ugh!

[metoo]

Why do I always mess up the really cute shots of my kids?? Never fails! UGH! Sorry just needed to vent somewhere someone might understand. I just downloaded a whole set of adorable out of focus pictures of my youngest. I swear I thought I would be getting better at this by now.

[blaurebell]

Ah, don't you worry, kids are just insanely tough subjects! They are always on the move so once you've focused, they have moved on already. Same for me today. 3 pictures of kids, all out of focus or blurred. Oh and another one, kid on a bike in movement, the bike is perfectly in focus, but the kid moved his head, so the face is a blur. Just keep trying

[mosgood]

Just keep trying. Kids are a really tough subject, unless you catch them sleeping. LOL What kind of camera are you using? That actually might help to explain the problem.

My issue is hummingbirds. LOL Same problem...*if* I manage to get a shot of one, it's either a really bad angle or out of focus.

All I can say is keep shooting. You're bound to get some good ones.

[3bayjunkie]

try using manual focus. I have pretty much given up on auto focus because it always focuses on the background unless i have my subject boringly centered...

[metoo]

I"m using a cannon XS and mainly my 50mm lens. She is only 2 and I was shooting at like 2.2 av I think? Every single cute smiling shot is out of focus and all the serious/cheesy smiles are sharp as anything. grrrrrrr

Originally Posted by metoo

I"m using a cannon XS and mainly my 50mm lens. She is only 2 and I was shooting at like 2.2 av I think? Every single cute smiling shot is out of focus and all the serious/cheesy smiles are sharp as anything. grrrrrrr

Shooting f2.2 on a moving kid is pretty tough. A USM lens (like the Sigma 50mm f1.4) would focus much faster.

Also, be sure you're using manual focus points.

[metoo]

Originally Posted by Photoboothguy

Shooting f2.2 on a moving kid is pretty tough. A USM lens (like the Sigma 50mm f1.4) would focus much faster.

Also, be sure you're using manual focus points.

By manual focus points do you mean the little dots? If you do I always use those. One thing I would like to know though, is what's the lowest Fstop you can use and still get both eyes in focus? Or would it be relative to the distance from the camera and all that jazz?

I think I wouldn't have been as annoyed if all the bad shots hadn't been crystal clear. . Got to use what I have though. which is natural light and a 50mm 1.8 lens

[Doug Sundseth]

f/2 is a fine choice to blur the background. It's a less fine choice if you can't focus fast enough, because the depth of field is so short. I'd recommend trying something in the f/8 to f/11 range, focusing at the hyperfocal distance, and pushing the ISO up (if necessary) until you have a shutter speed fast enough to freeze movement.

The composition won't be as pleasing as a perfect-focus shot with a short DoF, but you're not getting those, so it's not really a tradeoff.

The good news about that is that the f/8 - f/11 range is often the sharpest aperture for lenses, so you should be able to get nice sharpness throughout.

[zekes]

Kids are very difficult to shoot because they like moving and moving. Just do many random shots as you can and choose the best picture that you like.

[BigFuzzy]

Can you post and example of one of these images that went wrong with the Exif info?

The reason I ask it because there are so many variables involved that would affect it. What was your shutter speed? Anything below 1/60 (or probably 1/100th for you as a beginner) is probably too slow to capture moving children.

What's the light like? A well lit room will be very different than a darker room.

How are you holding the camera?

What focus mode are you using?

I may be asking too much since you're not even sure what "manual focus" means. It's not those red dot thingies.. it's using the focus ring on your lens to focus the image yourself. Unlike 3bayjunkie, I really really don't recommend using manual focuse seeing how new you are.. I'd stick to autofocus and just learn how to use the different focus modes.. some handle moving subjects better than others (yes, you'll have to read the manual *gasp*!)

Right now, it just seems to me you simply need to learn some basic aspects of photography so that you know what to expect out of certain conditions (ie light, movement of subject, composition, etc).

I'm not even going to bring up flash.

Read up on AV and the other modes...