Out of focus Photos

[chrismcfet]

Hey all,

I'm new to DSLR photography and was wondering if you could help me out. For some time now I've been taking pictures on my Canon 400D. Most of the time things are grand but recently I've started to notice (when doing portrait shots with varied backgrounds i.e. forest, beach etc) that the background is crisp clear but the foreground (subject) is ever-so-slightly out of focus. It's a real pain and I'm left not knowing how to fix it. Have any of you had this problem? If so, how did you get it that the foreground was focused properly? Even when focusing in on the subject it still happens - would it be an incorrect Aperture setting?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[DwainDibley]

It's probably due to your apeture setting from what I know! The higher the F-stop, the deeper the depth of field, though the less light will be let through the lens so shutter speeds will come down.

You may find yourself with blur caused by camera shake, in which case you'll have to either use a tripod or increase the ISO setting from 100 to something higher, though this can increase 'noise' in the picture.

 

[Mike_E]

Check which auto focus area is active. For portraits, you'll want the center one.

 

[hyakuhei]

Its unlikely to be the aperture in the way dwain describes, its true that you can adjust the DOF with the aperture but the item that is in focus should ALWAYS be in focus, adjusting the DOF will simply allow you to vary the amount of surroundings also in sharp focus.

If your shooting and the forground is slightly out of focus its possible that your using the wrong camera setting.... perhaps you are using A-DEP which tries to find the correct aperture to fit between the closest and furthest objects in possible focus. This is good for shooting groups of people but not single subjects. Another possibility is that you are not using the correct focus point (the 400D has 7 or more if I recall correctly).

Advice:
Consult your manual, set the camera up in a simple mode and take some snaps. Try the built in portrait mode to start off with. If that works, then try with Aperture priority and make sure your focusing where you should be.

Failing that - could this be a lens issue ... ?

Cheers
-Rob

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

I also think that it's a focusing problem rather than an aperture problem. Make sure that you are using a focus point on the subject. My camera has 7 or 9 focus points but I almost always use the centre one. I focus on my subject then recompose and shoot.