Newborn Photography HELP!!!

If the lens and camera aren't producing a good sharp shot then no matter how good your technique is, it's wasted. It was just a simple piece of advice that should be checked when you get a minute. It's not a big task and it will give you piece of mind.

I agree that you should always be striving to improve your technique and craft but if you can't nail a shot at 1.8 then just maybe there is something else that is a miss.

I'll bow out now and leave you in the capable hands of those more qualified. (y)

Good luck with your journey and hopefully we'll see you over in the crit section soon.

:)
 
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caitlinjade95 said:
What do you mean? I usually adjust the shutter speed depending on the lighting and i usually try to keep my aperture above 2.8ish and my iso i try and keep as low as possible for the photos recently posted i just iso 100 but sometimes when im inside it might be 200/400 it just depends on the lighting situation? I'm not sure i know what you mean lol
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AP mode should be better for you than manual if this is what you're aiming for I would think. Just dial in the aperture you want (2.8 ish) and let the Camera sort out the shutter, just keeping an eye on the shutterspeed and bumping up the ISO if needed (unless your camera has Auto ISO as well).
 
caitlinjade95 said:
Yes i think the way im improving is im beginning to understand what i'm doing wrong and i think thats pretty important for me to get better, discover my own mistakes. There hasn't been many keepers but I have kept some along the way, it'll be good to look back on as a reminder of what i was doing well and how i've improved etc!

Does this need to be moved to another section now i feel it's gone way off what i was having disillusion thoughts about when i first started it haha!
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It's not gone off at all. It's exactly the same discussion as we started with.
 
I've tried AV mode but i just don't like it as much as i like manual, there is more control on manual and using AV mode i found it wasn't adjusting the shutterspeed as much as i wanted even when i adjusted the iso but ill give it another go! Thanks for the tip
 
@catlinjade95 I know you say you are not at a stage to give feedback on other peoples who but why not give it a go. Its often easier to look at others work and pick things out when you are not emotionally attached to the images. Giving others feedback may giv you a better idea of whats going on with the work you shoot.
 
I don't want to feel im putting someones work down when i dont have the experiance to but i have been talking to morbid alot and we pass photos too and from flikr we have taken and comment on them, he shows me his photos of his little boy and ive been giving him some feedback on my thoughts on there

I think to post on the forums my opinion i don't feel like im at the stage where i can if that makes sense lol! I might have a look around and try though it's about gaining confidence in it all, right?
 
caitlinjade95 said:
I don't want to feel im putting someones work down when i dont have the experiance to but i have been talking to morbid alot and we pass photos too and from flikr we have taken and comment on them, he shows me his photos of his little boy and ive been giving him some feedback on my thoughts on there

I think to post on the forums my opinion i don't feel like im at the stage where i can if that makes sense lol! I might have a look around and try though it's about gaining confidence in it all, right?
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Serious crit isn't about putting anyone down. Say what works and what doesn't. Simples
 
But i dont know the technicalities of what works and dosn't yet, i'd rather know what i was talking about thats all :')
 
caitlinjade95 said:
I've tried AV mode but i just don't like it as much as i like manual, there is more control on manual and using AV mode i found it wasn't adjusting the shutterspeed as much as i wanted even when i adjusted the iso but ill give it another go! Thanks for the tip
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Hi Caitlin

Quick summary:-
Shutter speed, Aperture & ISO are like three corners of a triangle locked in a sort of 'push me pull me' as you change one you affect the other two but the aim is to always achieve the correct exposure. The way you describe what you sometimes find "shutter speed won't do you what you want even if the iso is what you want so you change to taste....." Alright not an exact quote but that seems to be what you are saying that you choose what you see as best ;).

Well the upshot of that is that you are quite likely to under or over expose when making that decision (pushing the histogram too far to the right[over] or too far to the left[under]) Now the fun part....such over or under exposure is a useful tool but you need to learn and understand when to use it properly. In regard to the histogram, the received wisdom is expose to the right (note I do not say overexpose = blown highlights) as it is better in editing to recover highlights than shadows in the post processing :)

Now here is page that might be a good reference for you that goes into more depth on the subject. http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-exposure.htm

The triangle on the guide elegantly makes the point that the quotient you choose to 'fix' is guided by what subject you are aiming to control such as the DoF hence aperture to ensure all in focus on a models face or shutter speed very slow like the mini waterfall you experimented with.
 
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Yes it's all based on the exposure triangle isn't it, i have been reading up on it last night and writing down some note. I'm a serious note taker lol I can't remember anything unless i write it down so thats how i've been doing it and highlighting the most important bits. I understand if you adjust one you have to adjust the other to make it work. I'm still learning about the histogram and need to do a little more reading up on that to make sure i'm following what im doing correctly. thanks for the link ill have a read up on that one!

This is going totally off subject and as your all aware im a beauty blogger too I've been trying to make my photos better in that element too, i know it's not portrait photography and i doubt you spend your weekends photographing a foundation but no matter what i do using softboxes, using natural light, fast shutters, slower shutters and a tripod, high iso low iso, large and small aperture i CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME GET PHOTOS LIKE THIS!! She uses the exact same camera and lens that i do...do you know what she's doing in particular to get her lighting so bright and airy with the dreamy feel but soft and also in focus :') Pulling my hair out lol. Sorry it's off topic but figure you guys might know a tad more than me!
 
