Absolute newbie - Canon Rebel T6 questions and why can't I get a clear image?

[zombiesniper]

I was just making a point that a general statement like that is generally wrong.

 

[EIngerson]

I'm seeing some issues with your focal points. Most of your photos are focused forward of the subject. Don't let your camera pick your focal point. If you are using a very shallow depth of field you need to be in complete control of that. Being close to a subject with shallow DOF means an inch or less of focal plane. Not much to work with and the biggest mistake when planning a shot. (to get the blurry back ground) That can be achieved with a higher aperture.

 

[KmH]

You are letting the camera chose the focus point, that's why the pictures my come blurry. When you use Tv at fast number like 160 or more the pictures will come out black.
Chose Av and the lowest number that your Lens can get and put the ISO in auto, after chose one single point of focus and put it on your child eye then take the picture.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

I used your advice and just took this photo. What do you think? I appreciate your insight. I like it a lot but I wish it was a bit more sharp... is it possible with this type of camera?

Is that a crop?
If its not, having the camera that close to the subject (a very short point of focus distance) the depth of field (DoF) gets extremely shallow.
Note that the eye camera right (the subject's left eye) is more in focus than the eye camera left (the subject's right eye).
That difference is because the the camera left eye and the subjects visible ear are beyond the far limit of the DoF.
The end of the subjects chin is just beyond the near limit of the DoF and is also not sharply in focus.

If you have a 'protection' filter on the front of your lens - take it off. Clear or UV 'protection' filters usually cause more problems than they solve.
Work on improving your photography knowledge and skill regarding the technical aspects of doing photography and how to evaluate light direction and quality, because your camera and lens are not the problem.

By the way - f/3.5 is a bigger number, and a larger lens opening (aperture), than f/8 is because those are fractions with f representing a number - the focal length of the lens.

 

[TCampbell]

I'm seeing some issues with your focal points. Most of your photos are focused forward of the subject. Don't let your camera pick your focal point. If you are using a very shallow depth of field you need to be in complete control of that. Being close to a subject with shallow DOF means an inch or less of focal plane. Not much to work with and the biggest mistake when planning a shot. (to get the blurry back ground) That can be achieved with a higher aperture.

I was noticing the same thing.

If you allow the camera to auto-select the AF point then the camera will use the AF point which is able to lock focus at the nearest focusing distance... even if that isn't what you really wanted it to focus on. Take the camera out of the mode that lets it use any focus point it wants and you pick the focus point YOU want (usually the subject's nearer eye.)

Some of these suffer from a shallow depth of field (part of the face is focused, but part is falling out of focus because the aperture value was too low.

Also, the camera defaults to "One Shot" focus mode. In this mode the camera activates the focus sensor, focuses the lens UNTIL it can lock focus, and then switches off the focus system and waits for you to take the shot. If your subject moves or you move (e.g. if you lean forward after it focuses, etc.) then your image will be out of focus even though the camera had originally locked focus accurately.

"AI Servo" mode is best or subjects in motion (focus distance is changing) and "One Shot" mode is best for non-moving subjects -- but be aware that if the subject distance changes AFTER the camera has already locked focus then you have to release the shutter button and re-focus because the camera will not update the focus if the distance changes (not in "One shot" mode).

Some of these images are a bit dark (inadequate lighting) and you're getting some noise. I mention this only because sometimes a beginner will say they aren't happy that their images aren't "sharp" (as if to imply a focus problem) but what they really mean is the image doesn't look very "clear" because they seen the grainy-texture of of the sensor noise due to shooting in poor lighting and the camera compensates by using very high ISO.