What am I doing wrong with my 50mm on my Nikon D7000?

aprilski

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I got this lens a little over a week ago. It's the 50mm 1.4D. That's not the new 50mm 1.4. I was so excited to get it but I'm feeling very frustrated now. I can use it on the Auto settings fine (yawn). But not fabulous shots really. Haven't noticed that it's THAT much better in low light or gives me less blur off the tripod (which is what I like to do since I primarily chase children). But when I put it on A (aperture priority) and keep it open wide like 1.4-2.. I cannot seem to make enough adjustments to make the exposure even CLOSE to decent. They're usually very blown out and a purple tint. What am I doing? I feel so stupid. Back in my college days I could shot manually and even with some of my other lenses it seems easier to get a good exposure. Please help me... Ever since going from the D40x to the D7000 I feel like I need a degree just to understand this thing. I'd upload picture examples but every time I try, the pictures won't upload. Ugh, technical troubles everywhere!

6889626821_d7e9093963_m.jpg
[/URL] DSC_4754 by ladyamare, on Flickr[/IMG]
6889623221_0ae04c79ac_m.jpg
[/URL] DSC_5101 by ladyamare, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
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It would be easier to help diagnose if you posted a sample...
 
Chances are your camera can't get a high enough shutter speed to produce a decent exposure. What ISO are you using? Ensure that's down fairly low (ie 200). If you post a couple of example images, we can probably tell you for sure.
 
aprilski said:
I got this lens a little over a week ago. It's the 50mm 1.4D. That's not the new 50mm 1.4. I was so excited to get it but I'm feeling very frustrated now. I can use it on the Auto settings fine (yawn). But not fabulous shots really. Haven't noticed that it's THAT much better in low light or gives me less blur off the tripod (which is what I like to do since I primarily chase children). But when I put it on A (aperture priority) and keep it open wide like 1.4-2.. I cannot seem to make enough adjustments to make the exposure even CLOSE to decent. They're usually very blown out and a purple tint. What am I doing? I feel so stupid. Back in my college days I could shot manually and even with some of my other lenses it seems easier to get a good exposure. Please help me... Ever since going from the D40x to the D7000 I feel like I need a degree just to understand this thing. I'd upload picture examples but every time I try, the pictures won't upload. Ugh, technical troubles everywhere!

You can't upload directly to the thread. Upload some to flickr.

Then go to share (on Flickr) choose "grab the code" (or something similar). Make sure you choose the BBCode. Copy it and paste it here.
 
I uploaded to Flickr and attached a link to the first picture in the stream. I haven't used flickr that much honestly so I hope that works. I am feeling very silly now. But this is just a hobby and I am addicted to getting great images (I'm an art teacher and mom of 3, what can I say?). Thanks for all your help!
 

DSC_5118 by ladyamare, on Flickr

People don't like the click links. So I posted one for you.

The focusing issue on this image isn't due to the autofocus. It's due to shooting wide open and having a super shallow DOF. It almost impossible to get 2 people in sharp focus at that aperture unless you are 15 ft away.

With a 50mm lens at 1.8 - standing about 7 feet away you are going to have less then 6" of depth of field (in front of and behind focal point). Which isn't very much. Stop down the lens to say f/5.6 - your focus will improve and your image will be a lot sharper.

Can't really help with the exposure....
 
MTVision said:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/75149073@N00/6889628305/
DSC_5118 by ladyamare, on Flickr

People don't like the click links. So I posted one for you.

The focusing issue on this image isn't due to the autofocus. It's due to shooting wide open and having a super shallow DOF. It almost impossible to get 2 people in sharp focus at that aperture unless you are 15 ft away.

With a 50mm lens at 1.8 - standing about 7 feet away you are going to have less then 6" of depth of field (in front of and behind focal point). Which isn't very much. Stop down the lens to say f/5.6 - your focus will improve and your image will be a lot sharper.

Can't really help with the exposure....

Also the shutter speed was 1/1250 ISO 800 and f/1.8. You probably don't need that high of a shutter speed for this type of portrait so you could've lowered your ISO and/or chosen a smaller aperture

It says your white balance was manual. What did you set your white balance too??
 
common noob mistake is to try to shoot everything wide open (1.8 iin this case) and you are having the same problems they all have. We see it all the time! My advice.. don't go below F4 until you have enough experience and knowledge to control your exposures properly.

I checked out your Flickr... and you commented on the one decent shot that I saw.. that it was boring and you wanted more depth of field. I assume you meant that you wanted an out of focus (bokeh) background... which would require a shallower depth of field. Not that it would have helped with that brick wall so close to the subject.

please google Depth of field, exposure triangle, and maybe visit Strobist... do some reading.

The shot where the subject is fried by flash.. that is because you had the aperture wide open also. Shutter speed controls Ambient light exposures... Aperture controls Flash Exposure. That or you could have lowered the power on your flash...
 
The white balance is definitely off. It needs to be warmed up.

Jerry
 
You're shooting people with purple skin.
 
white balance is way off...

and keep in mind, the bigger the aperture, the thinner the depth of field becomes.

with 1.4F your DOF is only about an Inch "thick"....if that!
 
When you are shooting in A mode, everything but the shutter speed becomes automatic, so you must select WHITE BALANCE MANUALLY!!!! Set your white balance to Automatic, or for the proper setting. The other thing is, don't shoot that 1.4 wide open when you have 2 people in the portrait, the depth of field is so shallow that you will only get one person in focus. For that picture i would of gone 2.8-4, you will also find that at 2.8 its going to be super sharp.

So just like others have said,
1. White balance, learn to use this or just set the white balance to A forget about it, i shoot in raw and do just this and then change the white balance in light room.
2. Learn to use the proper aperture for the occasion, 1.8 and 1.4 have their uses but i find myself rarely shooting at those apertures UNLESS i have a wider lens and darker location.
 
Yeah step the aperture down some and you should be able to get both people in focus. The white balance is way off but you could probably render this bw.
 

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