New to photography - basic tips wanted :)

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Kiansmummy

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Jessica
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Hi all :)
I am new to this forum and new to photography!
I love taking pictures and since having my son I have wanted a dslr to get some good photos of him. Anyway I bought myself a canon eos1100d.
Had a little play with it but finding it harder than I thought so have just been playing using auto and portrait mode. So was wondering if someone could give me some basic tips. Here are 2 pictures which I have taken, I like them bit there not how I wanted them really , blurry background , and bright colours etc , I just can't seem to be able to get that effect so tips wanted please... :)
Please note the quality may not be the best as uploads them from on my phone
1fdd310f.jpg

d68a16ee.jpg
 
2 quick tips come to me from those, you need to get down to the same level, so kneel or sit as you snap. If you want to blur the background you need to try for a larger aperture, so try putting the camera in Av mode and open as far as you can (kit lens would be f4).
 
As above,but i will add if shooting portraits set your zoom to 50mm which i assume is the max on your kit lens and move with your feet to frame the shot!
 
Thanks
So what does the aperture do and the shutter speeds, like I said am totally new to this lol - an how would i get the pictures brighter? I think they look a bit dull unless that's me :-/
 
He is quite hard to take pictures off as he is always moving and on the go so have to Los of chase him and distract him to gettin te photo
 
The wider the apperture the less depth of field,more blurred background.
Longer focal length also helps this.
It's not easy taking good shots of active little ones!
Maybe try a bit on less mobile subjects to practice!
 
What Dave said about getting low down, this goes for photographing nearly everything I can think of.

Being low helps bring your subject out more and makes them look more impressive. Everyone knows what a child looks like from their own eye level, but they rarely see stuff from the child's perspective.

For a blury background, you may have more luck in Aperture priority (Which is Av on the dial) Set it to as low as it will go (f/5.6 at 55mm on your lens). Get closer to your boy with the background being twice as far away (further = more blur) as you are to your boy.
With some good light, the camera will take care of the other setting (shutter speed and ISO and you will get a nice shot.

Another thing is to focus on the eyes. I'm not sure what modes you can select which auto focus point to use, I know that there are a few you can't, auto being one of them. When you feel ready to leave auto mode select the centre focus point, place it over your childs eye and focus, then quickly recompose your shot. Easier said than done with an energetic child i'm sure. This helps the person viewing the photo connect with the child, the eyes being the window to the soul and all that.

Shadows are important, flat light (overcast) detracts from a photo.

Also, candid is immeasurably better than posed.

Peg
 
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Kiansmummy said:
Thanks
So what does the aperture do and the shutter speeds, like I said am totally new to this lol - an how would i get the pictures brighter? I think they look a bit dull unless that's me :-/
Click to expand...


Start with the basics, here is a link to learning the exposure triangle. The first 3 replies were spot on. I will add that you need to pick the focus point yourself and not let the camera do it for you.

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/
 
Kiansmummy said:
I think they look a bit dull unless that's me :-/
Click to expand...

What was the weather like when you took them. It looks like it was overcast going by lack of shadows?

Overcast weather makes any photo look dull as there is no shadow, no contrast etc,. so you may be expecting too much in the conditions (cameras are all about light so can only produce based on what you give them)
 
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Apart from getting lower, its probably a good idea to perhaps go to the park with granny or a friend in tow. Then you might get some pics of him puddle jumping or such and have the other grown up keeping an eye on him, either being in the shot or out of the shot. They can perhaps call him so he can be drawn to look at the camera.
 
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There's some tutorials on YouTube that are really helpful and explain Aperture, ISO, shutter speed etc. It's really worth watching.
 
The 1100d has an easy setting to blur the background on shots, its called Creative Auto.

Turn the selector dial to to CA, press the Q button to highlight the Background Blur bar and then move the cursor left or right. You can then do the same and select Standard Setting and change it to vivid.

Job done, ISO, Shutter speed, aperture all done for you.

Getting the right pose takes time to get right, what you think looks good will be good.

I would reccomend getting a good book to learn all about the manual/semi manual settings, and then just take loads of photo's! Sooner or later you'll get a fantastic one :)
 
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