So frustrated just feel like packing the whole blooming lot in :(

[dbvirago]

View attachment 36726maybe I made this too small I re-sized to a 6x4 print :/ straight out of camera nothing done to it converted to DNG then saved as JPEG

Yeah, hard to tell at that size, but it's still wide open. Practice with more light - that's going to be a tough low light situation.

 

[TimothyJinx]

Again, it looks like the designs on the sweater are more in focus than the face. Did you try what several on here have suggested?

 

[PixelRabbit]

Thanks for posting the example, yes the exif is the settings you used. As someone else already guessed you were shooting wide open at F1.4 Shutter speed of 1/100 (0.01) ISO 400.

Edit. Please disregard the part about the shutter speed, apparently I can't convert a decimal to a fraction lol I'll leave it there for information but your shutter speed was fine at 1/100 (not the 1/10 that I thought it was at )
Two things are working against you here, your shutter speed is way too low and you are going to get camera shake (although you seem to have done relatively well here!) A good rule of thumb is don't let your shutter speed go below the max focal length of your lens, ie. 200mm lens try to stay above 1/200. You can get away with lower shutter speeds but I personally find that I can't get below about 1/60 without noticing it.
You also have your lens wide open @ F1.4, this is great for letting lots of light in but not so great for depth of field, it is going to be super narrow, there are resources for figuring out your DOF at different Fstops, a quick google search should give you lots of options.

So, stop your lens down a bit to get more DOF and up your shutter speed, those two things should make a big difference!

 

[dbvirago]

Another thing to keep in mind at that distance. If you use a center point to focus on the eye and then reposition, you've moved the plane of the lens and the focal point. I'm guessing at the distance, but your DOF is probably less than an inch

 

[BaileySnapz]

Timothy Jinx, definitely manual & focused on the left eye (her right) the elbow perhaps is on the same focal plane? you see I wanted her eyes to jump out at you so figured throwing everything else off focus this would do that but her eyes are still fuzzy when you zoom in & look closely, & also when I narrow down the aperture it underexposes unless I hike up the ISO. Ive been practising with exposing right with high ISO as above ISO2000 as ive read this is better than underexposing with a lower ISO & I don't want to use flash. I dunno maybe im being too fussy :/ but ive seen fantastic results on portraits shot at 1.4 but all with full frame cameras hence my full frame question wee pete I don't actally even know what caliberating means do I need to take it to a photography shop?? sorry if its a stupid question

 

[weepete]

No, nvm my answer the other guys have nailed it quicker than I could

 

[amolitor]

Stop down at least a little bit, f/1.4 is possible, but it's actually a somewhat strange looking portrait. Typically the tip of the nose is out of focus with these things. Try f/2.8 to f/4.0 or so as a "working aperture" for this kind of thing. Practice holding the camera still, there are youtube videos (go and search) on good ways to hold the camera so it won't wobble as much when you're shooting, and try to keep the shutter speed up as people have indicated.

Running the ISO up is fine, your image should still be SHARP, it'll just be grainy/noisy. At this point I think you just want to be able to prove you can make sharp pictures, right? You can work on ISO issues later.

 

[BaileySnapz]

ok thanks so much really appreciate your comments ill try with the smaller aperture & up the ISO so. Oh & yes I have a tripod never used it indoors though.

 

[dbvirago]

Using my guess about the distance to subject a full frame would increase your depth of field form .84 of an inch to 1.3 inches, so an extra half inch in focus. This is not going to solve your problem. To make this shot at low ISO with an adequate DOF you are going to need more light.

 

[BaileySnapz]

yep Amolitor you're right! I see all these great photographer's pages & websites & I want to be able to do what they do in natural light - patience is a virtue I suppose thanks again.

 

[dbvirago]

Obi-Wan voice:Use the tripod, Luke. As amolitor said, eliminate one problem at a time. The tripod will eliminate the camera shake. A smaller aperture will eliminate dof issue. Get down on the baby's level to put more of the face on the same focal plane.

 

[SCraig]

Timothy Jinx, definitely manual & focused on the left eye (her right) the elbow perhaps is on the same focal plane? you see I wanted her eyes to jump out at you so figured throwing everything else off focus this would do that but her eyes are still fuzzy when you zoom in & look closely, & also when I narrow down the aperture it underexposes unless I hike up the ISO. Ive been practising with exposing right with high ISO as above ISO2000 as ive read this is better than underexposing with a lower ISO & I don't want to use flash. I dunno maybe im being too fussy :/ but ive seen fantastic results on portraits shot at 1.4 but all with full frame cameras hence my full frame question wee pete I don't actally even know what caliberating means do I need to take it to a photography shop?? sorry if its a stupid question

Why don't you want to use a flash? Even a pop-up flash has its uses.

 

[fokker]

doesn't look as bad here as it does in photoshop although when you zoom in still fuzzy. ill upload another but this next one the ISO is 2000 so I suppose cant expect great things or should I? Would a full frame really be that much better for these conditions? indoors no flash?

Just a note, when you view images in photoshop, anything other than 100% viewing (or 50%, 25%, 12.5% etc) will not display the true sharpness - for instance if you try and view at 66.7% then every three pixels in the photo is trying to be rendered by two pixels on your computer screen, which will obviously affect how the fine details look.

 

[Wozza]

Also when you are looking at other peoples work, odds are the ones you really like - the photographer has thought a lot about light and the photo has been taken where there is a lot of natural light. Windows with nettings can create quite a nice soft light for example, but yeah with natural light you need to make sure there is enough of it. Don't be afraid of flash though, you don;t want to blow your subject out but setting it on low for example can create a bit of fill light and bring out sparkles in eyes for example.

 

[BaileySnapz]

SCraig - I just don't like the look of it, heres one with flash, I think it makes her look ghost like its the built in flash though it is set lower I have a flash gun but only a cheap thing from Dino Direct!