need help with shooting live bands in low light etc

[Kellyj69]

Ok .. so I took everyones advice and bougth the nifty fifty .. and I love it .. the main reason I wanted it was to shoot live bands.. action, and low lighting etc...

so now .. I like most of the shots, but I'm still getting some blur.. and on alot of my shots the person is mostly in focus, but not completely ..

I have a Canon Rebel xs, shooting in "tv" mode .. 1/250 1600 ISO WB set to "shade" f/1.8 50mm fixed


The only post on these images is resizing and rotating

Heres a link to the set.. and here's one image ..

Suede - a set on Flickr


PLEASE HELP!!!

[hora]

If you're shooting at 1/250, that's a fast enough shutter speed that it's likely not due to shaky hands. If you're shooting at f1.8 however, your depth of field is really narrow so it could be a focus issue. Just keep practicing!

[Kellyj69]

Thanks Hora .. I'll play with the focus and see what happens ..

wow 37 views to my post and 1 reply .. Thanks for the help everyone

[Parry]

with a 1.8 you need to have the focus points on the eyes... and then re-thingy the shot, the words gone out my head... frame that it.... re-frame the shot...

set the focus so it only focuses when you 1/2 press the shutter button (or back button focusing but thats a PITA when doing bands) then put it over someones eyes (in the case of your photo) and keep it 1/2 pressed then re-frame and fully press.. and bingo :-)

[inkista]

Looks to me like you've got DoF and camera shake issues. Just in case (and apologies if this sounds really babystep condescending, it's not meant to. I constantly see people who haven't learned this particular basic) do you know how to hold your camera? For a really stable handholding "platform", your left hand should be palm up and supporting the main weight of your camera/lens combination from below, with your left thumb and forefinger wrapped around the lens for added stability. You adjust zoom and focus from the bottom of the lens, not the top. If your left hand is anywhere near the top of your lens, and you're not on a tripod, you're doing it wrong. Don't forget to watch your breathing, that your elbows are tucked in, and your feet comfortably spaced and planted. The 1/focal_length rule assumes you've got good handholding technique to begin with.

Shooting at 1/250s, you've got some leeway shutter speed-wise. Once you get good handholding technique down assuming nobody's moving too fast, you could go down to 1/60s. Which means you could close down the aperture to f/2 or f/2.8 to get yourself a little more DoF so focus won't be so critical. Also, the 50/1.8 II becomes noticeably sharper as you stop down to f/4. Wide open, at f/1.8, it's at its softest.

Try using only the center AF point and doing a half-press and recompose. Aim for areas of high contrast (where black meets white), and (as an earlier posted remarked), make sure the eyes are in focus. In low light, the 50/1.8 II is notorious for being a bit wonky on the autofocus. If you can find a spot with more light, use it.

[Kellyj69]

Thank you for your responses .. yes actually I did read the article oin how to hold my camera . and thats how I've always held it .. I'm going to practice more this weekend and try to pay particular attention to hand position

[WadeCourtney]

Originally Posted by Kellyj69

Ok .. so I took everyones advice and bougth the nifty fifty .. and I love it .. the main reason I wanted it was to shoot live bands.. action, and low lighting etc...

so now .. I like most of the shots, but I'm still getting some blur.. and on alot of my shots the person is mostly in focus, but not completely ..

I have a Canon Rebel xs, shooting in "tv" mode .. 1/250 1600 ISO WB set to "shade" f/1.8 50mm fixed

I had the opportunity to shoot a band in low light over the weekend, it was my first time. I used my 50 and a Sigma 17-170.

Pyromania - a set on Flickr