First critique posting

[Guiney12343]

Hello, I'm new to the dslr game and this is my first posting to the critique section. Looking for any tips on photos I recently posted to my Flickr account. I will update with photo stats when I get home (shutter speed, aperture, iso). I did not have any of this info with me when I posted to Flickr, sorry. The pictures all were taken using the panning technique while my kids were running around the house. Camera was canon xsi with ef50mm f1.4 lens. Thanks for your time and your input. The link is http://www.flickr.com/photos/62076178@N08/

[o.pulido]

The second image, the one with the girl, is way out of focus. The other two also seem to be, but not as bad. When shooting portrait style images, which I believe that’s what you were aiming for, more or less, remember to focus on the eyes and make sure they‘re tack-sharp. Also, in image #1, you could have blurred the background more, in my opinion. I say this because the furniture is visible enough to where my eyes want to keep going to it. Image #3 has nice bokeh, but the crop is weird. Not that chopping off the top of the head is necessarily wrong, because many times it works, but in this particular image it’s too much chop and makes for an unpleasant frame. You do seem to have used the rule of thirds OK, so I compliment you on that.
Hope that helps.

[Guiney12343]

Thanks for your feedback. I definitely agree with the one with the girl is way out of focus, this was just the one I loved that got away. I tried to focus on the face in all the pictures because they weren't still sitting portraits. I was actually moving the camera with them as they were running past me. Perhaps a slower shutter speed would of increased the panning blur effect? I also believe the aperature was too high to fully achieve the blurry background. I have updated the stream on flickr with the shutter speed, aperature and iso settings. I shot in Tv mode to have a fast shutter speed to catch the action through out the entire picture taking adventure (its always an adventure with kids isnt it?) and a higher iso to help with the low light of the room. Do you think manual mode would of worked better? Also, is tack sharp a realistic expectation for a photo taken while panning the camera? If so, then its a goal for me to work toward. I appreciate your feedback and anyone else's who is willing to comment. As a beginner looking to get great shots its so overwhelming sometimes with everything you have to remember to check before taking the shot, also, with moving targets I often miss the moments because I'm either checking the setting or changing the setting. Also which settings to change to make improvements for next time. I am sure these will get much easier as I become more experienced. Thanks again!