RR,
yup, I noticed that in the look. He was standing just next to the patio door so the light was on his right side. But I wanted so much to get the focus right and I was literally inches away from him. Decided to concentrate on his eyes, so much so that I ended up just losing the plot . Notice I took off part of his head from the top. Then cropping it became another tricky issue, with my inexperience . I wish the shot could have been more in focus though, from the sides.

I selected aperture priority and decided not to use the flash, so everytime I increased the aperture value the bleeming flash signal started blinking. .

Now please someone correct me if I am wrong, as this is one of the things I have been wanting to ask for a while now. Assuming I select aperture priority like in the situation explained above, and if by selecting a certain F stop the flash starts blinking, what do you usually do? Do you disregard it and take it further and snap? Or you take it on board and re-evaluate the situation and either open up the aperture or increase the ISO etc.

Thanks for your help

Here they are, still struggling to get to grips with the 50mm f1..4 but I know with time and persistence it will come.

These is what I end up doing when I am in the mood for fun with the little one, its just so difficult to get him to stand still , but hey, its not the subject's fault here ha



Anyone for a game of chess here?



oh, my big brother is game then,



Told you, I could beat you






and now I will go and play with my fish ok?

EDITED: removed the fish macro shots, too distracting here and would rather get comments and suggestions on the above pics instead

Tel

This looks fabulous. You have managed to bring the whole beauty out of an ordinary pink. Cracking shot. I like this image really a lot.

Did you take handheld? I have been a bit frustrated using my 50mm f1.4. Cant seem to manage to get the best out of it. Truth be said though that I haven't tried with lots of subjects, mainly just chasing my little ones around the house to see if I can catch them still for a fraction of a second so I could snap them. So far 90% of my shots are either out of focus, or partially focused at the best. Got to dedicate myself more to it.

Yesterday after a bit of effort did just about manage to get couple of cute looking poses from the little one, but quite embarrassed even to upload and asking for comments

Amin

Yup, those edges were like that with fringing on the original image.

Am I close to how it should be according to the article?

Thanks Shim, off to check it now

Mike
love the colours. That purple just gets enhanced with the dark background. Cracking shot .
And the shadows on the few petals just gives it a huge impact, like it very much.

And how on earth did you manage to shoot it handheld , talk about steady hands, gosh!!!

And by the way, what method are you using to stack them?

I was reading the article Shim put the link up and I must admit, would love to try alterting backgrounds, specially to put a black one when I feel like it in an image that would bring more of an impact, but I am still treading waters with photoshop.

I think if I read somewhere or just get some tips I am sure I could manage it. Image editors are a totally different beast compared to other software manipulation, its totally out of my league. But having a blast learning it.

Talking about image editors, my PS elements 7 trial ends today, so I got to upgrade it. Used it for a month and have learnt to like it. Still a lot to learn though but have been exploring slowly and getting to grips with it. I guess I got to fork out the dosh for the version 7 then.

Thanks for your kind comments Shim.

My images show all the EXIF Data, dont know why it doesn't also show that I used manual focusing. I have reverted to do all my macros MF now. Got myself a magnifier and it helps tremendously.

Just opened the page you sent me the link, seems very interesting. Off to immerse myself into reading it. , If there is anything I can apply to improve I am game straightaway. I love dark and black backgrounds, depending on the subject obviously, so going to explore some more of that.

Thanks again Shim

Mark and Mike, take a break, have a hotchoc

Thanks RR and Mike-P. I got to master the use of that flash. Everytime I attempt to use it I end up in a wide range of trouble, you definitely do not want even to see any of the pics I took while attempting macro with flash.

But I really want to start making full use of it. Will get to grips with it. I am stepping up my learning process now thanks to you all .