Just a quick look makes me wonder if she has used what portrait terms is called high key lighting plus in post processing a preset or two to add what you are calling the dreamy soft look.

If you ever look at old 1950's photographs were many with soft focus and that persisted well into the late pre digital days. Many a tog had a filter on their lens with a soft smear of vasaline on it to create the soft focus look. I think I recall Canon had a 135mm prime lens with a soft focus filter built in......a classic lens perhaps of its day???
 
brilliant thankyou very much ill have a look!

I try everything to get my photos like that but it just looks bright haha!

Maybe i need to do something in photoshop, there could be an action out there somewhere i need to find it haha!
 
I took a tonne of photos in RAW just to see the difference but ive put my SD card in my laptop and I can't view them without putting them into photoshop...am i missing something lol! Do you need a programme installing before i can view them as a thumbnail?
 
That's got me beaten, I can open CR2 files from both my Canon 1000d and 650d without any problems. (Using Windows 8)
 
caitlinjade95 said:
Nope it's not working either:/ i cant seem to find a programme to use!
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Hmmm! The Win7 codec pack works so I am surprised the Win8 one is s failing to do so???

In regards to soft focus look put "Photoshop soft focus" into Google gives mostly tutorials but also links to actions though paid for ones. All being well might have the level of control you need?
 
huffy said:
That's got me beaten, I can open CR2 files from both my Canon 1000d and 650d without any problems. (Using Windows 8)
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Though the hardware requirements are modest does Caitlin's laptop meet the spec?
 
I have windows 8 and they are CR2 files. I can only open them through photoshop, im regretting it now! haha why didn't i just stick to JPEG -.- i can't find anything thats working it keeps sending me a fail error that it's not the right one!
 
caitlinjade95 said:
But i dont know the technicalities of what works and dosn't yet, i'd rather know what i was talking about thats all :')
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But you will know what you like and what you don't like even if you don't know the words. On forums like this it does not matter if you have a weeks experience, a year or much more. In fact sometimes feedback from amatures can give us a clients perspective which is nice. And at the same time you are really thinking about photos in general. You can even ask people how they got the shot, what lighting they used and so on.
 
I think im going to! I'm going to have a browse through the forums soon as ive sorted out my technical RAW issue lol and ill leave some comments, it'll be nice to be involved on here too
 
caitlinjade95 said:
I have windows 8 and they are CR2 files. I can only open them through photoshop, im regretting it now! haha why didn't i just stick to JPEG -.- i can't find anything thats working it keeps sending me a fail error that it's not the right one!
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Caitlin

The MS codec only means you view the CR2 files in Windows Explorer it does not open them for editing. CR2 files (depending on which version of PS you have and whether updated) will be only open in Adobe Camera Raw which is a PS addin.
 
caitlinjade95 said:
I have windows 8 and they are CR2 files. I can only open them through photoshop, im regretting it now! haha why didn't i just stick to JPEG -.- i can't find anything thats working it keeps sending me a fail error that it's not the right one!
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As part of your photoshop build you should have Bridge, you can use that as a file browser.
 
Phil V said:
As part of your photoshop build you should have Bridge, you can use that as a file browser.
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+1 :) I forgot about Bridge as not used it since I got Lightroom.
 
thanks andy, ill have a read up on some methods of doing that in a little bit!

Never heard of bridge and ive searched for it on my computer and I can't find it:/ I need something so i can see the thumbnails and open them up for a closer look to see if i want to keep/delete it but when i double click it, it opens photoshop and i've tried opening it different ways. I've googled and it says something about a codec software :confused:
 
caitlinjade95 said:
thanks andy, ill have a read up on some methods of doing that in a little bit!

Never heard of bridge and ive searched for it on my computer and I can't find it:/ I need something so i can see the thumbnails and open them up for a closer look to see if i want to keep/delete it but when i double click it, it opens photoshop and i've tried opening it different ways. I've googled and it says something about a codec software :confused:
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Did you see my post #468 just above^^^ ;)
 
yes but i dont want to open them for editing i want to look at them before uploading them for editing :) they do open in camera raw on ps but i dont want them to, i want to look at them lol i take 50 blog photos of the same thing, i dont want to edited them all, i just want one
 
caitlinjade95 said:
thanks andy, ill have a read up on some methods of doing that in a little bit!

Never heard of bridge and ive searched for it on my computer and I can't find it:/ I need something so i can see the thumbnails and open them up for a closer look to see if i want to keep/delete it but when i double click it, it opens photoshop and i've tried opening it different ways. I've googled and it says something about a codec software :confused:
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Where did you get your Photoshop? Download, disc? Adobe Bridge is a different app, but it comes free with Photoshop and is usually installed at the same time.
 
Ihave lightroom and im trying to download bridge now so hopefully this will work!

Im never shooting in raw again lol this has put me off it for life lol
 
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