Struggling with my nifty fifty

[cm121886]

Here is one of several shots I took of my wife yesterday. I was playing with my new 50mm f/1.8 and I seem to be struggling getting it to focus. I am looking for thoughts on the composition and how out of focus it appears any ideas for future pictures.

EXIF
Shutter 1/4s
F1.8
ISO 400
Flash did not fire
50mm

[SusanH1970]

It's out of focus due to camera shake - 1/4 is a crazy slow shutter speed. Try bumping your ISO way up next time so you can increase your shutter speed.

[cm121886]

Thats what I thought but I was not sure. I think I got used to my kit lens that has IS and my 50 doesn't guess I just need to get more light on her and raise the ISO i just don't like noise so I try to keep it super low. Thanks for the pointers.

[SusanH1970]

I totally hear you about the noise. My camera does not handle high ISO well at all, but on a recent shoot I was stuck with crappy light and had to shoot most of the session at either ISO 800 or 1600. This is what saved the shots: Noiseware Free Community Edition. If you'd like I can post a before and after to show you what it does. It's not as good as the plug-in you pay for, but for free it sure as hell beats nothing.

Just an FYI, too...your white balance is off, she's really yellow/orange. Did you shoot in RAW? If so, this can be adjusted.

[inkista]

The rule of thumb to eliminate camera shake blur while handholding is to shoot at a shutter speed of 1/focal_length or faster, so with the 50, you probably want to be in the 1/30s-1/60s range or faster.

Secondly, the 50/1.8 II is kinda semi notorious for inconsistent autofocus in low light. You might want to help out the AF system by using only the center AF point (not the whole grid), and doing the half-press thing to set focus. On the dRebels, the central AF point is the most accurate one--it's the only cross-type sensor in the whole array.

[kristenh]

Originally Posted by SusanH1970

This is what saved the shots: Noiseware Free Community Edition. If you'd like I can post a before and after to show you what it does. It's not as good as the plug-in you pay for, but for free it sure as hell beats nothing.
.

would you post them, please, Susan? i'm very curious.

[carlyfan]

As far as composition, I think it would look better if her head was not in the middle. If you put her face by the top right intersection of third lines, you could have more of her body in the frame and less empty space. Even if you just cropped it like this, I think it would improve it. Good luck, and enjoy your nifty fifty!

Lisa

[cm121886]

Thanks everyone for the help I will keep in mind those tricks inkista. I will definitely try that noise reduction software. Thanks again everyone hopefully will put it to good use soon.

[S_Sanyal]

I like the overall feel of the portrait. It has great attitude and your wife seems very relaxed looking into the camera, which says a lot about the photographer

Composition-wise the black of the couch doesnt help the picture much except for adding blank space, I'd suggest getting rid of it by about 50% to give more dynamism, which would dramatically add to the "feel" of the shot.

Second, as others have noted, your shutter speed is rather low; it looks like you have got good pointers to address that.

Third, about the focussing issue, I dont know if you are using nikon or canon, I have a nikon 50mm f/1.8 D and i get best results in pictures like these when I have manually focussed, as the focussing ring is nice and fast half turn to infinity...maybe you could try that in future.

I must add, that I like the picture a lot.