Close up, low light portrait

[timmeh]

I've recently upgraded to a dslr and am very much into portrait shots and natural light work. this shot was taken at night time under a combination of fluorescent shop front lights and tungsten street lights.

I think the focus might be better off slightly lower, though I'm not 100% sure. What do you think?

Camera - Canon EOS 500D
Aperture - f2.0
Exposure - 1/80
ISO - 1600
Lens - EF50mm f1.8/II
Metering Mode - Spot
White Balance - Custom

[windrider86]

Decide what your main focal point is. Reason i say that becasue you have ears, eyes and nose fighting for the attention. I'd probably choose a closer crop

[timmeh]

Originally Posted by windrider86

Decide what your main focal point is. Reason i say that becasue you have ears, eyes and nose fighting for the attention. I'd probably choose a closer crop

is having only one focal point the main objective? eg is cropping out the ear as per the attempt I've made below enough, or should I crop it more ruthlessly and remove the nose as well?

i can see the improvement that removing the ear has had - you don't feel like you're trying to look at two things at a time anymore.

[Marija]

I honestly think that you should try to retake this photo. I don't like that your forehead is the only thing sharp here. I would like if entire eye was in the focus.

[scootermcq]

With a large aperature of F2 shot that closely, you have a very limited DOF and that is why so much is out of focus. The 2nd picture without the ear is much better, as there is less to try to take in. As mentioned above, the eye being in focus in a situation like this is important to me.

[Kbaby]

I think you may have had a more interesting shot had it of been taken portrait instead of landscape, this would have cropped out the ear and placed more focus on his eyes instead.

Just my humble opinion =)

[timmeh]

thank you all for the feedback, I will play around some more with different options next time.

I had the aperture wide at f2.0 because of the low light in an effort to keep the shutter speed fast (unsteady hands and non IS lens) - I prefer not to use flash because I don't generally like how it looks, though that could be because I don't know what I am doing are there any other options other than a tripod and slowing down the shutter?

[scootermcq]

are there any other options other than a tripod and slowing down the shutter?


Step back & crop... when you are close you have very limited DOF and that causes the problems. Download a DOF calculator (tons of free ones on the net) and play with some numbers to see how far you would have to be to get as much of the subject as you want in focus. Then just crop the image to get the effect you are after.

*edit* - I just looked at the numbers with f/2 on 50mm:

If you were at 1.5' from the subject you only have 1/4" for total DOF
if you back up to 5' you would then have 2.7" for total DOF

just to give you an example