First Post: Playful Pup

[mgro]

Hi all! I just got a DSLR for my birthday last week and I'm still learning how to use everything but I thought some critique would be useful in helping me figure out where to focus (literally, in this particular picture)

This is a picture of my dog Scout during one of many play sessions that happens during the day. I realize it's not focused really well as I just figured out how to manually focus about 30 seconds ago . What else can I do to get sharper images of her inside. There was only one window in the room we were in (located to my left when I was shooting), could I have used the light better? Any other suggestions would be much appreciated! I'm going to do my best to get the picture posted correctly...let me know if I'm wrong and I'll try again to fix it! Thanks in advance!



f 5.6, ISO 800 (i think?), SS 1/20, Nikon D3000

There are a couple more from this morning on my flikr page, if your feeling generous you can let me know what you think about those too!
Flickr: peridot2_819's Photostream

[Sterling]

Welcome to DPS! From your post I have two suggestions for getting better sharpness. First, your shutter speed is too slow for a crisp hand-held shot.A rough guide to start with is 1/focal length, if this was shot at 55mm then 1/60 would be a good speed to go for. At wider focal lengths I would try not to get below 1/30. Of course, as you improve your holding technique you may be able to use slower speeds. Also, if your subject moves even slightly it will show up as blur using slower speeds. Now having said that, the lens that likely came with your D3000 is not going to be particularly great at indoor shots because of its relatively small maximum aperture. I'm guessing that in the shot above f/5.6 was the maximum aperture available and it still required quite a slow shutter speed to get enough exposure. In this case the only solutions are to add more light or to increase the ISO even higher. Increasing ISO has it's own drawbacks as the higher you set it, the more "noise" will be present.

Second, as a new dslr user I would forget about manual focus and try to master your camera's auto focus system. Modern dslrs, especially entry level ones, are not designed for easy manual focusing while their auto focus capabilities can be quite amazing. Shots like the one of your dog are well within your camera's auto focus capability.

[karen_s]

+1 with Sterling, especially about mastering auto focus. While there are times you may want to use manual focus, you will most likely get better and more consistent results with auto.

You may already know these but just in case, here are a couple of things about focus ...

1. Check your camera for focus mode options. I'm not familiar with Nikon but you should have a way to set the camera to spot focus (look for a mode where the camera uses one point of focus rather than multiple points). It was the first thing I changed when I got my first DSLR as the factory setting was for multiple points.

2. Once you make sure your camera is set to spot focus, work on the technique of focusing and recomposing. In most cases, especially with portraiture, you want the focus to be on the eyes. So, point your cameras single spot at your subjects eye, press the shutter halfway to focus (I'm a Canon user but I'm assuming Nikon works this way too), hold the shutter to hold the focus as you recompose the shot to your liking, then snap the picture. It might be a bit awkward at first but you get used to it and it will quickly become second nature.

3. And one last thing, dog faces are different than people faces. Most dogs faces, when looking directly at you, require a deeper depth of field than do peoples faces because their noses are so much longer. When I don't have enough light to get a narrow enough aperture to get their entire face in focus, I sometimes go for the side view where I can get away with a wider setting.

And despite the slightly off focus, I think you did a really nice job of using available light, composing the shot, and capturing the character of that cute little face :-)