Using a New Lens

amberlynstudios

Hey everyone! Using a new lens and wanted to share some shots. C&C encouraged! I used a Canon 50mm 1.8 for these shots. Sun and Reflector used for lighting, MUA myself.

Bryce Wilson

I really like several of these (numbered images would help) but, it looks like there was maybe a bit too much PP work done on the eyes in some???

Which camera were you using that 50 on? It looks like it may have been less than friendly to the nose on some of your extreme close-up shots.

novicesnapper

Wowsers nice, was what I muttered when I opened the thread. I would lose the orange stuff?, but thats just me, but for a lens affectionately called by me, "the coffee grinder", very nice results. Great low light lens though. All you need is one candle burning. I reallyyy like #1, very nice! Were you running at 1.8? Or did you open up DOF (higher fstop) through the shoot, #3 and #5?

Quincy T

In a few of these, the eyes appear soft but "salvaged" making them look unnatural. This is accentuated by, once again, over processing on the whites of the eyes. I guess maybe none of this is true, and she does have eyes the color of paper, but these are some major red flags. Outside of that, the poses are nice, except for super-tilt 2012 in #5.

amberlynstudios

I was using the Canon 7D. Using this lens, I was at 1.8 most of the shoot and as you can see with the eyes, they were mostly not as sharp as I would liked them to be. I have learned with this lens you have to make sure you are SPOT ON or nothing will be clear....lol... There is actually not really any photoshop work that I did except to the first one in purple, the young girl has cystic acne so I removed it. Super tilt it is, that's part of my style and I love it. I actually have clients that request it although some hate it lol. Im trying to see the eyes being too white? Maybe its my monitor but I feel that they are not white enough, they look grey to me.

novicesnapper

I would try bumping the fstop to at least 2.8, from there to about f4, seems to be a sweet spot of that lens, I have one also. That will also increase the dof substantially. More forgiving that way. With 1.8 you're right, one inch farther or closer may be out of dof. Here's a nice online dof calculator to give an idea of how fstop controls dof, based on distance to subject. I think these show great potential.
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

anonymouscuban

I agree on the eyes being over processed.

Looks like the focus point was on the tip of the nose in most of the shots. I struggled with my f/1.8 until I stopped focusing and recomposing. The focal plane is so small that any slight movement front to back will miss focus. I started composing and moving my focusing point in the view finder until it was over the eye, then focusing and firing the shot immediately. This solved my problem.

BTW, I don't mind the tilts. Like you said, it's your style. People either love or hate it. If they hate it, they can find another photographer. I do like your exposure. Nice and bright. Great work overall. Just watch work on that focus point with this lens and tone tone down the eye work just a bit.

OK... got to go. Going to check Amazon for those orange eyelash thingies. Guys can wear those right?

joshhuntnm

Bryce Wilson wrote: »

I really like several of these (numbered images would help) but, it looks like there was maybe a bit too much PP work done on the eyes in some???

Not to discourage you, but my thought exactly. They are good, but a tad bit overdone.

wave01

I think this is just a DOF issue, what did you focus on

lifeinfocus

Bryce Wilson wrote: »

I really like several of these (numbered images would help) but, it looks like there was maybe a bit too much PP work done on the eyes in some???

Which camera were you using that 50 on? It looks like it may have been less than friendly to the nose on some of your extreme close-up shots.

Regarding point about nose. Is that the result of using too short a focal length? I don't know Canon - is the 7D an FX or DX sensor and was the lens a FX or DX lens. If a DX sensor and FX lens what is the effective focal length? 80mm?

I am not sufficiently experienced but everything I have read says to reduce increasing size of nose, use a longer lens and be at least 10 ft from the subject. Agree? I ask because I am trying to learn myself.

Phil

novicesnapper

According to my speedlite when on my aps-c crop (T1i), this lens shows as 70mm. I thought I read recently on a FF, I guess 7d, this is only 50mm? I looked up the DOF on her 7d and at 5 feet, the DOF was around 4 inches @f 1.8. Per link above. I was thinking about this last night, with that narrow a depth of field, hitting both eyes in a reclining position would be difficult.
http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

***********
f1.8 @ 5 feet
<table class="resultsTable" summary="results of depth of field calculation" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="textClassResults" colspan="2" align="left">Depth of field </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="textClassResults" style="text-indent: 20px;"> Near limit </td> <td id="dofNear" name="dofNear" class="textClassResults" align="left">4.9 ft</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="textClassResults" style="text-indent: 20px;"> Far limit </td> <td id="dofFar" name="dofFar" class="textClassResults" align="left">5.1 ft</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="textClassResults" style="text-indent: 20px;"> Total </td> <td name="dofTotal" id="dofTotal" class="textClassResults" align="left">0.2 ft</td></tr></tbody></table>***********
f2.8 @ 5 feet
<table class="resultsTable" summary="results of depth of field calculation" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="textClassResults" colspan="2" align="left">Depth of field </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="textClassResults" style="text-indent: 20px;"> Near limit </td> <td id="dofNear" name="dofNear" class="textClassResults" align="left">4.85 ft</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="textClassResults" style="text-indent: 20px;"> Far limit </td> <td id="dofFar" name="dofFar" class="textClassResults" align="left">5.16 ft</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="textClassResults" style="text-indent: 20px;"> Total </td> <td name="dofTotal" id="dofTotal" class="textClassResults" align="left">0.32 ft</td></tr></tbody></table>***********
f4 @ 5 feet
<table class="resultsTable" summary="results of depth of field calculation" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="textClassResults" colspan="2" align="left">Depth of field </td> </tr> <tr> <td class="textClassResults" style="text-indent: 20px;"> Near limit </td> <td id="dofNear" name="dofNear" class="textClassResults" align="left">4.79 ft</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="textClassResults" style="text-indent: 20px;"> Far limit </td> <td id="dofFar" name="dofFar" class="textClassResults" align="left">5.23 ft</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="textClassResults" style="text-indent: 20px;"> Total </td> <td name="dofTotal" id="dofTotal" class="textClassResults" align="left">0.45 ft</td></tr></tbody></table>
I think in the end, it depends on what the photographer is looking for?

