Cool or Creepy? A few for C&C?

[cgipson1]

Did you do the focusing tests yet?
Seems you are still having trouble with that.

I'm beginning to think this has to be a case of extreme camera shake when she takes pictures. It's been a persistent problem for her over two camera bodies and several lenses. It seems almost impossible to miss focus that much. also, Ive never seen a photo of hers where she 'missed focus' where anything in the picture was actually in focus. You'd think that once or twice, her miss would have made something else hit the focal range.

She also seems to have this issue even when she's shooting at like f/11.

To me, putting this all together, it pretty much screams extreme​ camera shake.

High shutter speeds negate that.. as does flash as primary light source. The middle one was shot at 1/400... which should be fast enough to stop 99% of camera shake, even at 155mm. I would like to know if she did the tests that were suggested in her last thread.. on tripod..... since they were never posted.

 

[sm4him]

First, why the dupicate posting in another forum? http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/people-photography/288852-cool-creepy.html
You've been around long enough to know there's no point in that.

1. VERY noisy. VERY odd. VERRRRYYYY, VERY creepy. It's either Jabba the Hut or the Chucky doll, maybe a mixture of both.
2 and 3. pretty much what everyone else already said.

she realized that you aren't supposed to do C+C any longer in the beginner's forum, but instead of seeking out a mod to move it, she created a duplicate thread in the gallery, I think.

Well, if I'd actually bothered to read the whole thread before posting, I'd have realized that. Mea culpa. But yeah, OP, don't start a duplicate thread, just ask a mod to move it to the correct forum.

 

[pixmedic]

Didn't i see them in John Carpenter's Village of the Damned?

 

[Trever1t]

step away from the camera

 

[AMOMENT]

I tried to delete the other thread but didn't know I had to contact a mod to do it. I reposted it here because I realized I had put in in wrong forum.

"JABA THE HUT" looks quite feminine and young and "chucky" never looked so pretty.

Bitterjewler, doing focus test tonight (printed out a focus chart) just waiting for the sun to go down a little because I want to do it outside.

My CC would be

1. I like. (just my taste) It looks noisy but is not on my computer in other formats.

2. I like her expression and the clor but focus is off...AGAIN..grr!

3. I'm happy with three but I wish I had composed this so that the tree was not behind her. Sometimes these are just "grab and go" shots and I'm lucky to just get anything. I just got the D7000 so I havent had a chance to practice on any other subjects other than my children who are always local. =)

 

[AMOMENT]

I actually did not touch the saturation in pp at all and in my camera, it is standard. I tried a taking some shots as per a menber on here advised me to. for moving kids he said set set the camera an f/8, Ch, in AF-C mode and lock focus on the center FP and shoot away. I did just that and shot with a shutter of, I think 1/600. I wasn't thrilled with the focus either. Here are a few but as you can see..I did take specific advice! I am even back button focusing. Focus test tonight will hopefully let me know if my lens is off. I actually took my lens to a the nearest camera store, which is not so near, and had the tech look at it. Well, it was unsuccessful. He said "I can't get it to focus at all." and then I told him "that's because it's not on." Clearly, I did not take his opinion too seriousely when he said it seemed fine.

For what it's worth, these pictures are uninteresting to me and are just snap shots, but I'm primarily looking and was working at the focus as per advice from a member on here with specific instructions.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

 

[Jaemie]

#1: MUCUS! ..gag Otherwise, creepy and kind of cool.

#2: Okay. The choke marks or rash on her neck distract a bit, but it's not a big issue as far as the photo is concerned.

#3: Cute. I like this the best. Little girls do not have to smile all time to look wonderful. Cropped too close at headband and on left. I'd probably prefer a lower angle shot as well, at her eye level.

 

[cgipson1]

AMOMENT.. the last set you posted has some of the sharpest focus I have ever seen from you. I can actually see individual eyelashes and eyebrow hairs. However.. there are a lot of other problems.... but as you said, you snapped these to test focus. You got that right!

I don't think your LENS has a problem!

