Exposure/Focus Help :)

[dmann]

I really need to work on my exposure and focus. I took this shot tonight to work on just that. It was sunny out, just after supper time.

I had taken shots previous and her face was really shadowed, so I turned on my flash and adjusted my shutter speed, was that correct? how is my exposure? and finally how is the color?

Before joining DPS I thought I was pretty good but thankfully I realized (with some help) that I really have no clue what I am doing. So I have been studying and trying to figure things out, any tips in general for how to make your shutter speed, ISO and f-stops work together would be great

Canon T1i
ISO 100
Shutter Speed 1/200
f/stops 8.0
Flash Fired
Lens 50mm 1.8

In Landscape mode (to brighten the sky) Is that right to do?

Also the image has not been edited, I am not there yet.

I feel like I must add this note. This picture would have been better composed had she been smiling but to get a shot of her NOT talking is a little difficult especially after 5mins of taking pics.

[kevingeary]

Hi,

I crique in list format, so here you go:

1. It appears focused was achieved on the hat and not the eye. What's your method of focusing? Do you let the camera choose the focal point? Do you have it manually set to the center point and then recompose? Or do you manually choose a focal point on the eye?

2. The background is boring and inbetween focus (not enough in focus and not enough out of focus to be appealing). F8 was likely a poor choice for this shot.

3. The pink hat clashes with the blue shirt and the blue background.

4. The crop is a little tight and there's no frame of reference for what is occurring. She seems to be engaging with something off in the distance, but we don't have enough room in the crop to participate in what she's engaged with. And because she's looking into the thin side of the frame instead of looking into the wide side, our mind isn't allowed to imagine.

5. Landscape mode has nothing to do with exposure of the background.

6. Fill flash is very difficult to use properly (in a quality photograph way--not in a "i filled in the shadow" way). I'd stay away from it for now. A reflector would be a better choice. And better still would be to learn how to position the subject better and find better areas to compose the shot.

7. The exposure is fine. But this is one of those times where I'd say that achieving perfect exposure killed the image. Many times there is no art in a perfectly exposed photograph. A better option would have been to position the sun to flare into the lens and blow out the sky, exposing for the subject. The perfect exposure here is boring and brings nothing to the table beyond a simple snapshot for your AMWAC album.

Don't give up.

[Niresangwa]

To address the exposure question...

yes, you did a good job of exposing for the model and getting detail in the sky, so nicely done. It obviously was a pretty bright time of day, so I'd say for the exercise you were doing, you did well.

As far as focus, as Kevin said, what focus system are you using? Specifically in this circumstance (using a prime for a portrait), using center point focus for the nearest eye, then recomposing would have been the order of the day... I suspect you were using multi-point, and at what I assume to be a fairly close focal distance, nothing ended up sharp.

The only concern when using spot focus then recompose is slipping out of the focal plane you're locked into... though after a while you get a feeling for this kind of thing, I just mention it incase you start practicing and it 'doesn't work' sometimes.

I assume by 'landscape mode' that's a preset auto-mode on the camera? Hopefully the last few days you've been working on studying the EXIF from auto to see what the camera decided and what the results were? Do you feel like you're getting somewhere with it?

I'd probably suggest that the next step for you is to start figuring out aperture and it's role, primarily DoF. Knowing you're wanting to get into portrait work, controlling your DoF is going to be a staple consideration.

Keep em coming

[dmann]

1. It appears focused was achieved on the hat and not the eye. What's your method of focusing? Do you let the camera choose the focal point? Do you have it manually set to the center point and then recompose? Or do you manually choose a focal point on the eye?
I manually choose the focal point then recompose, but I am very new at it. I was trying to focus on her eye.
2. The background is boring and inbetween focus (not enough in focus and not enough out of focus to be appealing). F8 was likely a poor choice for this shot.
What would you suggest for next time? I wasn't really after a great shot just one I could work on not having an overexposed sky. So yes I agree with you.

