Great Photo Class

[sydneysnana]

I gotta share...... I had so much fun with a class this week!!!! It was by one of the Village....Guys...Lee Ostubo http://www.thedigitalphotoguy.com/. It was a webcast. He was easy to listen to and kept the pace, that I did'nt fall asleep:D I even gotta peek at the man himself...

I updated my profile with a pic I took after the class. After the kitchen is painted:( I will be out to practice more!!

I would highly recommend any of his web classes!
Michelle
http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1QK65XwnIzh4ZwfhlrcORXhc9Gv85j_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1QK65XwnIzh4ZwfhlrcORXhc9Gv85j)

Now I gotta go back to why my monitor, printer, and Target see things differently:eek:

[Diana]

What a great portrait, Michelle.... terrific job. So what would you say you did differently after Lee's class?

Diana

[sydneysnana]

Diana, Diana, Diana,

Did Lee put you up to that question to test me?;)


I thought more with a little more knowledge. Felt more comfortable with making a choice of shallow DOF, filling the frame with Syd. I tried to focus on the eyes, but realized I was still a little off. Felt more confident and determined.

I was unsure about most of the settings on my camera. I have the books, might know their names, but I learned what was best for a certain setting, what to avoid, what was important for the type of picture I wanted to shoot. I had a tendency to change everything up too much and never get what I wanted.

This is a kinda abstract answer...it did make me look back at the notes and make a list of things I specifically learned.

You never know about any class....one of the excitings parts was Lee was so easy to listen to, flowed so well, kept your attention.

Michelle

[jo]

That's a terrific portrait, Michelle. Her expression is priceless!

[Inspeqtor]

Michelle,

You did a great job on that photo! Lee has been a big help to many here on this forum. He wrote a 6 part "Digital Cameras for Newbies" back in 2006 which I still have. It is also very easy reading and really helpful even 3 years later. He talked then about 5-6 megapixel cameras which that part is outdated but everything else is still very good.

[Wendy]

WOW ..

That is stunning ... she looks so beautiful and its an excellent portrait. You must be so pleased with it :)

Wendy

[LeeOtsubo]

Hi Michelle,
Thanks for the "atta-boy". I enjoyed having you and your friend in the class. Palomar College is also happy that my webinar classes attract students from around the US and not just north San Diego County.

To answer Diana's question about what you did differently, based on what I saw of your previous photos, I'd say you took my lecture on DoF to heart. When photographing people and pets, the background is the most important component after the subject. People & pet photos fall into 3 styles: Portraits (candid and posed), Environmental and PJ. Of these, PET subscribers are mainly interested in the first two. Look at any photo book and you'll see that the BG makes a huge impact on the overall emotional content of the photo. In Portraits, the BG is blurred to isolate and emphasize the subject. You did this by opening up to 50mm at f/5 at, I'm guessing, about 3'-4' distance. This allowed you to fill the frame and hold DoF to about 0.25ft (~3 inches). By filling the frame, you minimized the house in the BG, blurred what showed around Syd's face and emphasized her pretty eyes.

Using the Canon sw, you discovered the AF Point was a hair off resulting in her eyes being slightly OOF but that's just practice. The main point is that you now know how to use the Canon sw to analyze focus.

I love it when my students immediately put into practice what they learn in class. Good luck and remember that you have 2 months to ask all the questions you want.

ps - On-Line DoF calculator (http://dofmaster.com/dofjs.html)

[Diana]

Thanks, Michelle and Lee, for the technique discussion.

Diana