thank you, for me its been pretty dry where I could do that but I don't know if I could get back up hehe.. I have 2 bulging disc in my lower back and 5 herniated disc in the middle of my back :/

I like the idea of your diffuser as it would help more in directional flash. The flash I am using right now is a friends high dollar speed flash and it is directional, that is why I was only doing a 45degree instead of stright but the reflected lite of a diffuser like you did would of helped even more being an outside photo.

My camera has a timer of 2sec and 10secs. The nice thing about the trigger is not having to hold a pose for to long or to move quickly to get in position. My phone app works ok for daylight but fails me taking photos in the dark. I will look more into composition but I am starting to feel spoiled as I have learned so much so fast here :)

As for Magic Lantern I don't know if that is breaking the rules of the site as I am not trying to promote it, I was looking to see more if anyone else had used it before. In short you can search for it as it is a overlay for the bios of certain cameras that can give additional options that may not be part of the default bios. Like my camera canon 70D, it does not have a zebra menu and there is no built in intervalometer which is used to take a set number of pictures over the time you can configure. You add the software to your sd card and it only becomes active when you press the trashcan on the camera or you can deactivate pressing it again. Some people claim that the overlay has bricked their camera but from my research I have not heard any solid info on that. And running as an overlay will not void any warranty as you are not writing to the camera bios. I don't use it all the time but there have been times it has come in handy. Admins please let me know if this is not allowed as I don't want to break any rules.


thanks for the advice

The next time I get the chance I will try to be further away and see what happens. I was also thinking that since I was using a flash would it also be good to shoot at a faster speed so it wouldn't pick up as much background or maybe even shoot a higher stop like f8 or f11? since I am shooting dark with a flash I am not worrying so much about blur? I am also doing a single focus point, with this type of shot should I change it to a larger point since I am not worried it focusing something outside just our selves?

I will try to also do some shots vertical as it would remove more of the background, I had not thought of that so its a really good Idea, thanks.

this would be another question :) are there any good remote triggers that wont bankrupt me? The phone app is great during the day but at night if it cannot focus it will not trigger. What would you recommend.

and another question is has anyone working with magic latern? I have used it with my canon and really like some of the features but from reading some people like some don't, just wanted to thought that in here too...

sorry I slipped in these other questions, I should find the correct place to ask :/

This is another picture I had taken of us and I was really looking for a different result.
I wanted the background to be much darker. How would you suggest that for SOOC? I do understand that I could edit to get the result and I do have other things to work on, hair, eyes and a few other things I noticed.

canon 70D with Kit lens's
f4.0 / 1/60s / ISO 1600 / 18-55mm @ 28mm on tripod
430EXII speedlight pointed about 45degrees with defuser
sometime after 11:30pm est

I have not cropped anything and very little touch up for now, but would be interested in any thoughts or suggestions.


Again sorry I am posting so much, I have been learning alot in these last few days.

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She does like the photo and the scars don't bother her that much as she knows what I went through, and I shouldn't let it bother me but it stirs up memories that I really don't want to remember.

My wife's hair is normally brown, but she likes to change it up now and then and I love that. My eyes are naturally green, they do seem to vary a little counting on the mood I am in like a small version of the mood rings hehe.
keep and eye out I will be posting another photo of us that I have been working on and it don't look all that bad but I am far from perfecting the result I am looking for :/ I have been taking more pictures of us together lately as this month she is going to have a surgery that is common anymore "full hysterectomy" and I have been very concerned as my wife's family line has all passed with some type of cancer and pictures that took are incomplete as her uterus has fallen over her bladder. So they are going to have other doctors on stand by. My faith is that she will be ok, my flesh is scared to death.

sorry to share all my family issues, fighting with a disability I don't get to get out and talk much :/ so I take a lot of pictures.

again thanks for all the help.

well if the robin send me an email or a letter in the mail explaining that it was them and shows me records where there can be no doubt then I want them to visit me in person so I can negotiate a contract and make alot of money :)

I am honored as if it looks like someone else's photo then I must be doing something right :)

memories

thanks, I know that saying, Practice, Practice, Practice hehe and the bird was thinking "ok take the picture already, will you" hehe.

I like that, more of the photo and no scars. I do have a printer that prints on printable dvd's and that would be a wonderful cover, or even more those frames that have the egg shape boarders would work good for that too.