 

[fjrabon]

kinda funny that you sort of pour mouthed these, as I think these are generally probably the best work of yours that I've seen in all the C&C threads you've put up.

With a little post work 5 could be really great. and if 3 was just a tad bit less tight and some post work it would be a fantastic shot.

2, 4 & 6 are blurry all of them need white balance adjustments and at least a touch of sharpening.

 

[cgipson1]

#2 was shot at ISO 900 ... why? It is very noisy for that ISO on a D7000.. F8, 1/800. You don't need 1/800 to shoot a kid... drop the ISO to at most 400... you will still have plenty of shutter speed. DON'T USE AUTO ISO.. you have too many other issues to add variables you can't control!

 

[fjrabon]

Yeah, I agree with cgipson1. When a camera or lens needs to be adjusted, then its going to throw the focus off the same way on every shot. That clearly doesn't happen in your pictures. Also, you've had this same issue with two different bodies (D3100 and D7000) and at least two different lenses (kit lens and the, I think 50mm prime you have now?) There's no way that you got multiple versions of bad focusing lenses and bodies. Either you're doing something wrong when you focus or something else. I'd be inclined to believe that maybe this was possibly an equipment issue if it had just cropped up, but from day 1 through whatever day this is, it's been the same recurring problem. Heck, if I lived anywhere in NY I'm almost so curious as to what could be wrong that I'd drive over and see what you're doing, because I think we've all almost run out of idea as to your focus issues. By all means do the focus test, just to rule it out, but it seems highly​ unlikely at this point that this is the issue.

 

[yerlem]

I really like #5, sharp eyes

 

[gopal]

in first higher ISO helped to get face in sharp focus...lower ISO wud demand wide aperture....Did u use f11 here?
2nd and 3rd cutie beauty...the minus points u already had above.......tfs.

 

[spicyTuna]

I think someone mentioned to her to just use f8 so if you miss focus you still have quite a bit of DOF and still get reasonably sharp pictures, which in my opinion not the best way to go about this.

Here's my 2 cents on technique...

I'd probably use auto ISO and then go for shutter priority or aperture priority. With shutter you can set your min shutter for moving kids to get sharp focus. Or use aperture priority and set to the DOF you want or set close to wide open for max shutter speed given the light conditions. Set your auto ISO for a min shutter that you can hand hold well enough not to get blurry pictures. This will at least be the reciprocal of the lens focal length. 1/30th is good if you have a steady hand. This way you'll always use the min ISO and it will only go up if you hit a min shutter speed for hand holding.

With people photography if the eyes are in sharp focus, the picture will appear to be in focus. If the eyes are blurry or out of focus the picture will look out of focus.

Usually when I shoot portraits or people I always focus on the eye of the person I want in focus. If they are relatively still I shoot in single AF-S mode and move the single focus point to their eye. If the kid is moving around a lot, then I go for AF-C and again move the focus point to their eye and track the movement trying to keep the focus point on their eye (assuming they're looking at you). I usually zoom out a little too since its easier track a moving kid zoomed out than zoomed in. Can always crop out what I don't want later.

 

[AMOMENT]

Did you do the focusing tests yet?
Seems you are still having trouble with that.

I'm beginning to think this has to be a case of extreme camera shake when she takes pictures. It's been a persistent problem for her over two camera bodies and several lenses. It seems almost impossible to miss focus that much. also, Ive never seen a photo of hers where she 'missed focus' where anything in the picture was actually in focus. You'd think that once or twice, her miss would have made something else hit the focal range.

She also seems to have this issue even when she's shooting at like f/11.

To me, putting this all together, it pretty much screams extreme​ camera shake.

I think you hit the nail!! I know I have extreme camera shake. In all honesty, my hands do tend to shake because of a secondary health issue I have. I try to compensate by tucking my elbows and taking a deep breath. I can use a tripod but sometimes it's just hard to drag it and lower/higher it every second I want to recompose and follow a moving target. I always and still think general camera shake is normal but maybe this is more of a problem than I thought . =(