Need explanation please

[Hibiscus]

Hi,

This may be a very basic question...

I received for Christmas a Canon SL1. It is my first SLR, and I was looking forward to taking lots of great photos.
My previous camera was an old Canon Powershot.
I mostly shoot pictures of my family, so a lot of them are done indoors.
Over the Christmas holiday, I took a LOT of pictures, but 90% of them had to be post-processed.
Issues were mostly white balance, and OOF.

I understand I have a lot to learn about exposure, so in order for me to still take pictures with the new camera, I used the preset modes, mostly the Portrait one.
There is something I don't understand. I took a picture of my husband holding our baby on his lap.
I used the Portrait setting, and I focused on both of them. For some reasons, my baby appears clear and sharp on the picture, whereas my husband is a bit blurry. Is that expected? How can I avoid this?

Thanks a lot!

 

[ronlane]

I'm not familiar with the SL1, but it sounds like the portrait mode is choosing the largest aperture that it can to get a small depth of field and blur out the background. If the SL1 has an auto mode or an av mode, I would suggest using them as opposed to the portrait mode.

 

[Hibiscus]

Thanks for your prompt answer.
I tried the auto mode as well, and it gives the same result...
I haven't tried the manual modes yet, as I haven't wrapped my head around how it works really.
I ordered a book in that regard, and may take a course as well.
I am almost tempted to take pictures with my old camera!!!

 

[Derrel]

Adorable, cute,precious baby in crisp sharp focus, with daddy looking a bit raggedy,a little soft,worn-down? Pretty normal, based on my experience. ;-)

What happens in the Portrait mode is the camera tends to favor a wider-open lens setting, which brings with it shallow depth of field, so that the background will be out of focus, but the 'subject' sharp and clear. Since it is now winter time in North American, and the light levels are pretty low compared to say, in August, there just simply is not a "whole lot of light", and the camera probably kept the ISO fairly low as well, so that, basically, the "subject" was determined to be the fore-most object, meaning the baby, and even a scant few inches behind, Daddy's face was just slightly outside the focus distance, and was therefore rendered unsharply. As Ron speculated, the Portrait mode probably did keep the lens wide-open, which leads to the shallowest depth of field.

 

[Braineack]

What happens in the Portrait mode is the camera tends to favor a wider-open lens setting,.

I find this is the case in almost all auto settings, and I really don't it.

 

[lambertpix]

I am almost tempted to take pictures with my old camera!!!

I've seen all sorts of people buy new equipment right before an important event, and wind up taking worse pictures than they would have with their old stuff because they were still learning / getting used to the new stuff. What you're experiencing is very normal. If you stick with it long enough to learn your new camera, I'm sure you'll wind up with great results.

All the "auto" settings on your camera are per-optimized for a certain type of photo, but they're not always great at adjusting for the specific circumstances you're shooting in. In time, you'll learn to understand how f-stop (aperture), shutter speed, and ISO (among other things) affect the way the image comes out. Your camera's "auto" settings can actually be helpful in learning these concepts -- if you get a shot you like, look at the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO the camera decided to use, and then see if you can figure out why (or ask here). In pretty short order, you'll probably be using either aperture-priority (Av) or shutter-priority (Tv) modes, which give you a little more control over the shot, but still let the camera help with some settings to get a good exposure.

Hang in there -- you'll be fine.

 

[Light Guru]

You are letting the camera do to much of the thinking for you.

The camera does not know that you are trying to get two people in focus. Because you indoors the camera decided to open the aperature to let more light in, that opening of the aperature decreased the amount of depth of field.

I HIGHLY suggest that you learn the exposure triangle.


Once you get a basic understanding of the exposure triangle then stop using the modes on the camera that take total control. Start using the priority modes there YOU take control of one of the points on the exposure triange. And then eventually try using manual mode and tie control of all of them.

 

[hirejn]

Lenses can only hold so much depth of field, which is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in good focus. At the wide aperture the camera probably selected for the indoor shot, an object even a foot behind the focus point would be a bit soft. Wide apertures (low f-numbers) equal shallow depth of field; small apertures (large f-numbers) equal greater depth of field. Pocket cameras do the same thing, and they're usually limited to an even more shallow DOF than DSLRs because they max out at f/8.

White balance takes some understanding to master. Ideally you want to set the WB to match the light source. So if it's indoors and the light is warm, set it to the light bulb setting. If you're outside, set it to the sun setting.

A DSLR is an image crafting tool that can be used to create fantastic imagery. But it takes a lot of learning and practice. It can take a snap shot as easily as it can create a work of art. The photo is only a result of decisions you make or, in lieu of control, decisions the camera makes for you.

 

[cynicaster]

I used the Portrait setting, and I focused on both of them.

Can you explain what you mean by this? I’m asking because you can only focus once for a given picture, and if your husband and kid are not at the same distance from your camera, then there is a good chance that at least one of them will be unacceptably out of focus—unless, of course, you apply some knowledge and technique to address the problem.

How do you address it?

• Try to use a perspective such that the things you really want to be in focus are roughly the same distance away from the camera. This usually means the eyes of the subjects. For example, you wouldn’t want the kid on dad’s knee, with dad’s face 2-3 feet farther back (unless you intentionally want to blur one of the faces).
• Stop down the aperture. In practice this means making the f/number larger. Doing so will give you more “leeway” in how far apart the two pairs of eyes can be, while still getting decent focus on both. The technical term for this is “depth of field”.

