Camera Labs

I'm pretty new to photography as a hobby, up to this point I've been doing mostly snapshots from my point and shoot. Years ago I had a roomate that was an avid hobbyist (before they even had digital cameras) and he showed me some of the basics but that was so long ago I consider myself a fresh and green photograhper.

These are just a couple of shots that I took that I liked better than the others that day. The images are straight out of the camera, shot in .jpg mode with no post processing. I'm looking forward to editing my shots and also shooting in RAW mode as time goes on, but hey . . . one thing at a time here!

Let me know what you think, remember . . . new guy here!


This was a shot on a snow day (Rare in TN!) my daughter had a blast, and dad had a fun time playing with his new camera. The sky was overcast and I liked the way it softened up the pictures, but maybe it made everything a little less "vibrant" than it should have been?

I shot almost all the photos that day in Aperture Priority. I was trying to mess with blurred backgrounds and such in an attempt to have the subject be the focus of attention. This was prior to my purchase of a Nifty Fifty, and the kit lens has a minimum f/stop of 3.5 so I think I could have had some better shots with my 50mm 1.8 II. EXIF data is included on the flickr links.


IMG_1020.JPG by Rudboy66, on Flickr

More of the same here, I like the way she is looking at the camera.


IMG_1084.JPG by Rudboy66, on Flickr

A profile shot, the snow falling was kind of neat I thought.


IMG_1081.JPG by Rudboy66, on Flickr

Mostly I just don't like flash pictures, but this camera is much better than my point and shoot with them, and I'm sure it would be even better with an external flash. At any rate, I thought this shot was fun.


IMG_0231.JPG by Rudboy66, on Flickr

And finally, I liked this shot more because it found it funny (and appropriate I might add) rather than a quality picture. The image on the screen just popped up for a split second while I was sneaking up on her, and the camera caught it in that split second.


IMG_0985.JPG by Rudboy66, on Flickr

Just some snapshots that I thought turned out okay, any criticism or advice is welcomed.

_________________
Canon EOS T2i/550D
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Manfrotto 055XPROB

This is a good start! Welcome to the great world of photography, and especially DSLR photography!
A tip on photography in snow is to dial in 1 EV (or thereabouts; just do some experimentation) of overexposure, because the camera will tend to make the snow grey instead of bright white which it should be. This applies in general for subjects which are very bright/white. If you haven't already done so, you should check out Gordon's videos at http://www.dslrtips.com. Also you can find loads of great videos on youtube. Check out binarygraphite for example - I'm a fan!

_________________
Canon DSLRs: 5D Mark III, 7D
Canon lenses: 17-40/4L, 24-105/4L, 24/1.4L II, 50/1.4, 85/1.8, 100/2.8L Macro, 70-200/2.8L IS, 100-400L
Other stuff: Canon Extender 1.4x II, Canon 580 EX II, Canon 430EX II, Velbon Sherpa 600R
Apple: MacBook Pro 15", iMac 27", iPad III, iPhone 4S, Apple TV

My deviantART

You're right, most of my shots that day did tend to make things look a bit more gray than I wanted, I figured it was just the overcast sky. I'll keep that in mind next time, the T2i has a button on the back that lets me change the exposure in increments very easily I think plus or minus 5 if my memory is correct.

Thanks for the tip!

_________________
Canon EOS T2i/550D
Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Manfrotto 055XPROB