Julia Gerace wrote: > This is my first message here and I've never seen this format before - > Wow...
Hi Julia, Welcome to the group! As I was going through my in-box, I noticed your name right away -- recognized it from the considerable number of shots you've posted to Photocritique.net over the past several months. I'm no expert, but I've enjoyed quite a number of your postings there. A couple I think are particularly adorable: http://www.photocritique.net/g/s?zzma5n-p10110737 http://www.photocritique.net/g/s?zzmgJn-p10110737 You do a very nice job photographing children. Children can be difficult subjects -- the little ones often don't sit still long enough, and the older ones are often self-conscious. Wish I could do a better job of it. I find it difficult to manually focus fast enough to keep up with the action. My 16-month-old grandson doesn't mind me getting right in close and shooting away with a fast 50mm while he's eating, playing, etc., but his older brother and sisters don't like a camera right in their faces. For them, I find that 105 is a good focal length for head-and-shoulders indoor shots, and maybe 85 for including a little more of the body or background. I have better luck if they're engrossed in an activity and not aware of the camera. My 135 is faster at f/2.5, but I usually don't have the necessary distance to get the framing I like indoors. It's my choice for outdoor portraits, however. For what it's worth, I'd say you're doing well with the equipment you have. A fast portrait lens might be the best bet for your next equipment acquisition. There's a great site Stan Halpin maintains discussing SMC Pentax lenses: http://www.concentric.net/~smhalpin/ But like several other folks have mentioned already, your creative vision is probably the most important thing. If you haven't seen it already, there's a monthly Pentax Users Gallery: http://pug.komkon.org I think the May gallery is an open theme, and the June one is a portrait theme. Hope you'll consider sharing some of your work in these upcoming galleries. Regards, Bill Peifer Rochester, NY - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
