Baby's Face

[judyg0313]

I love this pix because of it's softness...A friend says it shouldn't be soft...Since I am so knew with all of this, could someone or everyone please tell me why it isn't good...thanks..

[Naois]

It's out of focus.

Cute kid!

You need to include the EXIF data in your post.

I'm guessing this was shot with a very long shutter speed, introducing "softness" in the form of motion blur.

[judyg0313]

I'm sorry, I am new at this and just didn't think to include all the info...I took this with a Canon T2i with a Canon 18mm to 55mm kit lens. I used the cameras auto settings.
It shows
F Stop = f 5/6
Exposure Time = 1/100 sec
ISO Speed = ISO-1600
Focal Length = 55mm
White Balance = auto

[kristenh]

adorable baby! the thing is, it's not soft everywhere- his shirt (is that a monkey costume? i think we have the same one...) is sharp but his face is out of focus. i think that's what people would criticize. in a portrait, you want the eyes to be sharp. if you like it, you like, it, though, and to heck with the criticizers.

[Naois]

I was wrong about the shutter speed, 1/100 is fast enough. I guess it was just a focus issue.

[judyg0313]

Thanks guys...It helps to see things through others eyes..

[TBrown00]

It looks to me like the focus fell on the towel/blanket in front of the kid which caused the face to be out of focus. When doing portraits you should focus on the eyes.

[cherrygirl]

There is a difference between "soft" and out of focus. Unfortunately, this is just out of focus. Eyes should always be in focus. Cute baby!

[judyg0313]

Thanks guys...I am gonna shoot another one and see if I can improve...I'll post the next one for your opinions too...

[autofocus]

Judy, everyone here have already told you what's wrong with the photo and in portraiture how important it is to have the eyes sharp. You have a few issues here that you might want to be aware of in the future. Unless this is a crop, I suspect at the shot focal length of 55mm you were very close to the subject. The closer you are to the subject the shallower the depth of field will be making focusing very critical. (even at f/5.6). If you shoot in the auto mode and let your camera decide on the focus point you will often wind up with the focus on the wrong part of the image. That said, you have two choices...focus on your subject's eyes using your center focus point while holding your shutter half down, and while doing so, re-compose your shot. (not always the best method especially when focus is critical. Any slight movement on your part or the subject's part will throw off your focus) Better to learn how to pick and dial in the focus point....you'll place that over the subject's eye to take your shot. By doing this, you eliminate the risk of out of focus shots using the previous method.