Need Expert constructive critique for my work

digmont · Mar 14, 2014

Ok I am getting your points.. I used "pre" WB here and for that I took a reference shot of a white piece of paper and used it as "PRE"

From a technical standpoint this image appears to be missed focus for one. There's no detail in her face/eyes, and the purple fringing on her teeth and sharp hair behind her face suggests the focus is behind her. Applying any sharpening would help here.

I used f/1.8 here in these images .. would I be able to get more sharpness and details if I use bigger aperture ? and If I use bigger aperture, the BG would not get blurred enough .. so how would I do that ?

Derrel · Mar 14, 2014

The issue I see is that her FACE and its features are not actually in GOOD focus. Because the lens is wide-open at f/1.8, there is also some purple chromatic aberration, which is not pleasing, and the lens does NOT perform all that well at f/1.8. Her body and face being slightly out of focus makes these unpleasing to look at. Not unpleasant, but unpleasing--there's a subtle difference.

My suggestion? Stop the lens down to f/4, where it will perform significantly better, with more depth of field, and a LOT less purple CA. Also, dial the saturation on the yellows and greens down a bit!

Shooting at f/1.8 with the lens you have produces an image that an experienced photographer can easily pick apart. The sharp hair, but the out of focus nose and lips and teeth, and the out of focus shoulder...just not good. An f/stop of f/4, or f/4.5, or f/4.8 would likely put you right in the optimal lens performance area. Same with f/5.6. At close distances like the ones you were at, f/4.8 or f/5.6 is a good f/stop to use for sharpness and overall pleasing depth of field on a person, yet still with a reasonably defocused background, and NO purple chromatic aberration.

digmont · Mar 14, 2014

ok I am getting your points .. I used PRE wb here in these shots .. I took picture of white piece of paper and used it as reference shot.

From a technical standpoint this image appears to be missed focus for one. There's no detail in her face/eyes, and the purple fringing on her teeth and sharp hair behind her face suggests the focus is behind her. Applying any sharpening would help here.

I used f/1.8 here to get more blurred background, if I use smaller aperture then the BG would not get that blurred .. increasing aperture is the idea here ? or how can I get more face details ? (e.g. eye details, lips, nose, clear eye sockets, hairs).

Regards,
Digmont.

Derrel · Mar 14, 2014

One way to make the background more blurred would be to move her and the camera farther away from the background. If you had moved her about six feet farther from the background, and turned the camera to vertical orientation, you would have been able to stop the lens down to f/4, and get about the same degree of background blurring.

She is actually pretty close to the background, which means HER distance is close to the background distance; the easy approach is to make her CLOSE to the camera, and the background be FAR FROM the camera. THe farther away the background is from a subject that is close to the lens, the more unrecgonizeable the background will be--even with the lens stopped down to say f/4 to f/5.6.

Braineack · Mar 14, 2014

digmont said:
ok I am getting your points .. I used PRE wb here in these shots .. I took picture of white piece of paper and used it as reference shot.

PRE would have been correct if you PRE-programmed the correct reading into the camera beforehand.

From a technical standpoint this image appears to be missed focus for one. There's no detail in her face/eyes, and the purple fringing on her teeth and sharp hair behind her face suggests the focus is behind her. Applying any sharpening would help here.

Click to expand...

I used f/1.8 here to get more blurred background, if I use smaller aperture then the BG would not get that blurred .. increasing aperture is the idea here ?

Just because you have glass that can shoot f/1.8, doesn't mean you must use it. Get further from the background and even at smaller aperture, especially when focusing to a close subject, the bg will blur as the DOF window remains very narrow.

or how can I get more face details ? (e.g. eye details, lips, nose, clear eye sockets, hairs).

your lens is probably sharpest at f/8, not f/1.8. You need good techniques here: good exposure, fast shutter speed to prevent blur, steady hands, but try to focus on the eyes when you're achieving focus and don't move.

I shot this at f/2.8 with a D3100 using the 85mm 1.8G. Look at all the detail in the face compared to your shot*.

All sizes | Girl holding Balloon | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

*i realize I'm much closer to the subject, but this is the sort of sharpness I expect to see in photos when viewed at full size.

digmont · Mar 14, 2014

I shot this at f/2.8 with a D3100 using the 85mm 1.8G. Look at all the detail in the face compared to your shot*.

oh that's wow pic.. I am wondering if my image sensors or dirty lens (if there's any not really visible) is causing my shots to be not sharp and clear enough or is the technical things I am still learning ? how can I say if my camera sensors and/or lens are clean and not causing the factor that I really need ?.