Mom's Party Picture Issues

[Andrei_316]

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]I took pictures of my Mom's Birthday party and one of her friends asked me to take a picture, so I did and When It was on the 3inch monitor it looked good but when I saw it on the Computer Screen a person was part of the Bokeh [/FONT] Here is the picture
DSC_1273 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Other pictures were great, Around 30% were not focused properly (Using a 50mm AI-s with D5100)
My mom said that if a photographer can't take pictures of 2 people something is wrong with your settings, well I know my setting were alright I was shooting f/1.8, 1/40, and at High ISO, I took pictures of 3 people it was fine, but the way they were sitting, the girl was closer to me and the boy was behind the girl, and depth of field happened when I took the shot, I couldn't take a shot with higher F stop because it wouldn't let alot of light and you guys know what happens if you bring you ISO Higher or Put the shutter speed lower.

I would've changed my lens with the 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 and change my setting and use the Flash on my camera but the pictures wouldn't look proper with the small flash giving way to much power and I might have people having some red eyes, Which will lead again to my Mom getting mad at me for not having good pictures.

My mom told me to ask you guys so Here I am telling you the issue, Am I Right or Wrong?

 

[macpro88]

Need more light. This shot at f/1.8 is going to have a VERY VERY thin DOF (Depth of field). Had the subject been right next to each other, they might have both been in focus.

The wider open and closer the subject the thinner DOF you will have. To get both in focus at that distance, something smaller than f/2.8 or f/4 would have been better. Then again doesn't look like you had enough light for this.

 

[PhotoWrangler]

I want to be part of the bokeh!!

 

[macpro88]

I want to be part of the bokeh!!

What kinda bokeh? We haz all kindz in stock.

 

[Trever1t]

your mom was right. Never argue with your mom. F1.8 at the focal length and distance to subject = short DOF...

 

[macpro88]

Here is an online Depth of Field calculator and will help give you a better understanding of how f/stops, subject distance, and focal length define what gets in focus.
Online Depth of Field Calculator

 

[Andrei_316]

She doesn't even know what f/1.8, shutter speed and Iso :meh:

 

[tirediron]

Need more light. This shot at f/1.8 is going to have a VERY VERY thin DOF (Depth of field). Had the subject been right next to each other, they might have both been in focus.

The wider open and closer the subject the thinner DOF you will have. To get both in focus at that distance, something smaller than f/2.8 or f/4 would have been better. Then again doesn't look like you had enough light for this.

Exactly. Cameras are far less sensitive to light than the human eye, and even when an indoor scene seems bright to us, it usually isn't to a camera. You needed both a smaller aperture and a higher shutter speed; while DoF is an issue, I suspect camera shake at 1/40 was as well, since nothing in the image seems perfectly sharp to me. You can get good results out of your pop-up flash with a little practice. The most important aspect is diffuseion, a single ply of regular old toilet paper draped over the flash will help a LOT in case like this where the subjects are very close. Also check out this calculator to get a better idea of just how little DoF you were working with.

 

[macpro88]

She doesn't even know what f/1.8, shutter speed and Iso :meh:

But she's complaining the shot sucks?

DSLR's = not the camera you just pick up and shoot and expect perfect shots because you spent all that money

Understand how it all works and correlates with each other and then you/she can better understand the results the ensue.

 

[PhotoWrangler]

She doesn't even know what f/1.8, shutter speed and Iso :meh:

Neither do you apparently... She was right, you were wrong.

 

[Andrei_316]

Me and my dad know but she is the one that keeps complaining and my dad agrees with me...

 

[Trever1t]

She doesn't even know what f/1.8, shutter speed and Iso :meh:

She doesn't have to, she can look and see your settings were wrong to get both persons in focus. YOU need to understand better, not her. Now go and tell mom she was right.

 

[macpro88]

Me and my dad know but she is the one that keeps complaining and my dad agrees with me...

So you are posting this and showing her the comments from us to prove her wrong and you and your dad right?

That's kinda hilarious, not gonna lie.

 

[macpro88]

She doesn't even know what f/1.8, shutter speed and Iso :meh:

She doesn't have to, she can look and see your settings were wrong to get both persons in focus. YOU need to understand better, not her. Now go and tell mom she was right.

I think its the other way around, mom thinks she's right, she's not, so she tells son to ask us to try and prove her self right, ends up back firing...

 

[SCraig]

She was right and you were wrong. At f/1.8 your depth of field was about 4 inches each side of the point of focus. You needed about f/5.6 or f/8 to make that work. Your ISO was only 320, and you could have raised that to 800 with no major problems to account for a lot of it.

Personally I would have used a flash. Even the pop-up flash with a few layers of bathroom tissue over the flash would have worked.