Here's another try; I'll play with it a bit more. It's funny but when I crop photos of my girls I actually dislike cutting off bits of them - even if I end up with better pictures! I'm really struggling to judge objectively.

Sisterly love - close crop2

Thanks for responding. I agree I have lots of problems with cluttered backgrounds. I have the f stop at 5.0 here. Usually I'm trying less depth of field so that I get all my subjects in focus. I'll see if I can blur out the background with Photoshop elements!

Yes I'm very fortunate with my 3 models! My eldest adores her baby sister - it's very sweet to see and I'm trying hard to capture it before the sibling wars begin!

Thank you for responding! I'm still not sure about the crop though!

I've been away a while; busy with baby number three! But despite serious sleep deprivation, I'm back with more photos of my kids.

I love this photo of my eldest and my latest (I have 3 girls) but it lacks...something. I'm wondering if you creative and helpful photographers out there could advise and play around with it. I'm thinking a close crop might draw attention to the expressions of both? Not sure though!

Victoria and Elinor


Victoria and Elinor - close crop

I liked Teach Yourself Visually Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 - it really is step by step and gives you pictures of every menu item/button/icon you have to select/click etc.

I love the lines and textures - what an eye you have for a picture!!

These are great! They kind of look like characters in a fairy tale (not cartoon but more "Once Upon a Time". ! I also love the one with the truck best.

Fascinating! Thanks for posting.

Very cute! Oddly enough, reminds me of my daughter swinging from her ballet bar! Keep posting; I love how you bring out such character in your subjects!!

I checked your settings in Digital Photo Professional (I too have this camera and I often check my info in DPP). I notice you use Picture Style Standard. Try Landscape (or even Portrait). I find the colors with these settings are less washed out.

By the way, I really like this subject. The building has a story - I think it worth doing some post processing to give it mood. Increase contrast/turn it b&w or sepia/use some HDRish effects/play with keystone distortion/texture etc. You can do all that with Photoshop elements9 (I think it worth the minor investment!).

This old school

Like your shots of Houston; mostly I think of Houston of an ugly city full of billboards and stripmalls. Although the city skyline itself looks like a box of used crayons, I can never find an angle free of roads and highways to capture it!!

I have a T2i - about 8 months now. My first DSLR and I love it. Such an improvement on the P&S. In my first 100 shots I got my best portraits ever - up to that point!! Just keep practicing with all the settings and when you upload them study the settings of your best ones (and worst) to learn what you did right (or wrong) as far as exposure, shadows, composition etc. Then work on the focussing; a single manual focusing point etc.
These are a good start!

Wow! What a gorgeous landscape. Makes me miss hiking. Great shots!

What a lovely subject! You capture her spirit beautifully. You might also want to experiment with sepia and antiqueing just to see; she does look kind of Victorian! Thanks for sharing; these were fun!