Photo Critique Welcome

[mstandefer]

Hello,

I took this photo a couple days ago and I love it because the baby is obviously precious. My concern is, why can't I get it more sharp? I'm really have issues with sharpness and I am working on improving this area.

It was shot at: ISO 320, f/1.8, 1/60 sec, with a 50mm.

I am thinking the aperture is too wide. Maybe a f/4 would've been better?

Correct me in any areas, I'm open to criticism.

 

[amolitor]

Yes. At f/1.4 you're going to have only a quite narrow area actually in focus, even a very small focusing area will make critical areas like eyes appear soft. Also, your lens probably is not at its best there.

Also, 1/60 is pushing it with a 50mm lens. With good technique you can be pretty sharp, acceptably sharp, but if you're not very steady or in a hurry, you can definitely be adding a lot of softness with camera motion. Faster shutter speeds are always better. Conventional wisdom is "1/focal length" but that assumes good technique, AND only gives you "acceptable" sharpness.

I'd stop down to f/2.8 or lower, and run the shutter speed up to 1/100, and use whatever ISO is necessary to make it work. Or use a flash.

 

[ronlane]

Yeah, shooting a 50 f/1.8 wide open is hard to get the focus tack sharp while hand holding. And when you do get it tack sharp, the depth of field is so small that it will soften quickly.

I don't necessarily think you need to go all the way to f/4. Try f/2.8 or 3.2 first. Do some test shots to see which is the sweet spot for your 50mm.

 

[Designer]

Where was your point of focus?

(edit) For most portraits of this type, you would want to focus on the subject's eyes. If your camera selected some other point, then you should try a do-over. Then select a point that is on the eye.

 

[paigew]

You have two problems. Shutter-speed and aperture. Set your aperture to f3.2 and minimum of 1/200 ss for toddlers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalkllexdd xlx

 

[DiskoJoe]

Yeah your DOF was a bit too small. Im guessing you were using AF. If you look his shoulder is in sharp focus but his face is not. The camera focused on the wrong point. Opening up the DOF to f4 would have helped. This is a common issue when shooting wide open.

 

[mstandefer]

Wow,

Thank you all for the responses. I will work on these things when shooting in the future, aperture and shutter speed.

I think a problem I have with focusing is I get too excited to take the picture because children move so fast, I don't really take the time to make sure I'm focusing on the eye.

What is the best setting to have your focus on?

 

[Designer]

Without knowing your camera, I am guessing that you can select which focus point your camera will be using to focus, so position that one over the subject's eye.

 

[apaflo]

Hello,

I took this photo a couple days ago and I love it because the baby is obviously precious. My concern is, why can't I get it more sharp? I'm really have issues with sharpness and I am working on improving this area.

In this particular image, do you want it any sharper??? The DOF looks perfect to me!

Not every picture needs to be sharp, and for certain not everything in a picture should be sharp.

But lets talk about how to make it sharper anyway.

It was shot at: ISO 320, f/1.8, 1/60 sec, with a 50mm.

I am thinking the aperture is too wide. Maybe a f/4 would've been better?

Correct me in any areas, I'm open to criticism.

You don't mention the camera, so I'm going to assume a cropped sensor camera. Almost any modern camera can go higher than ISO 320 without the noise getting too bad. So think in terms of ISO 800 to 1600, and maybe even 3200. That is 3 stops plus a tad. And you need it!

If that is a 50mm f/1.8 wide open (as opposed to a 50mm f/1.4 almost wide open), it will be sharper if stopped down at least 1 stop, so f/2.8 would be nice, though f/4 better. In particular f/4 also means more Depth Of Field. At f/1.8 and a distance of say 4 feet from the camera, you get all of 1-1/2 inches. At f/2.8 it would be 2-1/2 and at f/4 some 3-1/2 inches. How far you can go depends on either adding more light or upping the ISO and living with the noise.

But the shutter speed is also in need of change. Ideally you'd want at least 1/100 if the child is sitting still. If he is still and you are good, that 1/60 can be done. But take several shots to allow picking out the sharpest. Better yet, put the camera on a tripod or at least a monopod. Better though is use 1/100 or even faster and have every shot be sharp.

But somewhere in there you ran out of light. In a small room it might be just fine to have a flash and aim it at the ceiling, or even the wall behind you. Don't point it directly at the subject though, because direct flash can be very harsh and is not pleasing.

But lets assume you are only willing to go to ISO 1600. If you set the aperture to f/2.8 you'll have about 1 fstop more to play with. So set the shutter speed at 1/100. Ideally you'd like a lower ISO, a faster shutter speed and a smaller aperture, but while each is slightly compromised that is probably about as good as can be done without more light.

 

[mstandefer]

Thank you Apaflo,

Thank you for your thorough response! I will be satisfied the day I have your knowledge on these things.

I know it's going to take practice working in various situations with lighting, shutter speed, f stop, etc.

The camera is crop sensor, a t3i. It's our new work camera. I work for a non profit baby food pantry, so much subjects tend to be constantly on the move, unless they are infants, lol.

So, thank you again. I've got some work to do,

-m