Need a better lens?

cleanpig

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Hello!

I've been here a few months ago asking for a few tips. You guys were a big help, everything you told me helped me tremendously! So here I am again, asking for a advice. I've attached two pictures, two of my lates ones. (I played with them a little in Lightroom. :3, still learning the program and "know-hows". )

Recently I started feeling the limits of my lens. I'd like to create a good "bokeh" effect for model photograhpy, but it's quite hard to:

1. catch proper focus
2. good "bokeh"

I've made them without tripod and without flash, only used my Nikon D3200 (+ the 18-105 VR kit lens which came with it). The weather was rainy (so we had to hurry), settings were the following:

- ISO: 100
- FP: 18-60mm
- Aperture max: 3.8
- Center weighted metering
- Autofocus

The still don't feel "right". The bokeh is not good enough, the focus is not properly centered even though I made the settings manually. (moved the little box to the face) So I was thinking of buying a lens for model shooting which has a good "bokeh" effect. :)
Should I buy a lens? Or is it still my skill thats lacking? Any suggestions?

Thank you very much for all the help and answers in advance!
 

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Many confuse 'bokeh' with depth-of-field. (DoF).

DoF is adjustable, bokeh isn't.

Image sensor size, lens focal length, point of focus (PoF) distance from the camera, lens aperture, and how far the background is from the PoF all determine how deep DoF will be.

There are online DoF calculators, like Online Depth of Field Calculator and the calculator embedded in this tutorial - Understanding Depth of Field in Photography

Depth-of-field is one of the more difficult fundamental concepts for new photographers to come to grips with.
 
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As with any gear question, we need to know your budget; solutions can range from $75 - 2000.
 
I agree, try a 35mm or 50mm f1.8 prime lens. I also just got a d3200 and 35mm f1.8 and get a very narrow DOF resulting in nice bokeh. This is my first posting, I will try and upload on of the pics as soon as I figure it out a little more.
 

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I agree with the first poster, it sounds like you are wanting depth of field. You can sort it out using a blur effect in post processing, but it sounds more like you need to read up more.

Bokeh is to do with the shape of out of focus light balls in your photo.

So no. It doesn't seem like you need a new lens just a little time spent on basic skills
 
For one thing 1/15 of a second shutter speed is too slow.
The first shot was shot at f5, not f3.8.
You need faster glass to get thin DOF. The lenses mentioned above would allow you to accomplish that.
 
Don't waste money on a new lens - you need to work on knowing the basics first.

For bokeh, move your subjects further from the background (particularly the first), and move closer to your subject to create shallower dof. Zoom out to keep your framing. Then do some more studying on the dof triangle.

As for focus, without seeing shots with troubles, I'm guessing you were having issues with camera motion rather than focus. Your ISO is at 100 and you were about to get rain, meaning you don't have a whole lot of light to work with. Your eyes will often trick you and tell you there is enough, but your camera can't adjust as well as your eyes. You are shooting a really slow shutter speed for hand-held. Bump your ISO for a faster shutter speed and you will see improvement in the blur. Then do some more studying on the exposure triangle.

Also, focus manually for these set up shots.

Save your cash for now.
 
I'm going to suggest at least 50mm for portraits. The tighter view can be more flattering to your subject. Just my $.02.
 
With your existing gears,

- Choose a better background. Take a look at the 2 photos you have. You may noticed the background of the 2nd one, which the model stand between 2 tree branches, is blurrier than the 1st one. I believe that is the result of a background that is farther away from the subject in the 2nd photo. If you choose one even farther away from the 2nd photo, it should be better.

- Use a longer focal length. I will choose 105mm over 24mm that you use with the 2nd photo and 58mm with the 1st one. Longer focal length gives you a better result.


With new gears, use a lens that has a wider max aperture i.e. f/2.8 or lower f number. And for outdoor shoot, choose a longer focal length. (telephoto)
 
With a 100mm focal length you can get a nicely defocused background even with f/4. But at 18mm and f/4 you'll get almost nothing at all.

1) The focal ratio (f-stop / aperture) need to be LOW.
2) The focal length needs to NOT be wide. The longer the better. It doesn't need to be telephoto... but it can't be a wide angle.
3) You can increase the effect by using a close subject distance with a background much farther away.