Vagebond

The focal length of any given lens is the same on a crop sensor as on a full sized sensor. A crop sensor only crops a picture to the field of view -so not focal length- of a longer lens. So yes, the flash doesn't have to cover the same area as on a full sensor camera. But this does not change the focal length. In other words, a crop sensor photographs the middle of the photo you would take with a full sensor at the same distance. See the attachment.

So let's say you want to photograph a head with a full sensor camera and a crop camera, both with a 50mm. lens. Because the crop sensor crops the picture, you need to stand farther away from the head to get it to fill the frame than with the full sensor. And because you're farther away, the depth of field at any given aperture is a bit larger. But it's the DOF of a 50mm lens, not the DOF of the FOV-length.

novicesnapper

Ah, thanks Vagabond, that clarifies that. Great learning thread for sure. So it would remain a 70, as per my speedlite. My thoughts, to maintain a decent shutter speed at higher fstops, you would need to bump the Iso right? Especially in a lower light situation?

Bryce Wilson

Vagebond wrote: »

The focal length of any given lens is the same on a crop sensor as on a full sized sensor.

That being said, then even though the field of view of the 50mm would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 80mm on a 1.6 crop sensor, the compression created by that lens will still be the same as a 50mm lens. That is most likely what is causing the "nose" problem that I see.

This may be why many "head shot pros" are using a 70-200 somewhere in the 150-200 end for their really tight head-shots.

babowc

#2 and #3, missed focus?
I also always try to focus on the eyes and go from there.

If you were also using it at 1.8, it's really hard to achieve focus for both eyes in many of your shots.
#2 and #3 seems like it focused on her nose.

I love #4, I wish it has her eyes in focus with slightly less PP!

You have a beautiful model! You should exploit her good angles, like in #3 and #4.
A frontal shot like in #2, #5, and somewhat on #6, doesn't seem to work.

amberlynstudios

Thanks for the views. It's funny about the pp comments, I really didn't pp that much at all. I agree that I have a lot of missed focus though. I never though of adjusting the view via live view instead of just looking through the viewfinder eye hole. I am learning that too, I can't be too close to the subject bec if they move just slightly I lose focus over all.

BTW, the orange thingies are part of the whole eye last set of 3 from Sephora.

I am not sure of the sensor on my 7D, I still have not grasped that just yet. I need to learn more angles too on people. This young girl actually has a prominent nose, which in my case hurt me bec the lens wanted to focus on it more then the eyes, which I assumed because it was 'closer' to the lens?

lifeinfocus

amberlynstudios wrote: »

..... has a prominent nose, which in my case hurt me bec the lens wanted to focus on it more then the eyes, which I assumed because it was 'closer' to the lens?

I took a quick look at Canon 7D user manual - you can use its Manual Autofcous and select one of 19 point to focus on. I use Nikon and it has similar feature. Perhaps other Canon users can explain it more and determine if that is the best option with your camera.

Quincy T

lifeinfocus wrote: »

I took a quick look at Canon 7D user manual - you can use its Manual Autofcous and select one of 19 point to focus on. I use Nikon and it has similar feature. Perhaps other Canon users can explain it more and determine if that is the best option with your camera.

You can choose AF points with all the modes.

I think the issue with 7D users is that a lot of folks are starting to buy it as their first camera, now that the price is down. That's great! But, it's kind of a complex machine, and it takes a bit of time to get your head wrapped around it otherwise you'll get frustrated with results. It's a unique camera, in my opinion.

Amber, the 7D has an APS-C sensor, which is 1.6x crop factor. You missing the focus in these images is both trademark 7D, and trademark 50mm f/1.8 activities. Next time, I'd just shoot at a slightly higher aperture, and really take your time with selecting AF points and ensuring focus is correct. You can also fire a burst of images to get a higher potential keeper rate, but this means more time at the computer.

Mitchell

Just because you can shoot this lens at f1.8 doesn't mean that you have to. I suspect the sweet spot of that lens is closer to f4. You may want to experiment a bit next time by stopping down incrementally on the same shot. Once you get more comfortable with your new lens, you will know your go-to aperture. Most lenses of that price point are not their best wide open.

Hackbone

anonymouscuban wrote: »

I agree on the eyes being over processed.

Looks like the focus point was on the tip of the nose in most of the shots. I struggled with my f/1.8 until I stopped focusing and recomposing. The focal plane is so small that any slight movement front to back will miss focus. I started composing and moving my focusing point in the view finder until it was over the eye, then focusing and firing the shot immediately. This solved my problem.

Some of the cameras, Canon 5d and I'm sure some of the others have a button on back of the camera that you can set as your focus button, instead of the shutter release, then hold it down and recompose and the focus is locked till you hit the shutter. Sometimes it really pays to read the manual.

coolpinsky

generally I dont like this lens but your shots are good anyway

rpcrowe

Bryce Wilson wrote: »

I really like several of these (numbered images would help) but, it looks like there was maybe a bit too much PP work done on the eyes in some???

Which camera were you using that 50 on? It looks like it may have been less than friendly to the nose on some of your extreme close-up shots.

IMO, a 50mm is not quite long enough for face shots, even on a crop camera...