Baby homecoming from hospital... Critiques please

[mugundhan_varadanarayanan]

Hi,

A friend of us just had a baby and they were coming home, I had my K10D + kit lens and took all these pictures with

built in flash. Please give your comments regarding composition technique

 

One thing I noticed is the flash shadows, I guess here is where an external flash bounced will give better light

I have also ordered tamron 28-75mm F2.8 for these kid of pix, hopefully I can avoid the built in flash next time...

 

Here are the pictures:

First pic shows the parents and second & third has friends doing the traditional welcome by doing a arathi

Subsequent pix are just the parents/ baby and last one represents the friends gathered...

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3229/2855462858_e84f2760a6_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/2855464516_2a77fd2c73_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3168/2854631849_397c04239e_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3041/2854647359_82d05c7bcb_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3172/2854644189_0e8f65d6f7_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3182/2854636031_d3cceeb166_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3175/2854655581_ee08a5470c_b.jpg

 

Thanks

Mugundhan

[andrewg_ny]

Hopefully this will make images easier for others to see...probably best in the future to link to the 'medium'

flickr image size.

<P><IMG SRC=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3229/2855462858_e84f2760a6_b.jpg>

<P><IMG SRC=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/2855464516_2a77fd2c73_b.jpg>

<P><IMG SRC=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3168/2854631849_397c04239e_b.jpg>

<P><IMG SRC=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3041/2854647359_82d05c7bcb_b.jpg>

<P><IMG SRC=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3172/2854644189_0e8f65d6f7_b.jpg>

<P><IMG SRC=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3182/2854636031_d3cceeb166_b.jpg>

<P><IMG SRC=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3175/2854655581_ee08a5470c_b.jpg>

[mugundhan_varadanarayanan]

Hi Andrew,

Thanks, I wondered why it did not show up!

 

Thanks a lot!

 

Please give your opinion too...

[andrewg_ny]

Pictures aren't too bad, considering. A faster lens can help but maybe not as much as good use of an accessory bounce flash.

 

I can't see EXIF on these pictures, so a little hard to see what you were doing technically. I would actually consider that some of these indoor shots are kind of overexposed, even if most highlights weren't blown out too much-I assume it wasn't really all that bright in this room. On K10D I would be quick to use ISO 800 on pictures like this--will make the most of the lens light-gathering capability and the flash's available power with less of the more obvious noise issues that ISO 1600 is likely to bring. Remember that the more ambient light is used, the less the flash has to work.

 

As far as composition goes, it appears that your subjects were pretty busy and were not trying to pose for you. No doubt that regardless of composition, they will appreciate having some of the big day documented. The next-to-last image of the baby alone might be better if it is cropped with rule-of-thirds in mind--so baby's head isn't centered, but is instead two-thirds across the frame--crop off a bunch of the pillow on the right side of the image.

[mugundhan_varadanarayanan]

Thanks! Its partly my reluctance to use ISO 800, I find it good but for some reason I set my ISO to be 400 (in the day it is usually auto). I shd not be sensitive to that light noise @ ISO800

 

I got the same advice too: bounce flash better than faster lens, I just ordered the faster lens. I am going to India in a month, I guess I will get a flash once I return, i dont like spending all at once...

[le-plume]

hard to do a critique on such a subject! congrats to your friends about the baby, he (or she)'s nearly as cute as mine!

 

one thing though: I concur with Andrew on the flash issue; not only would the results be better with a bounce flash, but it would also be less aggressive to the baby's eyes. If you don't want to fork the money for a brand new P-TTL swivel flash, you could very well go for a used AF-280T: very cheap, rather compact, can turn any way you want it to, and you can use the on-flash metering system if you don't want to use manual settings. You'll only have to set the aperture to the right value on your camera (cf. the indicator on the back of the flash).

[andrewg_ny]

As for the image linking, the size isn't the problem. You need to use HTML <IMG> tags. When posting, use The above text is: "HTML". Add each image url with a line line this:

 

<P><IMG SRC=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3243/2855464516_2a77fd2c73_b.jpg>

 

You can also get good HTML to copy & paste from the bottom of the flickr 'all sizes' page. Note that the HTML will be for the currently selected size--I recommend 'medium' for posting on photo.net.