Just started my photography Biz need C&C PLEASE!

[Elizabeth30]

yeah um how are you starting a business around it when your still learning?

Aren't we all still learning? I mean yeah, if you want to go into business, at some point you have to decide you know enough and are consistent enough to start charging people. But when you stop learning altogether, it's time to call it quits.

Well said and after today I'm not affraid to say I may have jumped the gun just a bit :/ ok ok a lot! But we learn from our mistakes and that's what I'm trying to do.

 

[ph0enix]

I use MF not AF

Do you have a specific reason for that? AF is faster and more accurate most of the time.

I guess I need to learn more on how to change my points of focus in the camera settings.

Yup, your camera has at least a couple of different AF modes. Study them. They should be described in detail in the manual.

 

[Elizabeth30]

Yes, achieving bokeh is easiest in the widest aperture, however that isn't the only thing that controls depth of field and bokeh. You also need to be closer to your subject than the subject is to the background.
If your subject is not fully in focus you have to raise your aperture until you get good focus. No lens is at it's sharpest wide open anyway. Most lenses are sharpest about 2 stops down from their widest aperture. That will allow you the depth of field you need to have a much better focus and STILL give you bokeh if there is distance between the subject and the background.

Using the LCD screen to focus will make a mess of things. You really need to be using the viewfinder. You will see a great difference in your work.
You also want to only use ONE focus point and lock that on the inside of the eye closest to you. If you use more than one focus point then your camera is allowed to choose and it will choose where it wants to focus based on the most contrast.

Basically you want to allow your camera to make little to NO decisions on it's own.

If you try using back button focusing and getting your focus off that shutter button you will also see an improvement. Read here for more information: Canon DLC: Article: Back-Button Auto Focus Explained

ah, what is this back button of which you speak?? I'm definantly reading about this one today!!!!

 

[Elizabeth30]

As above try using back button focus i have been using it for everything for years. Using longer focal lengths will give you the bokeh you want and not have to shoot wide open, this shot below was shot at F4.5 300mm, shooting it at F2.8 i would only have a split second to get the shot and it will be out of focus because of the very narrow DOF, your better to have less bokeh and be in focus

WOW!! AWESOME shot! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[redessa]

I guess I need to learn more on how to change my points of focus in the camera settings.

Yes, yes you do. Read the manual. Seriously. I don't mean that to sound patronizing, I mean honest to goodness, read the manual. Know what your camera can do and how to make those basic simple adjustments.

I have your same camera. Changing the focus point is something I do without even thinking. Look at the back of your camera. See those two round buttons on the far right, near the top? They have blue manifying glasses under them w/ + & - in them. Push the one on the right. Your screen will say "AF point selection" and below that "Automatic Mode" and you'll see a bunch of blue boxes. Now find the little wheel on the top of your camera, right behind the shutter button. Turn it and see what happens.

But seriously, read the manual. Study it. There's all kinds of information in there!

 

[Elizabeth30]

You can achieve good bokeh with ANY mode

ok but the best bokeh I have seen is with the largest aperture.... ??? am 'i wrong??

I think you are misunderstanding the term bokeh. Bokeh describes the quality of the blur in the out of focus areas of your picture. This is a fixed quality for each lens. By shooting wide open, you have a very shallow depth of field and so you have more of the image out of focus, thus you see more bokeh. So in a way, you could say shooting wide open gives better bokeh but it does not actually make the quality of the bokeh better, there's just more of it.

The flip side though is that you are sacrificing sharpness. Is it worth the tradeoff? Generally not. All the best bokeh in the world isn't going to make up for not having the subject in focus.

The beauty of it is though, that you you don't have to be wide open to get that nice blurred background. You can stop down the 3.5 or 4 and still get nice bokeh simply by moving the subject further from the background.

For example, my photographer shot this at f/4 which was necessary to get all of us in focus. But we were in a clearing far enough from the trees so as to still have that look of a nice shallow depth of field.

No, I understand the term Bokeh and DoF but what I have yet to learn is how to get the best results. I found out the hard way that Largest Aperture is not always best! I had a friend ask me to do a family shoot for her and I used my 50mm 1.8 SET to AV 1.8 with ISO 100..... now I know most of you are cringing lol all of the photos lack TONS of clarity!! I mean there are still some "ok" shots but they are just "ok". BTW, nice pic!!!

