[scharf_10]

I was asked by mum's friend if I would take pictures of her children for her mum's 80th birthday, so I saw this as a good opportunity to get some practice, as I know her therefore the pressures of getting everything right weren't as intense. She said she would pay me a bit for it as well, but I would feel bad taking any more than £20 for it to be honest.

She has given me permission to use these in some sort of portfolio, and now I've heard that a lot of people in the village have been talking about me and asking for me to do shots of their children as well. I know a lot of you will probably mention the negatives (which I prefer to get Constructive critism) but the woman did ask to get a kind of "dreamy, bright" feel. So here goes...

All taken with 400D, exif should be embedded. I don't think I did too bad for my first efforts at this type of photography, therefore I've chosen a few to let you see:

Thanks, Scharf.

[Liquid101]

I would say the first thing on your shopping list would be a decent flash unit. Several of these could use a pop of flash to balance the subject with background.

'Comfortable afternoon' is a perfect case for fill in flash, you could have taken the sky down to a nice deep blue, as well getting doog tone and ligth in the faces.

'Running into nowhere' is my pick, and woudl have been near perfect if the eldest girl was walkign ahead in line with the other two.

'Sitting in the grass' doesn't really work form a compositional point of view. I woudl say you need to get lower, and either include the whoel body or just have the head and shoulders.

'Through the tractor lines' is also nice, but with a little more careful composition, you might have been able to lose the trees on the right and the powerlines on the left. Might have been nice to have her running towards you instead of just standing there.

Generally nice shots though, and i'm sure the parents love them.

[scharf_10]

Thanks for the response, I really appreciate when someone takes the time to write a detailed response like that

About the flash thing. I think that would be wise to buy an external flash, so I'm able to get deeper blues in the sky etc. One thing though - I'm always scared that when I use a flash it gives an artificial look of the light, but i'm assuming that this wouldn't happen with a better flash, probably cause I'm just used to on-board flash and never used a proper external one before.

[scharf_10]

I've tried searching, but how do I use Flickr for embedding images on my thread?

[pixelpixel]

If you click on

and then paste the img path from flickr. Next click ok it will show the following:

Now if you wrap the IMG tags with a

and paste the URL for your image, it will make your image clickable .

[scharf_10]

Could anyone recommend a good flash that is compatible with the 400D. I've been looking on one stop digital and I see the Canon 430EX:

http://www.onestop-digital.com/catal...roducts_id=173

Does anyone else recommend this one, or have experience with it?

Thanks, Scharf.

[senu]

Originally Posted by scharf_10

I've tried searching, but how do I use Flickr for embedding images on my thread?

The FAQ and a linked thread there may be useful there although Pixelpixel has summarised it quite succinctly

Originally Posted by scharf_10

Could anyone recommend a good flash that is compatible with the 400D. I've been looking on one stop digital and I see the Canon 430EX:
http://www.onestop-digital.com/catal...roducts_id=173
Does anyone else recommend this one, or have experience with it?
Thanks, Scharf.

The 430EX is the flash to use with the 400D.. Although the Sigma DG 500 EF super ( Canon Fit) is slightly less costly and possibly better VFM . its use also requires a bit more of RTFM

However the effective use of any flash gun does have a bit of a learning curve and a bit of trial and error

Instead of adding to what Liquid has said, I would suggest you actually "copy" any portrait styles you have seen elsewere and admired to see if they work for you
I think the images are nice ( and the parents will love them) . one thing you have got right is getting relaxed expressions on the children
I don't really like the amounts of foreground and background in the first 2 and last respectively
The 3rd image would have been Fab but your shooting angle seemed to tilt upwards rather than straight on.. bright sky in the background didn't help much too

Lastly , where possible utilise the Picture styles in the 400D.., and shoot RAW +JPEG .
All but the most extreme WB/exposure errors ( if any) can be rescued from RAW
Any "Dreamy Bright feel" not captured at time of shooting can be added later in Photoshop/ Elements or similar

Oh.. the links on the images dont work and exif seems not to work for me

[salubrious_k]

That last photo is brilliant! The others are very good too, but the composition of that last one is excellent, and b&w a great choice.

Originally Posted by scharf_10

Could anyone recommend a good flash that is compatible with the 400D. I've been looking on one stop digital and I see the Canon 430EX:

http://www.onestop-digital.com/catal...roducts_id=173

Does anyone else recommend this one, or have experience with it?

Thanks, Scharf.

I have the 430EX which I recently bought from one-stop digital as well. My first impressions are good but I've barely used it. It doesn't seem quite as good as the 580EX which I have hired in the past for weddings, I miss the little plastic bounce diffuser that is attached to the 580EX, and the dial (the 430EX has buttons instead) and also for one of my photos I found the 430EX a bit underpowered:

Other than that I've really enjoyed using it. Here are some shots I've taken, bear in mind all of them were using the ST-E2 IR remote which I bought at the same time and also that I'm a complete beginner when it comes to flash photography!
(Follow the links if you want a larger size)

[senu]

Salubrious,
Im assuming that the Flash pictures were taken with the 430EX as an "off camera" wireless slave... Where did you place it?

[scharf_10]

Thanks for the replies guys. You say that the 430EX is the flash for the 400D, does this mean that the 580EX does not work with the 400D?

Also, I see what you mean with the underpower on the flash in that one picture, but for some reason im still drawn towards it as I don't think i'll need anything better yet, as of my level of experience.

I'm not completely sure about this IR remote, and what it does. Having quickly looked to one stop digital, im assuming it just means you take the picture with the IR remote attached, and the flash comes from an external area? Is this correct. Sorry for my ignorance, but we all gotta learn somewhere

Btw, what an expensive hobby/occupation:P

Thanks, Scharf.

[salubrious_k]

Originally Posted by senu

Salubrious,
Im assuming that the Flash pictures were taken with the 430EX as an "off camera" wireless slave... Where did you place it?

In order for all the pictures:
1. Bottom left (out of picture) on the ground
2. Bottom right on the ground
3. Held left by a friend
4. Bottom right on the ground
5. Held (by my wife) just out of picture to the left
6. Held in the subject's hands pointed upwards

As you can tell I don't have a flash stand yet LOL

[salubrious_k]

Originally Posted by scharf_10

Thanks for the replies guys. You say that the 430EX is the flash for the 400D, does this mean that the 580EX does not work with the 400D?

Also, I see what you mean with the underpower on the flash in that one picture, but for some reason im still drawn towards it as I don't think i'll need anything better yet, as of my level of experience.

I'm not completely sure about this IR remote, and what it does. Having quickly looked to one stop digital, im assuming it just means you take the picture with the IR remote attached, and the flash comes from an external area? Is this correct. Sorry for my ignorance, but we all gotta learn somewhere

Btw, what an expensive hobby/occupation:P

Thanks, Scharf.

The 580EX works with the 400D, I think what Senu meant is that the 430EX is more a hobbiest flash just like the 400D is hobbiest, whereas the 580EX is more a pro flash.

As to the underpower in that picture, I think it was more my fault rather than the flashes. For example I had the wideangle diffuser down, but I probably shouldn't have as the flash was far enough from the group of people.

TBH, I'm not completely sure about the IR remote yet, but I got persuaded to buy it when I searched for photos with "ST-E2" in the tags on Flickr and saw some of the stuff they were doing with it. But yes you're completely right about how it works.

Expensive hobby? Yeah I guess you're right, but it sure beats collecting vintage helicopters!