Everyone on another forum I use are recapping their progress over the last year or 2, however long they have been practicing photography. They do this to show how they have grown in that time. As I am about to start a photography course on 1st My, I figured now is as good a time as any for my to do something similar, especially as I feel I haven't really grown, hence the course.
This is going to be VERY pic heavy, lol!
Pre June 2008:
My rule of thirds wasn't bad considering this was just a snapshot. Note the completely blown crown of his head, lol! Still, I LOVE this pic, taken with and Olympus Optical C2 D230. Connor would have been around 13 months, so June 2002
Another pic I LOVE, taken with a canon powershot A40 P&S in Sept 2004 when Jamie was 3 months. Great catchlights, considering I had no idea what a catchlight was! Shame about the chopped hand at the bottom. I actually have this pic on a square canvas.
June 2008, I get a "bridge" camera, a panasonic lumix DCM-FZ8, which I think is the dogs bollocks. First pic taken with my new toy, the joys of a messy background and a flat conversion!
Oh dear! Could this be any more magenta? Not to mention most of it is blown!
Must NOT shoot with in camera sepia, B&W or any other in camera editing...eeek!! Plus, up the nose is so not a good angle
My early idea of landscape... loving the completely centred horizon, lol!
Trying out the rule of 3rds
Woah!!! BAD pp'ing. What on earth was I thinking, went a little trigger happy with the dodge tool, pmsl!
Went colour pop crazy!
Played with textures during pp'ing
Thought there was nothing wrong with chopping off a third of his head
Went through the selective colour rite of passage
Trying something different, not very successfully
It took me ages standing around in the freezing cold at about 24 weeks pregnant to get this shot, I was sooo proud
My attempt at self maternity shots, including a pp attempt at saving my modestly, lol!
Composition is coming along, shame about the "overcooked" look
Leaning about DoF. I felt like things were starting to click a little bit, but I think that the pic says different
We were offered first refusal of a DSLR & 2 lenses from a friend of dh's. It was too good a bargain to pass up. I became the proud new owner of a Konica Minolta Dynax (Maxxum) 5D, a kit lens and a 70-210 beercan lens. At this pont however, I didn't get much opportunity to really take anything more than snap shots as I was nearly 9 months pregnant and then became busy with our 3rd son.
16 day photoshoot of ds3, where I learned that newborn skintones are sooo HARD and realised why many newborn pics are in B&W.
I also realised that I most likely wear mummy goggles most of the time, lol
My next attempt at a photoshoot was a mother & baby session, with a tripod, self release cord & ds1's help. This is where I learned that you really need to be 3ft away from your background to get the desired DoF. Oh, and are you digging the blown whites?!
Another try at 16 weeks. Really needed an OCF, but had to make do with what I had, so ended up with noisy pics due to high ISO - 800. By this time, I think I have managed to get half decent at focus and my skintones are coming along, albeit not perfect, but have learned about chopping body parts.... heck no! Think I may also have overdone the eye pop
.Things finally start to fall into place with regards to ISO, shutter speed & aperture, so I practice a little on my boys. I practice B&W conversions. I was pleased with my compostions for the most part but note the nearly chopped toes, the missing elbows (the top of the head doesn't bug me in this pic) and the floating, distracting foot
.So here I stand at this moment. not a huge improvement, but some improvement none the less. I am trying to get to the pint where I am comfortable trying to change my settings and get the shot as good as I ca on the first try. Here are some recently pics taken with little preparation.
Ds3's 5 month pic. This was literally set up in a few minutes, he was grumpy as was due a nap. I have since calibrated my monitor (inbuilt mac thingy) so the colour loks off, too magenta) and it looks a little too hot on his face
Anf finally, one taken during a walk with the family last week, I am actually really proud of this shot, I didn't do much to it in pp. It seems I have steady-ish hands as this was handheld at 1/20
I still have a lot to learn and hope this course helps. I also just bought Understanding Exposure and am waiting on a new lens, a 50mm 1.7, which I can't wait to practice with. The next thing on my list will be an OCF. I can only hope that my pics will eventually justify all the money I am spending on my hobby.
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