Portraits at the Faire

[Morpheuss]

great pictures and i love the colors

 

[bigtwinky]

 

[vtf]

And remember, a lens is never at its sharpest wide open. Even when shooting a $1500 zoom, it will be sharper when stopped down a few times. There are lists on the internet that show each lens' sweet spot.

That 50mm will be killer when shot at f/4 - f/5.6. You might want to try making the aperture smaller to ensure more is in focus to perfect your focusing technique before getting into the shooting at a very wide aperture.

I knew better:er:

 

[Geaux]

Do you do manual focus or auto focus?

If auto do you use the back button focus?

If so are you adjusting your focus point to the point closest to your subject?

I had a thread addressing these issues a while back.

Not sure why you would use your focus point on the point closest to your subject ..... Whenever I focus (I use half press shutter focus), I bring the center point to the eyes, half hold shutter, then reposition my camera for composition and take the shot. I also AF all the time, and have never had any blur issues or whatnot and shots come out VERY sharp with 35mm 1.8 lens.

 

[vtf]

Do you do manual focus or auto focus?

If auto do you use the back button focus?

If so are you adjusting your focus point to the point closest to your subject?

I had a thread addressing these issues a while back.

I used auto center point focusing for these shots.
I will search for your thread because I am interested in trying that back button focus.
I tried to focus on the eyes for close ups or at least the face for distant shots.
I believe Bigtwinky identified the main issue of the f1/8, I knew better. My first time out with this lens.
This is a shot I took with my other lens 75-300 at the end of the day, Its unedited except for resizing. 75mm, 1/200th at f11

 

[misstwinklytoes]

One of my threads a while back had a post linking to a page that says why not to do that. I'd have to search for it, but it's there. I quit using center point and my focus has improved.

Maybe it's just individiual preference.

 

[misstwinklytoes]

the post is here 4th post down I think.

 

[bigtwinky]

I used to center recompose on my XSI. I dont do that anymore.

The center recompose will cause focus and DOF issues if you are using a wide aperture. The way I see it is that if you put the center point on the eyes, there is an X distance between the camera and the eyes. If you recompose your shot, the eyes may now be at Y distance. That difference in distance may cause your subject's eyes to be just out of the plane of focus. Doesnt happen often, but it can.

Not sure why you would use your focus point on the point closest to your subject ..... Whenever I focus (I use half press shutter focus), I bring the center point to the eyes, half hold shutter, then reposition my camera for composition and take the shot. I also AF all the time, and have never had any blur issues or whatnot and shots come out VERY sharp with 35mm 1.8 lens.

I used to center and recompose. Why? Only my center point was a cross type sensor, making it more sensitive than the others. But with my new camera, all my points are cross type sensors and they will all be as sensitive. I still do a half press recompose, but I'm doing it with a focus point that is much closer to the subjects eyes, so I am not changing the DOF as much.

I believe Bigtwinky identified the main issue of the f1/8, I knew better. My first time out with this lens.
This is a shot I took with my other lens 75-300 at the end of the day, Its unedited except for resizing. 75mm, 1/200th at f11

Next test is to head out with the 50 1.8 and shoot it at f/5.6 or f/8 to confirm the whole thing.

I was also seeing alot of motion blur in your images, so the shutter speed may be a factor too.