Just started my photography Biz need C&C PLEASE!

[Elizabeth30]

Some pretty harsh replies here for sure but take them and learn from them. I was getting paid gigs before I really should have gotten paid gigs too, but who cares? I was honest about my level of experience in what the person wanted to pay me to shoot for them and in all cases they understood they were taking a gamble for a discounted price.

You do have to work on the basics, as your focus is off, that is THE basic rule of photography, get the proper focus. If you don't get that down, then it doesn't matter how accurate your exposure is or how crafty your lighting. As has been said, don't live at f/1.8, give yourself some room to breathe, you'll still get the bokeh that your clients want.

My main problem with focus is that I have a hard time telling on the LCD or view finder what actually is in focus...... any tips for that? I mainly shoot with aperture priority becuase of the good bokeh but it does make my point of focus hard to find. and the lens I'm using doesn't zoom so no luck there. although I do have another lens it only opens to 3.4 which is a huge difference in DoF, however this one does zoom.

I'm not familiar with Canon but there should be a focus indicator in the viewfinder. You probably shouldn't use the LCD screen to focus. Also, what AF mode do you use?

I use MF not AF

 

[Robin Usagani]

You can achieve good bokeh with ANY mode

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

You can have large bokeh with any mode, not only AV mode.
Just spend a few minutes everyday on this link.

Cambridge in Colour - Photography Tutorials & Learning Community

 

[jaicatalano]

Is your lens 1.8? If so go to it's sweet spot. Try 2.5 or 2.8. You will notice lenses work better in their sweet spot.

By the way my favorite photo is the bottom photo. A bit purple but on the skin but it's cute.

 

[MLeeK]

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

 

[Compaq]

That back button changed my life :thumbsup:

 

[ph0enix]

I use MF not AF

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

 

[photog4life]

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

 

[gsgary]

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

 

[redessa]

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.


IMG_4493edit1web

 

[MLeeK]

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

maybe you should read a few more of the responses.

 

[Dom6663]

I didn't read this thread, because I'm lazy.

If your clients are happy with the photos you are taking, and paying you for them. Then thats all you need.
You don't need the criticism of other photographers to make money, kind of like McDonalds, sure its not the best burger in town, but hey its good enough people are going to pay for it.

I'm not saying your photos are the McDonalds of the photography industry, thats what Walmart family portraits are for. But your starting out, and if people are willing to pay for these photos, more power to you.

I'm sure as you progress with photography, people will be willing to pay more for your photos as well.

 

[redessa]

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.

 

[Elizabeth30]

I use MF not AF

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

hum well any time i'm set to AF it's slower...... and seems to focus on points I don't like. I guess I need to learn more on how to change my points of focus in the camera settings.

 

[tirediron]

[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...

Thank-you!!!!! :thumbup:

 

[Elizabeth30]

Is your lens 1.8? If so go to it's sweet spot. Try 2.5 or 2.8. You will notice lenses work better in their sweet spot.

By the way my favorite photo is the bottom photo. A bit purple but on the skin but it's cute.

ok thanks!