This isn’t a “full” answer, but it’s a good start that you can use in a hands-on situation.

If you’re just starting out with DSLR, I’d strongly recommend getting your feet wet with Av mode (aperture priority) for such situations. In Av mode, you select your f/number (i.e., your aperture) and the camera automatically selects the shutter speed it thinks it needs in order to properly expose the scene. Depending on the conditions the picture still might not turn out, but in the interest of not overwhelming you with mumbo-jumbo, I’ll let you have that happen to you and come back to ask everybody why.

 

[KmH]

Hi,

There is something I don't understand. I took a picture of my husband holding our baby on his lap.
I used the Portrait setting, and I focused on both of them.

There can only be 1 point of focus.
That point defines a plane that is for practical purposes parallel to the image sensor in the camera.

Focus sharpness starts diminishing in front of and behind that point of focus.
The rate of the focus sharpness fall off, and that range of distance that will still have acceptably sharp focus is know as depth-of-field (DoF)
Understanding Depth of Field in Photography

So you can focus on the baby, or your husband, but not both.
But
Both can be in the range of distance that will still have acceptably sharp focus known as DoF IF the DoF is deep enough

DoF is likely the single most difficult technical photography concept for neophyte photographers to understand.
http://tawbaware.com/maxlyons/calc.htm

The photographer controls DoF by being cognizant of the several factors that determine DoF:
Point of focus distance from the camera.
Lens focal length (affects point of focus distance).
Lens aperture.
If more than 1 subject in the scene need be, or not be, in focus.
Subject to background distance if the photographer wants the background to be blurred by being beyond the far limit of the DoF.

 

[Designer]

If you're going to re-shoot, select aperture priority, and close the aperture down some from the widest opening while watching the shutter speed so it doesn't drop too much. Ask hubby to hold dear one so their faces are both about the same distance from the camera. Focus on the baby's eyes. Shoot the shot. Examine shot on your computer to verify that the focus is good. Celebrate!

 

[Hibiscus]

Oh my, thanks a lot for all the replies!
You guys are so kind and helpful, I really appreciate it!

@Derrel
lol! I must admit I didn't see right away my husband was OOF. I just noticed my baby cute smile...
It's true the distance between the camera and the baby/husband was slightly different, but I naively thought that it wouldn't impact the picture.

@lambertpix
Thanks a lot for your encouragement. Indeed, I was really eager to try the new camera. I read a lot online about aperture/shutter speed/ISO, and the problem is that I do understand the concepts, but cannot apply them in practice (my brain works in funny ways). That's why I am tempted to take a course, so that somebody can show me how it translates in practice.

@Light Guru
Because I don't know much about SLRs, I let the camera do the thinking, thinking it "knows" better. Guess I was wrong!
I watched a lot of the videos on Adorama. They are really well done, and explanations are clear most of the time. My problem is as I explained above the step between theory and practice.

@cynicaster
I focused kinda in the middle of them (please don't laugh!).
Thanks for the tips though. They are really clear, and will give me a chance to use them in practice. I really thought the distance between my daughter and my husband was small enough so that they would be both in focus!
By the way, the lens that came with the camera is a 18-55mm. Is it an appropriate lens for portraits?

@KmH
Thanks for the explanation. I thought I understood DoF, but I think I need to do some more reading about it!

@Designer
Will do! Good that the pictures are all digital!

 

[flyin-lowe]

Go to Amazon and get a copy of Understanding Exposure by Peterson. The best you can spend to get you started

 

[Hibiscus]

Go to Amazon and get a copy of Understanding Exposure by Peterson. The best you can spend to get you started

Ordered already!

 

[cynicaster]

@cynicaster
I focused kinda in the middle of them (please don't laugh!).
Thanks for the tips though. They are really clear, and will give me a chance to use them in practice. I really thought the distance between my daughter and my husband was small enough so that they would be both in focus!
By the way, the lens that came with the camera is a 18-55mm. Is it an appropriate lens for portraits?

No laughing here! It's a learning process. Depth of Field takes a while to sink in--not only in how to manage it in its own right, but how doing so affects other things. For instance, going with a small aperture (large f/number) in order to improve your chances of getting all subjects in focus might mean that your camera needs to keep the shutter open too long to allow you to get a hand-held shot without motion blur. So in that case, you'd get another blurry photo, just with a different root cause.

Another good practical thing to remember is that, all else being equal, the closer your subjects are to you, the shallower the depth of field.

As for your lens, truth be told, it's probably a better "walkaround" lens than it is a portrait lens. You're not likely to find many serious portrait photographers using it day-to-day, but fret not--you can still obtain some great results with it once you learn how to control the settings and lighting conditions such that they are within the "performance envelope" of the lens.

Also, the lens will perform better at some apertures and focal lengths than it will at others, so you want to find out where the "sweet spot" is. I have that lens and after using it extensively for 2 years, I can tell you that my copy seems to provide the sharpest results at about 35mm and f/8.0. These are not very good portrait settings, unfortunately.