very high ISO

[kristenh]

I took this shot of my niece this evening- inside the house, dark outside, no flash, ISO of 2000. is the soft look of the photo only because of the high ISO or did i mess up in another way?



exif data:
nikon d5000
aperture 1.9
shutter speed 1/60
focal length 35 mm
ISO 2000

any other comments or critiques are of course welcome

my sister loves this photo- any thoughts about how well it would print? and how large one could go?

thanks!

[kirbinster]

The softness is due to the f/stop and the point of focus. If you look at the word Santa's you will notice it is very sharp but the thin depth of field has left the rest slightly out of focus. Also I believe the white balance needs to be adjusted.

[kristenh]

Originally Posted by kirbinster

The softness is due to the f/stop and the point of focus. If you look at the word Santa's you will notice it is very sharp but the thin depth of field has left the rest slightly out of focus. Also I believe the white balance needs to be adjusted.

aaaaaaagggggghhhhhh!!! how many years of practice does it take to learn to focus properly when shooting wide open? frustrated. but true, kirbinster.

i knew about the WB, was just posting it in a hurry.

[mitchcook]

The white balance REALLLLLLLLLLLY needs to be adjusted.
Maybe you could start shooting in RAW... it helped me to learn what accurate colouring was.

[itsliju]

When you shoot wide open at 1.9, this is what happens. I like the overall mood of the picture. You may want to use single area focus on the eye in pictures like this. And of course, you are aware of the WB issue.

Regards
Liju Augustine
Liju's Photography | - learning by sharing

[kristenh]

Originally Posted by mitchcook

The white balance REALLLLLLLLLLLY needs to be adjusted.
Maybe you could start shooting in RAW... it helped me to learn what accurate colouring was.

i already do. and i'll fix it.

although i do wonder why it was so off- i had it on incandescent lighting...

[kristenh]

Originally Posted by itsliju

When you shoot wide open at 1.9, this is what happens. I like the overall mood of the picture. You may want to use single area focus on the eye in pictures like this. And of course, you are aware of the WB issue.

Regards
Liju Augustine
Liju's Photography | - learning by sharing

i did that, too- used a center point focus and recomposed- but obviously that wasn't good enough- with a moving baby i don't have time to use the other focus points- but recomposing seems to be throwing the focus off. very frustrating.

[TBrown00]

Originally Posted by kristenh

i did that, too- used a center point focus and recomposed- but obviously that wasn't good enough- with a moving baby i don't have time to use the other focus points- but recomposing seems to be throwing the focus off. very frustrating.

When you focus and then recompose you change the focus plane, and at f/1.9 the depth of field is very small. That's why focusing and recomposing doesn't work. Try stopping the lens down to f/2.8 or even further to get a larger depth of field. This will also help immensely with rapidly moving kids.

What focus mode were you using? With rapidly moving subjects with an unpredictable path I would use Dynamic area AF with AF-C.

[mandyatm]

The focus is on the word Santa, as said, but I think if you selectively sharpen the face and add a gaussian blur to the shirt, it would make a big improvement. I don't think the face is so soft that it can't be recovered. I would love to see this with that done and the WB adjusted, I bet it would be great!

[Jim Bryant]

wow.........go into color balance and add a bunch of blue to this.