Hello All and Happy Holidays! So here is the deal, I got this camera for Christmas this year and I am still learning the ropes of the camera and also photography in general. This is my first week with the camera and I am on vacation seeing my family. I took pictures of mostly people because that is all I have had time for so far. I got the Canon 40D with kit lens 28-135, Sandisk Extreme III 4GB CF card, Canon UV filter(Worth anything?), and a Canon GB200 bag I believe is the model number.

Please comment and critique these photos. I know they are not very good and I need much work. Please don't be afraid to voice your opinion, I know you are trying to help, not to be rude. These images are straight from the camera, NO post processing of any kind, only resizing of the pictures so they wouldn't be huge!

Setup consists of only:
-Canon 40D
-Kit Lens 28-135

#1 - Girlfriend in Gage Park Topeka, Kansas


#2 - Girlfriend in Gage Park Also



#3 - Girlfriend again, Came out looking this way! I kind of like it. Almost looks like she is photoshopped onto that background when she was not.



#4 - Small Picture from a LIttle kids party while dropping my niece.



Please let know what yall think about these pictures. I want to be on the right track for photography.
Let me know what you think and I could do to because better.

Thank You, Trevor

Hi Trevor,

Welcome and congratulations on your new gear.

First, looks to me that exposures, white balance, focus, etc. are all right on, especially the close up in #4.

#s 1 & 2 - the camera metered the background, properly exposing it while underexposing the subject, conversely had the camera metered the subject for proper exposure, the background would be over-exposed - a difficult scene to have both properly exposed without (1) fill flash and/or (2) correction with levels in post-processing.

A tighter frame of your girl friend's lovely smile would also help solve the problem plus, imo, result in a better image. Also, her position gives the appearance of the bush resting at the side of her head and on her shoulder - it's easy to concentrate on the subject and ignore a poor selection of placement re the background - I know because I do it all of the time

#3 - looks like the flash fired for fill; same comments re framing as in #1

#4 - cute image, great focus, bet the child's parents would want a copy. For me, I'd like to see the top of the head too - know it's easy to overlook in spontaneous shots such as this.

Here is a quick crop and touch up on #2, didn't bother to clone brush. If you object I'll pull the post.

Bob,

Thanks for the comments. I am trying to figure out ways to crop the pictures and your ideas seems to be really good! I like version of my picture you posted, looks good.

Image #4, I was disappointed I didnt get the top of her head. I think she had just started walking or stumbling towards me a little bit when I started to take the picture which resulted in her head being gone.

Trevor,

Thanks.

#4 can be cropped more closely to get just her face eliminating visual clues about her head etc.

cheers,

Bob

You asked if UV filter was worth anything... Yeah, it's actually quite useful as a sacrifice lens. Just a personal story, was swapping lenses quite a bit during some shooting. I forgot to replace the lens cap and put a lens back into the bag, and the cap ended up in a coat pocket. I continued to hike for about 3 hours before I realized that I had the cap in my pocket. I pulled out my lens and found it had been rubbing on AA battery I had depleted and put in the bag so as not to litter. Needless to say it made clear glass into frosted glass. Good new was it was the UV filter that was ruined not the lens. Bottom line, UV filters are cheaper to replace, and if you damage it, you can remove it and continue to shoot. Ruin your lens and you are out money and time. I also recommend just putting dead batteries in a totally different pocket, as they can worm their way past dividers in your bag.
If you want to learn more about your camera in a short amount of time, I recommend magic lantern books. Its pretty much just a rewrite of the user manual in plain English.