 

[Elizabeth30]

Do you have a specific reason for that? AF is faster and more accurate most of the time.

I guess I need to learn more on how to change my points of focus in the camera settings.

Yup, your camera has at least a couple of different AF modes. Study them. They should be described in detail in the manual.

haha, yes I've seen these points and thought "hum? don't know how to adjust them or which ones are my focal point but oh well, i'll figure it out" STUPID! I will work on this as well as many other things

 

[KmH]

You can achieve good bokeh with ANY mode

ok but the best bokeh I have seen is with the largest aperture.... ??? am 'i wrong??

That is DoF, not bokeh.

Before you do anything else - go read this; Understanding Depth of Field in Photography

 

[Elizabeth30]

You can achieve good bokeh with ANY mode

ok but the best bokeh I have seen is with the largest aperture.... ??? am 'i wrong??

That is DoF, not bokeh.

Before you do anything else - go read this; Understanding Depth of Field in Photography

let me rephrase, you get "more" bokeh with larger aperture, but I am now understanding that is not always the best option for a good photo that has bokeh. I'm thinking I've been loosing a lot of clairity in my photos from not really understanding how to use good DoF and Aperture settings.

 

[jake337]

The problem with the original post was that you started talking business and then posted some snapshots. Do you have examples fromt the 5 senior shoots you did?

 

[Dom6663]

ok but the best bokeh I have seen is with the largest aperture.... ??? am 'i wrong??

That is DoF, not bokeh.

Before you do anything else - go read this; Understanding Depth of Field in Photography

let me rephrase, you get "more" bokeh with larger aperture, but I am now understanding that is not always the best option for a good photo that has bokeh. I'm thinking I've been loosing a lot of clairity in my photos from not really understanding how to use good DoF and Aperture settings.

You dont get more bokeh, you get a shorter depth of field. If your talking about the actual shape and quality of the bokeh, when you stop down, for example f8 on an f2.8 lens, your bokeh 'balls' will look more geometric, dependant on the ammount of aperture blades you have. However, when your lens is fully open, widest aperture, the bokeh will indeed have a circular shape, typically.

I dont know if what I just said is relative to what you are talking about, I am not reading this thread, just taking what you say out of context

 

[MTVision]

let me rephrase, you get "more" bokeh with larger aperture, but I am now understanding that is not always the best option for a good photo that has bokeh. I'm thinking I've been loosing a lot of clairity in my photos from not really understanding how to use good DoF and Aperture settings.

It's a lot easier to miss focus when shooting wide open. You're photos won't be sharp either. You can still get a nice DOF (blurring) by stopping down. At f/1.8 (depending on how close you are to your subject) the eyes may be in focus (if you nail it) but nothing else will be in sharp focus. F/1.8 definitely isn't the best if you are shooting more then 1 person either unless you are really far away - like 15-20 feet away. But no matter what your photos won't be as sharp at 1.8 as at a smaller aperture.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Beautiful pictures. Can I hire you for my million dollar campaign?


When is the date of the end of these incredible threads?

 

[ph0enix]

That is DoF, not bokeh.

Before you do anything else - go read this; Understanding Depth of Field in Photography

let me rephrase, you get "more" bokeh with larger aperture, but I am now understanding that is not always the best option for a good photo that has bokeh. I'm thinking I've been loosing a lot of clairity in my photos from not really understanding how to use good DoF and Aperture settings.

You dont get more bokeh, you get a shorter depth of field. If your talking about the actual shape and quality of the bokeh, when you stop down, for example f8 on an f2.8 lens, your bokeh 'balls' will look more geometric, dependant on the ammount of aperture blades you have. However, when your lens is fully open, widest aperture, the bokeh will indeed have a circular shape, typically.

I dont know if what I just said is relative to what you are talking about, I am not reading this thread, just taking what you say out of context

Is a septagon or an octagon more geometric than a circle?

 

[Elizabeth30]

Beautiful pictures. Can I hire you for my million dollar campaign?


When is the date of the end of these incredible threads?

ABSOLUTELY!! Just make sure you have a bag big enough to carry all that sarcasm.