What in the world!! Focus problem
Hi!
I have to start by saying, I am pretty new in the business of photography. Knock on wood, my customers are always happy and I keep getting referrals... HOWEVER.. Lately, it has been tricky, not sure why. (lately, I have been getting couples gigs and I usually photograph children.. anyway..
Let's start with today. I did a shoot of two sisters. They wanted an evening session. I explained I do not have the lighting equipment, just a flash and that the pics my turn out just ok. They still went ahead and booked me. I do not know what was wrong with my focus today.. I know the lighting was bad, but focus!??
I had it on spot, then changed it to matrix, then changed the setting to the portrait preset on the camera.. I was trying a different setting each time we changed location. Now, at home I think..hmm.. maybe I should have changed it to manual, select my shutter and aperture, then compensate with the flash.. yea.. now.. I think that.. but would have have helped.....?? ugh.. I am so very much confused peeps..
Thank you for listening!
GG
Sooo... with an fstop range of 5.6-7 i still didn't get sharp pictures of both of them. One sister will be focused, the other out of focus even after I selected spot and choose the the focus to be their faces.
Anyway.. there are so many out of focus ones... I just don't know which one to post!
But, please let's start with... what is the best focus setting for more than 2 people.
I have to start by saying, I am pretty new in the business of photography. Knock on wood, my customers are always happy and I keep getting referrals... HOWEVER.. Lately, it has been tricky, not sure why. (lately, I have been getting couples gigs and I usually photograph children.. anyway..
Let's start with today. I did a shoot of two sisters. They wanted an evening session. I explained I do not have the lighting equipment, just a flash and that the pics my turn out just ok. They still went ahead and booked me. I do not know what was wrong with my focus today.. I know the lighting was bad, but focus!??
I had it on spot, then changed it to matrix, then changed the setting to the portrait preset on the camera.. I was trying a different setting each time we changed location. Now, at home I think..hmm.. maybe I should have changed it to manual, select my shutter and aperture, then compensate with the flash.. yea.. now.. I think that.. but would have have helped.....?? ugh.. I am so very much confused peeps..
Thank you for listening!
GG
Sooo... with an fstop range of 5.6-7 i still didn't get sharp pictures of both of them. One sister will be focused, the other out of focus even after I selected spot and choose the the focus to be their faces.
Anyway.. there are so many out of focus ones... I just don't know which one to post!
But, please let's start with... what is the best focus setting for more than 2 people.
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I moved your post over here since it's more of a "technique" question.
Good luck
Moderator of: Location, Location, Location , Mind Your Own Business & Other Cool Shots
In most (all?) cameras, AF is most effective where there is strong contrast. In low light situations (or where the max aperture of your lens is not large), contast will be lacking, making AF more of a hit-or-miss situation. If you add to that a lens which tends to hunt (I don't know what you were using, just rambling here a bit), that would to throw another random variable into the mix.
What can sometimes (usually?) help is having a decent external flash mounted to your camera. Many higher end dedicated flashes have fosus assist lights that increase the contrast at the subject - thus better enabling the focus system.
As for the "one in, one out" of focus issue. Could be a number of things, but I would think is most likely related to your focusing issues above. You may be getting one just inside the DOF range and the other falls outside that range. This would cause one subject to appear to be in focus and the other not.
The "best focus setting" is the one that achieves the focus results you need and that will change from situation to situation. But, you are mostly looking at aperture to get the DOF you need (as you already alluded to in your post). So, understanding DOF a bit better may be the answer. Have you checked out DOFMaster. Lots of good information there to which you may not yet have been exposed.
HTH
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Thank you for the link I am definitely going to check that out! well, here is the link to the sisters session I had yesterday (be kind) I am so frustrated!!! but very willing to learn!! here... it.. is..
Camera D90 Lense: Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8
http://anagiltaylorphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/6866120_PfwHM/1/439218511_r7baQ#P-1-12
Thank you!! remember, it is Christmas time.. be nice! but real..
GG
#37 - you have the bill of her hat in focus, not her face. The camera is stoopid and picked the wrong thing to focus on - if found a high-contrast element and there you go...
Same thing for #45 - focus was on the bill of the lady on the righ (and the hat of the other) so face on right is OOF. How close were you when you made this image? The closer you are, the shallower the DOF.
