out the blog book as REAL embarrassment!
Joanna - nice pun, I did notice it!
Don't you LOVE that lens? It's got a good wide aperture and is cheap too.
Those shots are wonderful. Looks like you had a lot of fun.
Thank you SO much for the wonderful compliments!!!!
I have the 50mm f1.4 and LOVE it. The f1.8 is probably the best bargain lens out there!!!
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