JeanneO Loc: Florida

I took these pictures at our Halloween party. There was so much going on that I just stood back and got as much in a shot as I could. Then I cropped the interesting parts. One picture had so much going on that I cropped it 5 different ways! Most of the pictures are poor quality because of this. I am sure I would have missed many of the expressions and action shots altogether if I had zoomed in and concentrated on getting better quality closeups.
Any advice on what I can do next time to improve the quality? The camera was on auto sport.

1


2


3


4


5


6


7


8


9


10


11


12


13


14


15


16


Cropped 4 other ways


18


19


20


21

JimH Loc: Western South Jersey, USA

Actually, for my money, most of them aren't that bad. Couple things you can try next time.

1) Since your distance from the action wasn't all that great from front to back, try setting your camera on AV for aperture value priority, and setting it to about f/5.6 or so. This will let you use a relatively fast shutter speed to freeze the action just a little better - like on #12, it might have made the balloon a little more precise.

2) Shoot in the fastest continuous burst mode you can, especially with the balloon toss. The changes of getting a good shot of a balloon exploding will be much greater than trying to take a single shot and hoping you catch the 'action'.

3) Concentrate more on the action around a single person - the interest here isn't the 'interplay' between two or more of them, or the long file of tossers/catchers - it's the reactions of the person doing the CATCHING of the toss. Since there's a time gap between the 'toss' and the 'catch', it does no good to try to capture both events with a single shot. And, the 'toss' is not all that interesting, right?

See ya next Halloween... :)

JeanneO Loc: Florida

Thanks! I forgot to mention that the camera was on burst shot. The kids were all tossing at different times which is why I kind of aimed in the middle of all of them because stuff was going on on both sides at the same time. Though I did notice that I got better shots (who knows what I missed) when I concentrated on one side at a time. It didn't occur to me to set the aperture manually... I still have to really concentrate to remember whether higher or lower means deeper or shorter depth of field. I would love to get to the point where I just instinctively know how to set my f stop.

Billybuzz Loc: Whiteford, MD

You mentioned that you shot the whole scene and then cropped. Sometimes in a sports mode it's best to select one subject and concentrate on the action. It would help to keep the subject in focus and give better quality than what you get from cropping.

JeanneO Loc: Florida

I agree, but there was so much action!

Billybuzz Loc: Whiteford, MD

Patience, patience and more patience.

JeanneO Loc: Florida

Lol!

Billybuzz Loc: Whiteford, MD

Nothing harder to shoot thans kids and pets.

btrflyangel357 Loc: Dongola, Illinois

I know you are looking for better quality of your photo's but you have caught some really great expressions which in time I am sure will be priceless. Just my opinion

photosbyhenry Loc: Apple Valley MN

Great shot on #20

rdbroman

The best shots are those of INDIVIDUALS. That is where the action is, that is where the drama is, that is where the facial expressions are. Look at some sports photos. The ones that will grab your attention are focused on a singular action with a minimum number of participants. Facial expressions are often key to going from a snapshot to a memorable photo.

tinosa Loc: Grand Rapids Michigan

What fun ! Great facial expressions and body contortions. Each one is interesting and funny !

catgirl Loc: las vegas

so great to see teenagers having so much fun with such simple things instead of hanging out on the street getting into trouble, love the pictures and the fun they were having

JeanneO Loc: Florida

Yeah, I feel sorry for the ones that are "too cool" to join in...