How can i do this better? I want to give it to his mom. I am painfully aware that i cannot handle my new cam so well have so much to learn about settings.

Gun... not sure what kind of advice you're looking for... the magic you can do with photos has me in total awe!

Thanks Cyn, it is most technical advice. I want so much to follow everything here in Photo Forum, but when I see the traffic...wow so much to read...and I have already the hands full i 2D Forum. Guess I want too much, I want to learn to handle the cam and I also want to continue with 2D... And now I just want to go out into the sun :-)

The advise I can give is to use what you know about 2d, coulor setting, macthing the background with the object, composition, To me it seems like your handeling your cam, better then most of us.

The best advice is to try everything different settings etc, and see what they look like you will not be wasting film so you can experimant You are allready making great images look after at the data you will get exposure settings etc on the ones that work the best

Danny O'Byrne  http://www.digitalartzone.co.uk/

"All the technique in the world doesn't compensate for the inability to notice" Eliott Erwitt

Thanks....guess I am a little to impatient :-)

I think composition is number one to pay attention to when shooting,
look where your light source is coming from, beware of overly bright patches,
always look at the background to make sure there won't be anything too distracting sticking out from the subject... bracket your subject, by adjusting your settings a notch or 2 on either side of a preferred exposure taking several shots
& take as many as you can from different angles, like Danny said

there are some excellent articles & tips in the resource center you can look at too

as far as this particular photo... with portraits, eyes are very important,
it's nice if you can capture a hint of light in them,
seems the main focus on this is his hair, while his thoughtful expression comes 2nd,
some of your magic here would be nice imo :]

Message edited on: 04/03/2005 11:40

it's a beautiful photo, Gun!!!! i don't have any advice to give you. but from what i've seen in your gallery, you DO do magic as Cindy says!!!! and i remember your portraits are just incredible!!!!!! just do your thing girl!!!!! Do you ever use Painter??? might be neat to play around with this image and see what you can do? but really Gun, i find it beautiful just the way it is! His face is so full of expression...he's so deep in thought...and love the lighting on his hair. sorry i can't give you technical advice sweet lady. but just keep practicing and shooting. it takes a lot time for me to learn my cam. got it in Jan. and i read a bit every day. practice almost every day. enjoy the sun, lady!!!!

Thanks ladies! The difficulty is that thinking before shooting Cyn, (yeah, that's me) especially when I try to shoot children, like this. The light WAS on his hair, but if I had asked him to turn around, or if I had changed my position, that expression in his face had gone away. Thanks Sheila, flattered to be called girl...when I am twice your age :-) I have just begun "sniffing" on Painter, there is so much to learn that I reurn "home" to my PSP after a while. I WILL practice!! I am sure it will take time, I shall read in the resource center, and I will keep my little Ixus 400 in my pocket when I need comfort, just click!!!

children would be a challenge, trying to get a candid moment... but you've done some wonderful portraits of your grandchildren so i think to myself, you must know what you're doing :] will be interested to see what you do with this one if you do do any pw on it

oh & far as "that thinking" goes... it just becomes 2nd nature the more you shoot :]

I'm no expert since I'm just starting photography myself as u know but, to me, when I want to capture an expression and I can't change angle or ask the model to move without loosing it, I just zoom close on the face! I agree with Cyn about the hair being too "attention catching" while the main interest are the eyes really! In that case, just zoom!! Only my 2 cents! ;)

i dont know in which way you are interested. i did two tries. !!!!!!!!!! #:O) !!!!!!!!!!

#:O)

I like photo # 2, but they all look great. I know how you feel about the complex nature of photography. I feel even more lost in 2D....I suppose practice is where it's at... Enjoy/Peace -Jeff :-)