Outdoor photo portraits -- CC please!

[bubblesyakamoto]

Hi everyone! I am new to photography, and would love to get some tips and advice for better photos. I am getting the hang of understanding ISO, shutter speed, and aperture, but need to practice putting them all together for the right exposure. I want to work my way to more professional looking portraits.

Let me know what you think! I took these with my niece. (Be gentle!)

Thanks for your help ahead of time! I can't wait to learn more from all of you.

 

[MohaimenK]

they're all soft (oof)

 

[Speckles]

they're all soft (oof)

This. I think you may be using a too shallow DOF. Try lowering the aperture a bit or adjusting the AF mode to get the focus where you want it. BTW- Your niece is gorgeous!

 

[MohaimenK]

they're all soft (oof)

This. I think you may be using a too shallow DOF. Try lowering the aperture a bit or adjusting the AF mode to get the focus where you want it. BTW- Your niece is gorgeous!

I don't know. I think the shutter speed is too low. Because I dont' see any spot where the camera caught focus you know? Or I wonder if the OP left the camera on MF and forgot about it. Happened to me twice.

 

[bubblesyakamoto]

Thanks! Taking notes.....

What aperture settings do you suggest when taking photos of subjects up close like this? I was using a 50mm 1.8....probably had it on the largest aperture.

 

[mjbine]

You would have to determine the DOF you would like and adjust the aperture appropriately.

 

[Speckles]

Close up f/1.8 would make a super narrow dof. When I first got my 50 F/1.4 I was so stuck on getting the nice background blur that I would keep it wide open and when being close up, I would have noses in focus and eyes that weren't. lol Also if the head is tilted or turned in the slightest, you may have one eye in focus and one out. They have some online DOF calculators, I believe. I am too lazy and have no intent to go pro, so I just started backing it out to about f/3-3.5 and trying it from there. I am more of a hands on trial & error learner than a book learner. Don't take my advice. lmao I am sure I will get a scolding at some point on here for saying this.

 

[gsgary]

Thanks! Taking notes.....

What aperture settings do you suggest when taking photos of subjects up close like this? I was using a 50mm 1.8....probably had it on the largest aperture.

Nikon or Canon and on what body, if on one of the cheaper Nikons it could be down to bad manual focus, what a plonker i didn't read the post above probably bad manual focus or you don't realize it won't auto focus on that body

 

[bubblesyakamoto]

Speckles -- you read my mind!!! I admit I too was pretty stuck on the whole bokeh/blur affect and failed to pay attention to the other components. Everyone's advice helps me out a lot. I'm going to focus on getting my DOF down and go from there. Perhaps it's best I try to get correct exposure and crisp shots before trying to get that nice bokeh affect 100% of the time.

 

[bubblesyakamoto]

Canon t2i

 

[mwcfarms]

The last sentence is the mantra you should be chanting right now. Gain technique before going off into artistic style in my opinion.

 

[KmH]

Most fast lenses should not be used at their widest apertures, because the depth-of-field (DOF) gets way to shallow to be practical. They should be stopped down some, which is what the lens makers intend.

Look through the photos in magazines. What % of the photos in them use shallow DOF? What % of the photos in them use deep DOF?

 

[bubblesyakamoto]

Thanks Keith -- I actually stopped by your dSLR beginners blog and saw right away a recommendation about the 50mm 1.8 lens...

"Sharpest focus is obtained by using intermediate apertures, f/4 to about f/11"

I was also outdoors using a lot of natural light, so the widest aperture really shouldn't have been used. Thanks for the tips.

 

[kundalini]

Take a day to run your Fifty through its paces. Instead of taking pictures, take test shots to better understand DoF and exposure. Grab yourself and inanimate object, I like to use Winston, but whatever you have on hand. The subject is stationary, the camera is stationary and all you're doing is to run through the aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings and the multitude of combinations. Take mental and written notes of the effects of each change. IMO, the more you do these practice sessions, the more likely you are to nail it because it's just what is done.