It appears those hats where giving your camera some major heartburn causing the mis-focus. Oh, and BTW, the Tammy 28-75 does tend to hunt a bit in low-light situations. I have one, love it, but it does have this limitation.
Something else I just noticed. Many (most) of the mis-focus examples are where the lens is focusing on something closer to the camera than the intended target. Have you tested to be sure that the lens/camera combination doesn't front focus?
Oh, I just noticed, you're shooting with a Nikon - hmmm ... that must be the problem
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Thoughts on photographing a wedding, How to post a picture, AF Microadjustments?, Light Scoop
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Thanks Scott.. funny man... I do love my Nikon.. I need to give it some loving though.. I make it work to hard. I do love the Tammy also.. I think it was you who suggested I get it.. and you were right. it is great...
Ok, so about the slow shutter speed on the swings... I had the flash on and thought it would freeze the action a bit .. then I realized it wasn't working.. it was freezing and my models butts were getting wet.. so we went inside... So I didn't get a chance to get a decent swinging shot.
Yes, those hats were cute.. and the focus loved it, even though I "tried" to pick the focus..
I hope they are happy overall with their pictures.. She always books me.. I don't want to disappoint her or any of my customers...
Thank You!
GG
I don't have the same camera, so for me it is a little different I am sure....
I think you may have some good shots there that they will like though. I do know the smaller you print them, the better they will look if they aren't as sharp.
Atlanta, GA USA
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Atlanta Modern Wedding Photographer
SheriJohnsonPhotography.com
"I had it on spot, then changed it to matrix, then changed the setting to the portrait preset on the camera.. "
The spot and matrix refers to the metering modes that determine your exposure settings, so it'll change your shutter speed, aperture, and maybe ISO (if on auto ISO) but won't change AF performance. The Portrait preset may change the AF mode though. I'm not familiar with Nikon's so you may have to check with your manual.
"I should have changed it to manual, select my shutter and aperture, then compensate with the flash.. yea.. now.. I think that.. but would have have helped.....?? ugh.. I am so very much confused peeps.."
If the main issue was with getting proper focus points, probably not.
"Sooo... with an fstop range of 5.6-7 i still didn't get sharp pictures of both of them. One sister will be focused, the other out of focus even after I selected spot and choose the the focus to be their faces."
This may have to do with the depth of focus (dof), area or depth of area that is in focus. This is determined by three things in your camera.
1. Focal length, given everything else being the same, longer the focal length, shallower the dof. And of course, wider the focal length, deeper the dof, given same sensor size and aperture.
2. Aperture. If the sensor size and focal length is the same, wider apertures like f2.8 will give you a shallower dof and a higher aperture like f22 will give you a deeper dof.
3. Subject distance from the sensor/camera. Given the same aperture and focal length, the closer the subject is (assuming you are focused on them) the shallower the dof.
So the dof depends on how close the subject is that you are focusing on, the focal length, and the aperture you select. Briefly looking at the shots, if you found that 5.6 was only getting one face in focus, you can either move the other subjects face to the same distance to the camera as the other persons face or stop down (increasing the aperture). My guesstimate is that f11-16 would probably do in your setting. Maybe as low as f8, but dof changes. If you have time, you can use the dof preview feature to quickly check if both of the subjects are in focus or not.
"But, please let's start with... what is the best focus setting for more than 2 people."
Honestly, I don't think there is one but I would stop down on the aperture more to keep both faces in focus and/or assure that both of the faces are the same distance from the camera, consider using continuous AF if the subjects are moving around a lot, use a specific AF point (focus on the eyes), and increase the ISO to prevent camera shake. Flash in Aperture mode will not freeze the subjects as it's used to fill in the lgiht and the metering is based on the ambient light. In M or P mode (at least for canon's) the flash can be used to freeze the subject as it becomes the main source of light for exposing your shot.
And of course, shoot a lot, I think it'll become more intuitive with some more practice.
Good luck.
I heard back from my customer, and sherijohnson, you were right.. she did find lots of shots she was happy with.. Phew! She already printed them AND put them on frames ready to give to her parents for Christmas!! nothing better than a satisfied customer... yea!!
I am going to practice a lot though.... My goal is to be able to go to a session and have fun with composition! ah... I dream of that day..... it looks so pretty...
Thank you all.. Merry Christmas!!!!
GG