New to the forum, would love C&C
 

I've had my D40 for a couple years and my love and knowledge of photography has grown, but I'm still learning, as most photographers do. Recently I got a portable studio setup and shot a friend of mine yesterday. WOW...even MORE to learn! <img src="http://thephotoforum.com/forum/images/smilies/lol.gif" border="0" alt="" title="LOL" smilieid="25" class="inlineimg" /></p>
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<p>First off, my white backdrop looked horrid. Even after fixing it in PS, I'm not willing to post it, it was grey, not white, which means I need more light on it, right? AND, it had barely any bokeh even though I was using f1.8. AND, my 35mm lens was not what I wanted to use b/c I find it can be unflattering and it's hard to get more than one small area sharp. I had my friend (and her kids) about 4 feet in front of the backdrop, but still you could see it clearly, so I'm not sure what was going on there. so...I switched to black. </p>
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<p>Black was better, BUT, it's dark and even though it was a learning experience, I was frustrated b/c I couldn't get the lighting to do what I wanted. I had 2 umbrella lights and another smaller light but failed at using them b/c most of my shots were not sharp, I couldn't use my 55-200mm at all, when I thought that would be the best to use. The shots were blurry. Any C&amp;C would help, but be gentle please, I'm already pretty hard on myself! <img src="http://thephotoforum.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Wink" smilieid="35" class="inlineimg" /> </p>
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<p>I dream of the day I can get a D90 b/c focusing is difficult with the D40 and I don't think my shots are as sharp as they could be. </p>
<p>Here's one of the shots:</p>
<p><u><img src="http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i161/twoboysnmygirl/365%20Project/Thorplancaster057.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></u></p>
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