DSLRUsers.com

Well during Boxing day I was nicknamed "the Photographer, the Paparatzi" and other names... but I did get some shots I was happy with...

I'd been taking candids with the 80-200 2.8 from the othe side of the room, in very trying lighting conditions... while it was dark inside the closest window was letting in a lot of harsh light for the background for many of the shots...

With this shot, stalked my Mother in law, called her name and go her to look up... its shot in 2.8 so its shallow DOF, but I think for the most part it works for me.

Please let me know what you think.

Craig

Your new toy has done you proud. The MIL must be happy with that one. A nice engaging natural looking shot.

Hi Craig, Mate how good can a Mother Inlaw look????
Looks ok though.
Cheers
John

The cropping needs to be a bit tighter to get rid of OOF area on the botton right that your eye goes too and to crop back the lines at the top left, also this will make the subject more important,and to stand out more, not the background

EDIT: opps

Excellent shot Craig. Natural looking portrait, very nicely done.

stubbsy wrote:Craig

Your new toy has done you proud. The MIL must be happy with that one. A nice engaging natural looking shot.

Yeah so far, no ones is keen to actually model or "pose" per sa, but I liked the relaxed as you put natural look to this shot.

Doug (via MSN) and Bigpix suggested a tighter crop, so here it is gets rid of some of the OOF distractions.
 BTW I used the SB-800 for this and most of my shots indoors, and it did marvellously...

you should also tone down the bright white line, as your eye goes straight to this before the subject........

Keeping it in the family.. here is Katie's grandma...(the blank video tape one)... Big Pix, I attempted to tone down the bright highlights...but.. kind of sucked at it.. do you have any suggestions ?

simple croping and the use of the healing brush....... all done very quickly.....but could be improved a bit more...... your eyes now go to the subject a lot more, but I would add a lot more blur to the background

Craig - I really quite like the natural look of the MIL photo, uncropped I think is fine...it's funny I often have the same response and lack of willing participants when photographing family. It's as if (sometimes) people feel obliged to say 'no...not me...don't take a photo of me' because if they don't then others may think them keen to have a photograph taken or are vain.

Your first shot is well lit and a great candid shot .

You've become such an active member of this forum in recent times mate, it's a pleasure to a) read your posts and b)see your photos.

With the background a bit more OOF.......

Geoff wrote:You've become such an active member of this forum in recent times mate, it's a pleasure to a) read your posts and b)see your photos.

Have to agree - Craig is family here and both he & Katie are nice people. It's one of the things I love about this place - so many wonderful friendships both real & virtual here.

My only gripe is before Craig came along I was the most prolific poster

Big Pix, thanks for taking the time to rework my shot, and I really like what you've done with it. When I have a bit more time (back to work tomorrow ) I'll try it myself and might post the final version back here.

people feel obliged to say 'no...not me...don't take a photo of me' because if they don't then others may think them keen to have a photograph taken or are vain.

Geoff, most adults particularly family seem to be like that, on the reverse most kids can't get enough of having their photo take or want to help me take photos of others.. And thanks for the compliment Geoff, I really enjoy reading and learning a lot from the forums, I've learnt so much since I first joined, I enjoy putting it into pratice and sharing some of my results!

stubbsy wrote:Have to agree - Craig is family here and both he & Katie are nice people. It's one of the things I love about this place - so many wonderful friendships both real & virtual here.

My only gripe is before Craig came along I was the most prolific poster

Thanks Peter, I've definitely met some of the friendliest and generous people via these forums, and you still have over double my post count, so no need to cry.

Alpha_7 wrote:Thanks Peter, ... and you still have over double my post count, so no need to cry.

But I've been a member for four times as long. wah, wah, wah

Craig,
Great to see that you brought photography to your extended family members and glad to see also you & Katie are part of this community.