But that's just for out-of-focus backgrounds. If you want the out-of-focus background to be particularly pleasing then it helps to have a very "rounded" aperture. A 50mm f/1.8 lens with a 5-blade aperture wont make a smooth out-of-focus background. You'll get what some term "nervous bokeh" or "jittery bokeh". An 8 or 9 blade aperture will generally make a smooth creamy bokeh.

Since the background will be the source of the blur, what you select for the background will have a large impact. A colorful dense background will look much better then a thin, sparse, non-colorful background.
 
Ah yes, depth of field, shallow focus etc. ALWAYS a popular subject which seems totally mystifying to the beginner and also, I've yet to come up with a formula to blur that background, consistently.

If you've ever read anything about the way that FX crews used to film models of most anything, the first item of business was to make sure that the model was well lit so that the camera operator could close down the aperture (fstop) thereby ensuring a MAXIMUM depth of field, which basically meant that NO part of the model would go out of focus and thereby ruin the illusion of *whatever* was being filmed.

Today, it would seem, the most popular piece of advice for blurring backgrounds, is to OPEN UP your aperture, thereby guaranteeing that Pro Look. Yeah, that will work, as long as you are shooting on an overcast day or a situation that has less than optimal light. Bright sunny day, however, will all but assure you of an overexposure.

What to do then.....?

Get yourself close enough, yet far away enough from your subject, for starters. Again, I haven't conked this down to any particular DOF formula, so it's like I'm starting over everytime. Your zoom lens will go a bit towards fine tuning what you need to achieve. So when you set your camera up at the proper distance, use your zoom to "fill-in" the rest, so to speak.
The second part of this, is to make sure that the background (or background objects) is far enough away from your subject so that it will get sufficiently blurred, when you have your lens trained on your subject. Having the background at a distance ensures that it is NOT within the same DOF as your subject, NOR field of focus, so to speak.

How is this important? Well, if you took your subject and posed them against a wall, there is NO way you could throw the wall out of focus, because it's occupying the same space as your subject.

A lot of people would like to think that you need a lens on the order of the Hubble Telescope to blur backgrounds. While it is nice to be loaded for bear, sometimes you only have to loaded for hamster. I took this shot with a camera that had 5x optical, at *best*:

Macroplant-MEDIUM | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Take a close look (no pun intended) at macro photography on the web- the subjects are clear yet the backgrounds are blurry-an important lesson!
 
Ah yes, depth of field, shallow focus etc. ALWAYS a popular subject which seems totally mystifying to the beginner and also, I've yet to come up with a formula to blur that background, consistently.
DOF calculators and tables are readily available. Most modern DSLRs also have a DOF Preview button.

Today, it would seem, the most popular piece of advice for blurring backgrounds, is to OPEN UP your aperture, thereby guaranteeing that Pro Look. Yeah, that will work, as long as you are shooting on an overcast day or a situation that has less than optimal light. Bright sunny day, however, will all but assure you of an overexposure.
Faster shutter to realign the exposure triangle or, if already shooting as fast as possible or NEED a slower shutter, ND filter.

Pardon me, but aren't you the same "experienced" photographer that thinks AF can't see through windows? If so, you might want to back off on giving advice to others when you seem to be a bit unclear yourself. It's not nice to impart bad info to others who are trying to learn. Just sayin'...
 
deeky said:
Don't waste money on a new lens - you need to work on knowing the basics first.

For bokeh, move your subjects further from the background (particularly the first), and move closer to your subject to create shallower dof. Zoom out to keep your framing. Then do some more studying on the dof triangle.

Why would you zoom out to try to achieve a shallower depth of field?
 
Oh yeah, one more thing to try, as a lesson in shallow focus.

Hold your index finger at a distance from your face so that it is in clear focus, according to your eyes.

Concentrate on your index finger so that it IS in clear focus, BUT , at the same time, make note of the background, through periphial vision.

When your finger is in sharp focus, the background is blurred.

Now do the same thing again, except THIS TIME, focus on the BACKGROUND, but make note of how your index finger is blurred.Do this correctly and you should see TWO index fingers!

The lesson here? Whatever you focus on, within a given field of view, is what is going to be in focus.

Focus on your finger, the background blurs.

Focus on the background and your finger blurs.......

I had an example of this illustrated in Superboy And The Legion Of Superheroes #203, but I can't find the particular lesson on the web, nor, in my comics.

The intent is still the same though!
 

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