Secrets to sharp soft indoor portraits?

[rachelrach11]

I have carried a camera around with me for as long as I can remember ( in auto mode of course).I recently started to ventur out and tinker with different settings on my Nikon P90. I have taught myself alot about f-stops and shutter speed but I can't seem to find the right combination to get the details and the sharpness that I am looking for. I love the look of a soft natural light portrait photo but I always seem to get so much noise in my shots. I have tried different setting combinations that were used as examples online but they never turn out like the example that I see. I am learning that photography is a tricky science but it is something that I am determined to master. I know it's not going to be overnight but I am willing to put forth the effort. I would love and appreciate any advise or suggestions on how I can improve my technique. Is there a "rule of thumb " when it comes to taking indoor photos? I typically shoot next to an open window (for a natural light affect because flash seems to be too harsh) and set my ISO to 200 ( any more and I get very noisy), f-stop to around 2.8 with a pretty fast shutter speed ( due to my subjects either involving a 3 year old and a 3 month old). I am trying desperately to achieve a sharp subject focus with background blur . The subject tends to turn out much sharper than the background but not as crisp as I would like. What am I doing wrong ? Am I missing an important factor here? Is there a method when combining the f-stop, apartures and shutter speed? I have posted a variety of photographs that i have taken on this site and i would be extremely grateful for any helpful input. I can handle nasty criticism about my ignorance as long as it helps me learn and teaches me a few things.

 

[KmH]

First. Your posts would be more readable if you use paragraphs so your post isn't a big solid block of text.

Focus sharpness is a combination of several things, but we see posts like yours asking for help getting sharply focused people shots on a regular basis.

Most lenses achieve their sharpest focus when they are stopped down 2 or more stops from their widest aperture. You mention using f/2.8 which is wide open as the lens on a P90 goes, and that is only at 24 mm.

An issue related to trying to blur the background (shallow depth-of-field) is the size of the image sensor in the P90. It is a lot smaller than the image sensor in a DSLR.

Soft light is a attained by using a large light source, and having the light source close to the subject. Window light fits that bill as long as light from the window isn't direct sunlight, but you have little control over the light source itself, the Sun, the height of the light, or it's direction.

Professional photographers use a varity of light modifiers like umbrellas and softboxes. They can vary the light placement, so they have great control over where and how soft or sharp shadows are.

Though your P90 doesn't have a speedlight hot shoe, the flash of light from the built-in flash unit can be used to make off camera speedlights fire.
One of the hidden advantages to using strobed light (flash) is that the photographer can control 2 exposures with a single shutter release. Shutter speed controls the ambient light exposure and lens aperture controls the strobed light exposure. The flash of light from a speedlight or the built-in flash is quite short and that brief flash can be used to stop motion instead of using shutter speed to stop motion, thus freeing shutter speed to control the ambient light esxposure.

 

[cgipson1]

YOur P90 has a little itsy bitsy sensor.. this makes it very hard to get the really blurred background due to the increased DOF it has. You probably won't be able to get it indoors. Outdoors maybe....

Put your subject fairly close to you ... say ten feet away.... with a background thirty to fifty feet away (like a park.. with a treeliine as a background)..... set your widest aperture (2.8?) and zoom in on the subject to get a head and shoulders type portrait.... see it that works... Hopefully the subject will be sharp, if not you may need to stop down a bit.

If you do this on a cloudy. overcast day.. you will have the softest light you can get without using modifiers. To avoid harsh highlights in bright sun, you can also put the subject in the shade, and use your pop-up flash. If you get sky in the background, this will probably cause it to be blown out.. but that is that.

take it, post it here.. maybe we can help...

You would be much better off with a DSLR for what you are trying to do...

 

[rachelrach11]

First. Your posts would be more readable if you use paragraphs so your post isn't a big solid block of text.

Focus sharpness is a combination of several things, but we see posts like yours asking for help getting sharply focused people shots on a regular basis.

Most lenses achieve their sharpest focus when they are stopped down 2 or more stops from their widest aperture. You mention using f/2.8 which is wide open as the lens on a P90 goes, and that is only at 24 mm.

An issue related to trying to blur the background (shallow depth-of-field) is the size of the image sensor in the P90. It is a lot smaller than the image sensor in a DSLR.

Soft light is a attained by using a large light source, and having the light source close to the subject. Window light fits that bill as long as light from the window isn't direct sunlight, but you have little control over the light source itself, the Sun, the height of the light, or it's direction.

Professional photographers use a varity of light modifiers like umbrellas and softboxes. They can vary the light placement, so they have great control over where and how soft or sharp shadows are.

