photo critiques help follow up

It would be so helpful to be able to see the EXIF data for your shots. Why don't you post your photos on Photo.net?

What exposure mode did you use? Program with Auto white balance gives me my best results for flash photography. Did you compensate the exposure on the camera as well as on the speedflash?

I'm not sure why you're even using a flash outdoors on these shots to begin with. Please explain. Set to Manual exposure mode with a shutter speed of 60 and a low f-stop, you should get fantastic outdoor and indoor photos in very low light.

My eye says your lighting is still flat and that you have focus issues. You don't appear to be focused on THE element that will engage the viewer. For example, on bebs web sz the focus seems to be on the hat brim and not the child's face.

Look forward to more information -

Cheers,
Alberta

I'm not sure why you're even using a flash outdoors on these shots to begin with. Please explain.

Why wouldn't one use flash outdoors? Outdoor fill is quite common, I use it all the time.

Going back to the original photos, it feels to me like there isn't enough flash, there's barely a catchlight in many of the eyes. Also, they desperately need post-processing, they feel washed out, white balance needs to be adjusted and contrast increased. Finally, they seem noisy. You should be able to shoot at fairly low ISO if you're outdoors with flash.

Thanks, Alberta! Indeed, the one with the baby is wrongly focused (but I hope the only one :-)). Well, I used flash because backlit subjects are too dark without fill flash. I used matrix metering, aperture priority, here is the exif data

And Jeff, they are super-compressed that's why the noise. Thanks, I also feel they are washed out, I used a "neutral" setting! This could be fixed. Indeed, I feel more flash is needed, but I didn't dare do that on my first try! thnks

Anda, almost without exception - (perhaps not as much as the one of the baby), if you process these images to darken the midtones, and then add some contrast, for starters, I'm sure you will start smiling about those images.

Try that, and tell me if that doesn't make you a lot happier. :=)

(PS. Why don't you post your photos on Photo.net?)

thanks, Mike, it's exactly what I am doing, I can't believe I didn't see that!!!!And, yes, I am smilling (about some). Thanks a lot!

PS: I am really new to photonet and, by habit, I uploaded them to flckr.. Next time. Thanks

Yaaay!

Hi
They are nice enough pictures, but like you say they lack something. You complain that they are flat which I agree with.
You use the sb600 on your D700 which is a great combo. If you really want to get the best out of your portraits then you'll have to get your sb600 off the camera. Your D700 will trigger it remotely - learn how to do this (it's dead simple to grasp the basics) and a whole world of possibilites will open up to you. To begin with find the Strobist blog and learn what you can from that.
With your flash sitting on the camera you will always get that flatness, because you will be unable to create shadows. Shadows are your friend. honestly, i'm not a fan of on camera flash except in a very few circumstances - like mugshots, or for fill in a formal portrait. Oh yes, and shoot manually because the auto modes tend to play it very safe which contributes to the flatness you mentioned. And use manual mode on the flashes too.
Find pictures by other photographers that you love and then deconstruct them - where is the light coming from, what angle is it at, is it hard or soft etc.
As for post production, youtube is a great resource for learning tricks and techniques. But the best thing to do is to try everything. If there is a slider, then slide it and see what happens. But (IMHO) the golden rule about photoshop is that the final product shouldn't look photoshopped, it should just look like a great photo.
don't get discouraged, i think cartier bresson said to don mccullin that if you take one good photo in a year then you're doing well. just keep practising and trying new things.
best of luck

Wait for the moment. Push the button. Learn to look for emotion or somthing that makes the picture worth taking. Subjects are still underexposed. Pic of the baby with the black furry is real nice!