New DSLR owner having problems

[davideglasgow]

And only $325 at B&H. What a deal. Time to start working on my wife. []

[Steve Eisenberg]

JUST UPDATED:


These don't look so bad to me, given they are just the first few. You'll be able to squeeze alot of performance out of you kit lens. You just need to shoot ALOT of photos, working on your technique. Flash Exposure Compensation for the first one. The flash is metering off some items that are darker than the face, so over-exposing the face. Focus and recompose on the second one, and learning about the Flash Exposure Lock function of your camera (the flash meters of the center of the frame, so if your subject is off-center, you can run into trouble with over exposure) for thethird one. I'll bet after you shoot 5-10,000 photos, you will be AMAZED at what you can do. I know it seems like alot, but that's why digital cameras are so great. You can experiment in every way. Don't ever hesitate to try something new.


I'll be posting a thread soon for kit lens photos only. You'll be able to so what can be done with the great equipment you already own!

[bassmangtk]

My instructor told us right off the bat that our first 10,000 shots will be your worst, so keep shooting. Another photographer I know says "98% of your shots will be crap. Accept it and keep shooting." Along with all of the above advice, you should be fine.

[davideglasgow]

You all are awesome. Thanks so much for the advice and encouragment!

[Vlad Xp]

I agree with Colin. To me it seems to be less of a motion blur issue, but more like focusing on the wrong area. In your second example, the vertical blinds behind the kid and the corner of the shelf-looking object on the right side are in focus. In the third picture, the frog on the chair is in focus, but that image is still decently sharp up to the point where the shallow depth of field caused by a f/3.5 aperture washes out whatever the child is holding. In these examples, are you using autofocus, and let the camera pick a focus point?

[davideglasgow]

Yeah, I was using autofocus. The more I read, the more I think that I should be just using the center point for now and picking the focus point myself. Agreed about the f/3.5 aperature.With flash, I guess that's not necessary.I'm guessing what I did was try and take something without a flash at f/3.5, decided I needed flash, and never changed the aperature setting.

[davideglasgow]

I'll be posting a thread soon for kit lens photos only. You'll be able to so what can be done with the great equipment you already own!
<div style="CLEAR: both"]</div>

I look forward to seeing this. It would be quite useful for beginners!

[David Selby]

Dave,





As a new SLR user you may benefit from checking out some of my digital rebel guides at www.learnslr.com





hopefully these will help you a bit!





Dave

[Daniel Browning]

One of the big differences between a DSLR and a digicam (assuming that's what you upgraded from) is the depth of field. This makes focus more important at the large apertures available for DSLR (even f/5.6 requires attention to the focus). Another big diference is Phase Detect autofocus systems, which is very different from the Contrast Detect autofocus on a digicam. I think the advice you've already gotten combined with more practice will help you greatly. Just keep at it and soon enough your shots will come out much better.

[Jarhead5811]

Being pretty new to the DSLR thing I feel your pain. I was initialy slightly disapointed.


I have an XSi and replaced the kit lense witha Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8. I've had alot better results with it and my 50mm f/1.8. Try to learn to change the focus points while looking though the view finder. I try to focus on the eyes. I also take lots of shots in the hopes a good one will be more likely. I avoid the use of a flash even though I've got the EX430.