Though your P90 doesn't have a speedlight hot shoe, the flash of light from the built-in flash unit can be used to make off camera speedlights fire.
One of the hidden advantages to using strobed light (flash) is that the photographer can control 2 exposures with a single shutter release. Shutter speed controls the ambient light exposure and lens aperture controls the strobed light exposure. The flash of light from a speedlight or the built-in flash is quite short and that brief flash can be used to stop motion instead of using shutter speed to stop motion, thus freeing shutter speed to control the ambient light esxposure.

I apologize for my block texting. Thank you so much for all the helpful information.

I received my Nikon as Christmas gift a few years back. It does really well outdoors but I would prefer a camera does the same in other areas as well.

Would you mind giving me your opinion on the D700? Would I be getting in over my head if I were to invest in this before I became more familiar with settings and such?

 

[rachelrach11]

YOur P90 has a little itsy bitsy sensor.. this makes it very hard to get the really blurred background due to the increased DOF it has. You probably won't be able to get it indoors. Outdoors maybe....

Put your subject fairly close to you ... say ten feet away.... with a background thirty to fifty feet away (like a park.. with a treeliine as a background)..... set your widest aperture (2.8?) and zoom in on the subject to get a head and shoulders type portrait.... see it that works... Hopefully the subject will be sharp, if not you may need to stop down a bit.

If you do this on a cloudy. overcast day.. you will have the softest light you can get without using modifiers. To avoid harsh highlights in bright sun, you can also put the subject in the shade, and use your pop-up flash. If you get sky in the background, this will probably cause it to be blown out.. but that is that.

take it, post it here.. maybe we can help...

You would be much better off with a DSLR for what you are trying to do...

Awesome information! Thanks so much! I have actually looked into the D700 but I have been somewhat skeptical with me being a newbie and all.

Everything you said makes perfect sense. My P90 does really well outdoors. When you recommended using the zoom , how does it affect the photo verses actually (physically) coming closer to the subject ?

 

[cgipson1]

This might help the most.. they do have the P90 listed on here... it will show you how deep your DOF will be at different focal lengths, subject / background distances, and apertures...

Online Depth of Field Calculator

 

[cgipson1]

First. Your posts would be more readable if you use paragraphs so your post isn't a big solid block of text.

Focus sharpness is a combination of several things, but we see posts like yours asking for help getting sharply focused people shots on a regular basis.

Most lenses achieve their sharpest focus when they are stopped down 2 or more stops from their widest aperture. You mention using f/2.8 which is wide open as the lens on a P90 goes, and that is only at 24 mm.

An issue related to trying to blur the background (shallow depth-of-field) is the size of the image sensor in the P90. It is a lot smaller than the image sensor in a DSLR.

Soft light is a attained by using a large light source, and having the light source close to the subject. Window light fits that bill as long as light from the window isn't direct sunlight, but you have little control over the light source itself, the Sun, the height of the light, or it's direction.

Professional photographers use a varity of light modifiers like umbrellas and softboxes. They can vary the light placement, so they have great control over where and how soft or sharp shadows are.

Though your P90 doesn't have a speedlight hot shoe, the flash of light from the built-in flash unit can be used to make off camera speedlights fire.
One of the hidden advantages to using strobed light (flash) is that the photographer can control 2 exposures with a single shutter release. Shutter speed controls the ambient light exposure and lens aperture controls the strobed light exposure. The flash of light from a speedlight or the built-in flash is quite short and that brief flash can be used to stop motion instead of using shutter speed to stop motion, thus freeing shutter speed to control the ambient light esxposure.

I apologize for my block texting. Thank you so much for all the helpful information.

I received my Nikon as Christmas gift a few years back. It does really well outdoors but I would prefer a camera does the same in other areas as well.

Would you mind giving me your opinion on the D700? Would I be getting in over my head if I were to invest in this before I became more familiar with settings and such?

D700 is a great camera.. but I would actually recommend the D7000... it has more features, newer electronics, and does an excellent job for half the price.. unless you just really feel you have to go full frame. Spend the additional money on good lenses...

 

[Judobreaker]

D700 is a great camera.. but I would actually recommend the D7000... it has more features, newer electronics, and does an excellent job for half the price.. unless you just really feel you have to go full frame. Spend the additional money on good lenses...

This.

D7000 is a great camera, I have used it for a little over a year now myself and am still loving it.
I can imagine full frame being very cool but it's definitely more expensive so unless you're willing to spend that amount of cash... Go with a good crop frame like the D7000. Lenses and other equipment are expensive enough as it is. ^^

 

[KmH]

+3 on the Nikon D7000 16.2MP DX-Format CMOS Digital SLR with 3.0-Inch LCD (Body Only)