3. The pink hat clashes with the blue shirt and the blue background.

Again I agree but wasn't really focused on that.

4. The crop is a little tight and there's no frame of reference for what is occurring. She seems to be engaging with something off in the distance, but we don't have enough room in the crop to participate in what she's engaged with. And because she's looking into the thin side of the frame instead of looking into the wide side, our mind isn't allowed to imagine.

Again I agree, wasn't focused on that.

5. Landscape mode has nothing to do with exposure of the background.

It wasn't landscape mode, I should have clarified. I shot this in manual and in landscape picture style, it said it would make more vivid blues and greens?

6. Fill flash is very difficult to use properly (in a quality photograph way--not in a "i filled in the shadow" way). I'd stay away from it for now. A reflector would be a better choice. And better still would be to learn how to position the subject better and find better areas to compose the shot.

Thanks for the advice.

7. The exposure is fine. But this is one of those times where I'd say that achieving perfect exposure killed the image. Many times there is no art in a perfectly exposed photograph. A better option would have been to position the sun to flare into the lens and blow out the sky, exposing for the subject. The perfect exposure here is boring and brings nothing to the table beyond a simple snapshot for your AMWAC album.

Again I was just trying to work on not blowing out the sky and thanks for the advice.

[dmann]

Originally Posted by Niresangwa

To address the exposure question...

yes, you did a good job of exposing for the model and getting detail in the sky, so nicely done. It obviously was a pretty bright time of day, so I'd say for the exercise you were doing, you did well.

As far as focus, as Kevin said, what focus system are you using? Specifically in this circumstance (using a prime for a portrait), using center point focus for the nearest eye, then recomposing would have been the order of the day... I suspect you were using multi-point, and at what I assume to be a fairly close focal distance, nothing ended up sharp.

The only concern when using spot focus then recompose is slipping out of the focal plane you're locked into... though after a while you get a feeling for this kind of thing, I just mention it incase you start practicing and it 'doesn't work' sometimes.

I assume by 'landscape mode' that's a preset auto-mode on the camera? Hopefully the last few days you've been working on studying the EXIF from auto to see what the camera decided and what the results were? Do you feel like you're getting somewhere with it?

I'd probably suggest that the next step for you is to start figuring out aperture and it's role, primarily DoF. Knowing you're wanting to get into portrait work, controlling your DoF is going to be a staple consideration.

Keep em coming

Niresangwa,

Thanks for the advice. I think I answered all you questions in my response to Kevingeary.

I have shot some in auto mode and that helps I also went back and looked at the data from that first shoot and was able to see where I went wrong. In most shots my ISO was 800 with a f 1.8, no wonder it was overexposed. It should have been ISO 100 and f 9-11 somewhere in their right?

And thanks. I will start studying DoF right away

[Niresangwa]

Originally Posted by dmann

Niresangwa,

Thanks for the advice. I think I answered all you questions in my response to Kevingeary.

I have shot some in auto mode and that helps I also went back and looked at the data from that first shoot and was able to see where I went wrong. In most shots my ISO was 800 with a f 1.8, no wonder it was overexposed. It should have been ISO 100 and f 9-11 somewhere in their right?

And thanks. I will start studying DoF right away

your guess on the ISO 100 is right, but I'll tell you from experience that I rarely use f9-11 when shooting portraits, (of course there are exceptions, attributable only to lighting) but generally speaking, and this goes back to applying DoF (for isolating the model from backgrounds), you're probably going to be lower.

Going back to the recomposition, you need to get a feel for how slender or deep your DoF is going to be depending on the f-stop and how close you are to the subject. DoF calculators will help you ballpark this... however, as lon as you're locking focus where you want it, then moving the frame while maintaining the lock, you're doing it right.

After a while you get a feel for how much you can move and how much you can't. The issue is when you're working with portraits, especially outside of controlled conditions, mistakes happen and you have to live with it.