Need Help PLEASE

kdotaylor

I took some photos this morning, and this is an example of what may of them look like. This was shot with a Nikon D90 with a Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 lens, shot at 70 mm. f/4 1/400 second ISO 400
Why is this blurry? Why is there a purple tint around the skin?

Hackbone

Almost looks like you might have used a flash with camera in auto mode. I see a slight extra image like they moved slightly when the flash fired and the camera tripped. Can't help any more than that. Wish I could help more and interested in what others might say.

kdotaylor

Hmmm, no flash...

Mitchell

Can you check were your focus point was located? Almost looks like you focused on the leaves just behind the couple and left them OOF.

kdotaylor

Focus point was on her eyes...this is what a lot of the photos in this series look like! I'm so puzzled.

Hackbone

If your using a raw converter program check to see if it has a focus mask in it. It will show you where your camera was focusing.

ziggy53

kdotaylor wrote: »

Focus point was on her eyes...this is what a lot of the photos in this series look like! I'm so puzzled.

Prime focus is definitely and obviously on the foliage in the background. The AF points on most dSLRs are more nebulous than many believe. If you want much more precision for autofocus I'm afraid that only the very top tier cameras offer such, and, even then, it's not 100 percent accurate all of the time.

Live view and 100 percent enlargement also offers corroboration of AF accuracy, at the expense of the time it takes to set up the shot and then check with live view.

Mitchell

ziggy53 wrote: »

Prime focus is definitely and obviously on the foliage in the background. The AF points on most dSLRs are more nebulous than many believe. If you want much more precision for autofocus I'm afraid that only the very top tier cameras offer such, and, even then, it's not 100 percent accurate all of the time.

Live view and 100 percent enlargement also offers corroboration of AF accuracy, at the expense of the time it takes to set up the shot and then check with live view.

Yes, but Kate knows how to use her camera. Double check the focus point with Nikon View NX.

I'm not familiar with the D90, but have you recently changed any of your focus settings? Dynamic focus, shape of focus points, focus release? Are you shooting AF-s or AF-c?

I've always shot portraits with single focus point which I move to the desired area and AF-s mode.

kdotaylor

Mitchell wrote: »

Yes, but Kate knows how to use her camera. Double check the focus point with Nikon View NX.

I'm not familiar with the D90, but have you recently changed any of your focus settings? Dynamic focus, shape of focus points, focus release? Are you shooting AF-s or AF-c?

I've always shot portraits with single focus point which I move to the desired area and AF-s mode.

That may be it...I usually shoot with single focus point and move it where I want it, but it was set at AF-C, so focus may have moved?

ziggy53

kdotaylor wrote: »

That may be it...I usually shoot with single focus point and move it where I want it, but it was set at AF-C, so focus may have moved?

Since the Nikon D90 has only a single cross-type AF point, a lot of folks use focus and recompose technique. In AF-C mode the AF is constantly resampling as you hold down the shutter button in either half-depress or full-depress. That AF mode plus focus-recompose almost certainly caused the problem, because the camera does not retain the original selected focus.

AF-S autofocus is the only mode I can recommend for portraiture, unless trying to capture fast-moving children in play and using a photojournalistic method of shooting (which is really a type of "action" photography.) Even then, be careful of focus-recompose as it can throw off AF accuracy:

Why Focus-Recompose Sucks, How A Commonly-Used AF Technique Causes Focus Errors

michaelglenn

It looks like you have some AF issues going on. Try taking some test shots outside to see if you're having the same problem with the lens. I ended up dropping one of my lenses and the focus looked very similar. After getting it serviced, they replaced a part and the focus was back to normal.

If you have other lenses, test it out as well. Easy way to see if it's truly the lens

kdotaylor

Thanks, all. I will need to investigate further when I have time

DKellyC

I agree with those that said the focus point is the plans behind the couple. On the D90, you should be able to view the images again and see exactly where the focal point is.

Best wishes

troopers

kdotaylor wrote: »

That may be it...I usually shoot with single focus point and move it where I want it, but it was set at AF-C, so focus may have moved?

That's the cause...AF mode must be set to AF-S when using focus/recompose method.

As for the purple fringing, that's CA. Use LR or PS to remove.

Qarik

I agree with the missed focus..the purple halo is classic chromatic aberation or purple fringing. It looks very bad thought at f/4.

kdotaylor

Can someone explain this chromatic aberation/purple fringing? Here's another really bad one:


This looks blue and blurry and awful! What am I doing wrong??

jmphotocraft

kdotaylor wrote: »

This looks blue and blurry and awful! What am I doing wrong??

For one thing, honestly I wouldn't expect great consistency from a D90 and a budget lens.

In my experience, outer focus points are unreliable with lenses that are soft in the mid-frame to edge areas when wide open. AF happens with the lens wide open. Whenever I use a lens that I know is like this, like my 50/1.4, I just use center point and focus-recompose. I'm well aware of the theory against this, but with such lenses it works better in practice.

A shame, because these are some great captures. Surely you and your business are worth a used D700 and some proper lenses by now, yes? Primes are relatively cheap.

kdotaylor

jmphotocraft wrote: »

For one thing, honestly I wouldn't expect great consistency from a D90 and a budget lens.

In my experience, outer focus points are unreliable with lenses that are soft in the mid-frame to edge areas when wide open. AF happens with the lens wide open. Whenever I use a lens that I know is like this, like my 50/1.4, I just use center point and focus-recompose. I'm well aware of the theory against this, but with such lenses it works better in practice.

A shame, because these are some great captures. Surely you and your business are worth a used D700 and some proper lenses by now, yes? Primes are relatively cheap.

Thank you, Jack. I took your advice and researched and bought a used D700 which came yesterday. The test shots of the dog look great! I can't wait to use it on people! I will post some photos after my shoot tomorrow eve.

Qarik

That is such a major upgrade. The D700 is my favorite body of all time

jmphotocraft

kdotaylor wrote: »

Thank you, Jack. I took your advice and researched and bought a used D700 which came yesterday. The test shots of the dog look great! I can't wait to use it on people! I will post some photos after my shoot tomorrow eve.

Wow! Glad to hear it. Looking forward to seeing the results.

Mitchell

Qarik wrote: »

That is such a major upgrade. The D700 is my favorite body of all time

I agree. I still love using mine after all these years. Pretty impressive in this era of disposable SLR bodies.

I think a lightly used D700 is the best value out there today.

kdotaylor

Best. Advice. Ever.
I am LOVING this D700.
Thank you!

Mitchell

Great news!! I'm happy to see you're new to you D700 being put to such good use! Best all around camera I've ever owned.

Qarik

geez..that was a big jump in image quality! congrats on D700

jmphotocraft

Awesome!! Congratulations! Great set, the picture of the baby sandwich kiss made me , literally. Thanks for the follow-up.