Christmas shot of friend's kids... new photographer questions

[mwilleman]

I'm am very new to photography and had a few questions about this photo. It was shot with a Canon T2i, 50mm @ f/1.8. Any insight would be helpful.

1. Why isn't the backdrop out of focus? I thought the wrinkles wouldn't be noticable because I was shooting at f/1.8.

2. How is the lighting and overall composition of the picture?

Any other thoughts would be great.

[mwilleman]

I should add that it was 1/200 and ISO 200. Thanks.

[bigben6]

Firstly the background IS out of focus, just not AS out of focus as you would like. Keep in mind that the distance form your subject has alot to do with how in or out of focus it may be, try moving them and the tree further foreward from the wall and reshoot it. IIRC focal distance also has a big impact on depth of field so moving yourself backwards might enhance the effect you looking for.

You double checked your EXIF to be sure it shoot at f/1.8 right? Just cause the lens CAN do f/1.8 does not me it DID f/1.8 on that shot.

[graciousness]

The shot, also, is underexposed. At ISO of 200 and at such quick shutter speed of 1/200, it will be dark. You need to raise your ISO if you are going to use that speed or better yet, use an external flash if you have one.

Composition, unfortunately, is generic. They are in the centre of the shot, the tree being worse as it is in between them and not doing anything. I think you could have played around with this a little bit, putting the tree on one side of them instead of in between, and bringing the children closer together like perhaps her sitting on his lap and just letting them interact. With such a fast shutter speed, you can freeze their motion without an issue. You do need to make sure that you bring up the exposure.

If space allows, move them further away from the wall and tree to get more blur on the background. If there's no space, get the kids as close as they can to each other and shoot closer.

Remember that at f/1.8, you are risking missing the focus on the kids due to such narrow depth of field.

I hope this helps.