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Photography Question 

Kristi Eckberg 		 

Focusing problems AGAIN with the digital Rebel


 
 
There has been a discussion earlier to my problem with focusing with my digital rebel. So I have had two photo shoots. The first one I mostly used the flash and the pictures came out nice and sharp. The 2nd photo shoot which was at the same time in the evening I used no flash just to compare. Almost all of these ones turned out blurry. I watched the focusing point to be sure it was on the subject. Made sure my focal length was not higher than my shutter. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?? I hate to use the flash if it's not needed. The lighting was so beautiful on both shoots but why are the ones with the flash coming out clear and the others not?? It's like the camera just won't focus properly.
I have more shoots coming up this week. If anyone knows the answer as to why the ones with no flash are not focused please help! Thanks again everyone! Kristi


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August 05, 2005

 

Kerry L. Walker 		  Could it be that, without the flash, your shutter speed was so slow that you suffered from camera shake? If there is no point of sharp focus in the photo, that is probably the problem.


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August 05, 2005

 

Kristi Eckberg 		  I tried to upload a photo here with my post but it just put it in my gallery not with my question. View my gallery and you can see the blur to these photos. They are the first ones in the gallery. The family in BW and the cute little girls.


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August 05, 2005

 

Kristi Eckberg 		  I checked the one of the girls with the sunflowers.. 1/50, 5.6, ISO 200 focal length 34mm.
The other one of girls with pink flowers.. 1/60,5.6, ISO 200 focal length 40mm. Even some of them I switched to ISO 400 when the light was going and that doesn't seem to help either.
Those two of the girls I was pretty close to them and looking through the viewfinder it looked focused, the focusing circle was not blinking.. So I'am confused.. Nothing worse than going to a photo shoot and not feeling confident in your camera.


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August 05, 2005

 

Mellanie 		  Have you tried using an unsharpening mask in your photo editor? If you want, email me a photo and I will show you the difference between a sharpened and unsharpened photo!

Timeless Images by Mellanie


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August 05, 2005

 

Kristi Eckberg 		  I use PS and have used the unsharp mask but some of them are just to out of focus to correct. There have been others that have had the same problem it sounds like from my previous posting. I hate to keep repeating my question but just hoping there will be someone out there who can help me figure out what is going on with my camera or what I'am doing wrong.


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August 05, 2005

 

Justin G. 		  Kristi, I noticed that you are shooting (at least the two you listed) with aperture @ f/5.6. If you notice the two pics in my gallery of my wife at the bottom, one is a super close up and another is she's looking away (the colors not the B/W). If you notice they are slightly out of focus too. Just a thought, try upping your aperture to around f/8. Great aperture for portraits (still having background blur). This will obviously slow down your shutter speed so up your ISO or use a tripod. I don't know if you're using it or not so disregard if you are not, but if you're using autofocus, try using manual focus and focusing on the eyes. On the first portrature shoot on my wife, I didn't know this and they came out blurry, (the bottom ones in my gallery). Summary:

1. Step down aperture (f/8 or so).
2. Up ISO if neccessary OR
3. Use tripod/cable release.
4. Focus on eyes.

P.S. If you're shooting a group, like the beautiful family of four you have in your gallery, you may need to step down aperture more to around f/16 or so. Use your DOF preview button on your camera, you'll be amazed at how you can see what control you have on your shots. Good luck, hope this helps.

As always, to the experts, please piggyback if I'm wrong in any way.

.justin.


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August 05, 2005

 

Jon Close 		  In the two photos of the 2 girls (one with yellow sunflowers, the other with pink flowers) - in each of these photos the area just behind the girls is in sharp focus. A couple of possible reasons for the misfocus:

(a) If the camera is automatically chosing the focus sensor, it may be latching onto the railing behind the girls since it has stronger contrast. Correct by manually selecting the focus sensor nearest the feature you want in critical focus (eg. subject's eyes).

(b) If you set the center focus sensor as active and do focus-recompose, that can put the point of focus behind the girls, especially at shorter focus distances. See http://www.outbackphoto.com/workshop/phototechnique/essay06/essay.html. Correct by not doing that. Same as in (a), compose first and manually choose the focus sensor nearest the feature you want in critical focus. You still may be doing focus/recompose, but the angle change and error will be less.

(c) Autofocus accuracy improves with larger maximum aperture lenses. The sensors receive more light and greater contrast, plus the AF programming aims to get the focus within the depth of field of the lens's maximum aperture. So the AF will be more accurate, especially in dimming light, with an f/2 or f/2.8 lens than with a f/3.5-5.6 zoom.


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August 05, 2005

 
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