Don't go easy on me

Krawler

TPF Noob!
Joined
Nov 23, 2012
Messages
24
Reaction score
5
Location
East Texas
Can others edit my Photos
Photos OK to edit
Okay a bit of back story first.
For the last few years my subjects have been out in the bright daylight and most of the time requiring a fast shutter speed. Things like 4wheelers, jeeps, race buggies, and race UTVs. Using ISO 100 to 200 along with something around F8 is common to get the shutter speeds I want. I tend to use shutter priority a lot.

Well I decided to get a Canon 50mm 1.4 and try something new. Today being Easter and all I decided to give it a go. Well it ended up raining so we did easter inside and I only made around 30 exposures or so since I am a natural light photographer. ..... (just kidding I don't have a clue how to make a photo look like I want with a flash, as a matter of fact I haven't even looked into it yet)

Okay now to the photo I have questions about.
IMG_2136_zps3496c439.jpg


Shot handheld at f 1.8 ISO 400 and 1/50

Did I just shoot with to slow of a shutter speed and got camera shake?
Missed the focus some how?
Was shooting at f1.8 a horrible idea and gave me a soft photo?
Maybe I fudged it up in post?
Or is it a combination of everything?

Feel free to speak up about everything you see wrong with this photo. I am hard on myself so no one is going to hurt my feelings.


A few last things. Just out of frame to the right was bright window and to the left was a groupe of people in the crouded house. They are expected and are 3 months along so I had them pose in a way that would be easy to recreate as I see them every few weeks. That being said I am open to ideas to how this could have been better composed.
 
Last edited:
I prefer shooting in manual mode. More control.

Your problem appears to be twofold. Movement, caused by the slow shutter speed and perhaps slightly missing the focus due to the razor thin DOF caused by shooting at 1.8. A 1/80 shutter would have helped. 1/100 even better. His watch appears reasonably sharp, telling me the focus locked on to this, the forward most object, putting the heads which are slightly farther back a bit OOF. f2.8 or higher would have helped. Bumping your iso up would have allowed you to shoot with a faster shutter speed and higher f stop. Of course that would have given you a noisier image, but that would have been the better trade off.


I don't have a clue how to make a photo look like I want with a flash
Bounce flash off the ceiling, or better yet, use wireless triggers to fire a flash off-camera through an umbrella or softbox.
 
I prefer shooting in manual mode. More control.

Is there another mode other than manual? :shock:

Your problem appears to be twofold. Movement, caused by the slow shutter speed and perhaps slightly missing the focus due to the razor thin DOF caused by shooting at 1.8. A 1/80 shutter would have helped. 1/100 even better. His watch appears reasonably sharp, telling me the focus locked on to this, the forward most object, putting the heads which are slightly farther back a bit OOF. f2.8 or higher would have helped. Bumping your iso up would have allowed you to shoot with a faster shutter speed and higher f stop. Of course that would have given you a noisier image, but that would have been the better trade off.


I don't have a clue how to make a photo look like I want with a flash
Bounce flash off the ceiling, or better yet, use wireless triggers to fire a flash off-camera through an umbrella or softbox.

What Texcam said. If you use (off camera) flash you can keep your ISO down and still use a 1/125 shutter speed. I always figure that if I go slower than 1/125 I'm taking a risk of camera shake.
 
never photograph more than one person at 1.8

you're bound to get one person out of focus. 2.8 is a pretty good place to try at 50 mm.

way too slow shutter as well. get over 1/100 or even 1/250.
 
I disagree about the shutter speed. As pointed out, his watch and sleeve are pretty sharp. With good technique (there are a lot of tutorials on this) you should be able to get an acceptably sharp image at 1/50. Given that it's an available-light hand-held shot, you don't expect to get absolutely razor-sharp images. Of course a flash or a tripod would be better, but if you nail the focus at around 2.8, as suggested, then it will be sharp enough for what it is. You don't say what kind of camera you're using, so I can't tell whether boosting the ISO would result in more noise or not, but even if it did, they probably would still be happy with the shot.
 
It's too warm for my taste (although that was probably in truth how it looked, I would dial it back a bit to try to retain the "look" without the deep yellow cast).

You could certainly have gotten camera shake at 1/50, depending on how steady your hands are and how good of a grip you have. In general, I shoot more frames if I'm flirting with 1/focal length shutter speeds, to give me a better chance at a sharp one.

As has been noted, stop down for a multitude of reasons.

I would have pushed him back half a step to open up the shadow on her face. Well, no. I would have done exactly what you did, and then cursed myself later for not moving him back half a pace. But that would have been a good call!
 
White balance is off, Isn't his shirt supposed to be white? Also, instead of using f1.8 to blur the background, look for a less distracting background and use f4 for a sharp photo with enough depth of field.
 
Without VR, 1/50 is very slow... Makes no sense to shoot at it, unless you're using it to fill in ambient WITH a flash.
 
White balance is off, Isn't his shirt supposed to be white? Also, instead of using f1.8 to blur the background, look for a less distracting background and use f4 for a sharp photo with enough depth of field.

I totally agree with this. You do not need to go 1.8 for background blur. never ever shoot more than one person when photographing f1.8
 
Thanks for the input folks. I can't believe I forgot to mention that the body was a T3i and I did not want to go over ISO 400. The few times I have before I wasn't happy with the results at all.

Looking back now it is obvious that I should have bumped the ISO up anyways since I knew the shutter speed was pushing it.
I shot what little bit I did that day in AV since the light would change drastically every few feet because of the house being full of open windows every few feet.
 
Oh and I used the center focus point focused on his cheak and then reframed.
 
^ Het folks, I don't think camera shake was the problem, but rather motion blur, for the watch is pretty sharp. Ken, yes you can sometimes get away with 1/50, but the subjects have to cooperate too.
 
I totally agree with this. You do not need to go 1.8 for background blur. never ever shoot more than one person when photographing f1.8

I was not looking for background blur, just trying to get enough light into the camera. I tried using the pop up flash and we all know how that turned out without having to see it and I also tried the pop up flash with a tissue in front of it. I had a feeling the shot wasn't going to work but I am not above trying something that I think might not work.
Live and learn is say.

Once again thinks for the info folks.
And it looks like I might just spend some cash on a flash, now just to figure out what I need.
 
^ Het folks, I don't think camera shake was the problem, but rather motion blur, for the watch is pretty sharp. Ken, yes you can sometimes get away with 1/50, but the subjects have to cooperate too.

So you're saying that they were both moving their entire bodies with the exception of his left arm, which was more or less stationary? Doesn't it seem more likely that the focus was in front of their faces and torsos and more or less on the arm?
 

Most reactions

Back
Top