As for the other post, Yes I was in the Army and boy do I have memories. I have been in some beautiful places and I have been places that would make you puke. (talk about a diet program). I was only a cook and on top of that I was on a boat. figure if I wanted to cook on a boat I would of joined the navy hehe. We also did field exercises and they become more as desert storm and shield where starting. Well I am having some issues, so I need to log for awhile. It is good to talk about sometimes and others not.

again thank you all for the help.

getting out and practicing

canon 70d
f 6.3 / 1/320s / ISO 400 / 55-250mm @237mm

hope I put this in the right place :)

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thank you for your kind words. We had just celebrated our 35th anniversary and on this day it was kind of hot and I wore shorts. I was not thinking of the scars on my legs and it usually will not bother me as I am not looking at them when I am out walking but when I look at the raw photo it seems to be the first thing I see and then it becomes what it shouldn't. and that is difficult. When I was taking the photo's I had not thought of me being in my shorts but I was creating memories for my wife and myself. So I tried to crop where it was above the scars but it cut off part of the hands, and then a little higher and I just couldn't win. That is why I wanted to ask and I have received some great information and I have more things to consider when taking more photos.


thank you all so much, and I will get better :)

I love the ideas and what has been shown, if it is best to upload a raw file let me know as they are pretty large.

To be honest the harder part for me is that I wanted to avoid showing the scars on my legs and from some lessons I have worked with removing them with Photoshop takes away from the person. that is why I tried to crop up from the legs some but at certain points it cuts the fingers and a little more it also gets difficult, and if I go with just head and shoulders I feel that it takes away to much from the photo.

I have played with it more and the closest I could think of without taking to much away and I am still concerned. I tried to still do it where it shows some of the background, cropped it where we were to the left some letting there be more background and trying to still utilize some of the rule of thirds.
I need to break down and get me a grey card so I can do better with the white balance, I have been taking a lot of pictures and learning a lot and should of already don't that and I feel stupid for not being prepared better.


so here is what I have worked on to give a better idea, I may be way off base, I am trying to impress my wife as this was one of the better photos taken. Again if the raw picture is required I don't have a problem uploading I am just not sure of the rules for large files, I guess I could upload as a tiff if that would be better.

let me know what you think, of all the sites I have worked with this has given me the most and quickest help, thank you.

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I hope I put this in the right spot, I am sorry if not.

Here is a photo I did with my wife, I had done edits, cropped, sharpened and posted it on another site and was shot down pretty fast. I didn't really get any suggestions but just told what I had done wrong. This time I am just uploading here as an unedited photo, you will see my scars from the army on my legs, my camera bag and cane. I was using a tripod and set my camera so I could use a phone app to take the snapshots.
When cropping this image I tried to come closer so other things couldn't really be seen but the crop was the subject of my errors. I was to close to my hands or to close to my elbow when trying again. I did read some info on what to consider when cropping and from a lot of the sites I get conflicting information.
canon 70D
f6.3 / 1/250s / ISO 100 / 18-55mm lens @ 20mm
I saved this to .jpg as the raw image may be over the limit for uploading.

my question is how would you crop this? I know more could be done to touch up but would really look forward to your thoughts.

thank you

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If I had not cropped the photo then more depth could of been seen and it wouldn't of been such a flat photo, my thoughts where to keep the focus on the subject instead of looking at the bushes or part of the house :/ It was taken in the evening which is usually one of the better times to take photos from what I have been reading "morning/evening" unless you are maybe trying to incorporate sun rays or to have a shadow to help show more depth to the photo I guess.
I do remember film, I use to have an old pentax camera with a few different lens's. I had some great pictures of navy ships, helicopters and more when stationed in Hawaii. Now with this canon I really need to get some better lens's even if it is just a cropped sensor :) And I now shoot the largest raw setting and carry 2 high speed class 10 cards with me :)

here is the photo with the store original checked, thank you for the tip.

As for post processing, I could of done more to sharpen the image, maybe a better blur of the background to highlight the subject so it would stand out more, could of removed the sidewalk and just replaced it with grass or even go really far and cut it out of the background, duplicate for a mirror effect and place it back on grass and add a soft shadow :)
Actually I do that sometimes just to get better at working with Photoshop, but in the end I just wanted to keep it simple and as natural as possible :)
I am trying to get better with the camera so I can do less with editing :)

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