Focusing Problems

[baajero]

Hi guys,
I am new to this art. I am "okay" now with landscape picture (kindly have a lok at my gallery to give you an idea... I would say I am starting to get into intermediate level. I started doing people photography and I am finding it hard... I Keep on getting pictures which are not sharp. when taking photos of children I thought I have to keep the shutter speed really fast so I don't get blur, so I kick up the iso and keep the Aperture wide open to allow as much light as I can, But I still end up with shots like these...
Lighting conditions in the room were good, qquite bright... these are my camera settings

Canon 60D
Exposure mode: Manual
ISO 4000
AP 5.6
Shutter 1/13
Focus Auto
White Balance Auto
Metering mode: Evaluative
Flash: OFF
Post production: None

I would also be grateful for anyone who visits my blog to have a look at my pictures and tell me what they think

Thank you kindly for your feedback

[Rentham]

Originally Posted by baajero

Lighting conditions in the room were good, qquite bright... these are my camera settings

There probably wasn't as much light as you think. At ISO 4000 you are still getting only 1/13th shutter speed, which is why you have so much motion blur. It may not be a focusing problem at all.

You can get some more shutter speed by shooting at a wider aperture. You're a little more than two stops too slow, so to get to something useable like 1/60th you'd need to be in the f/2.8 area.

You can also add flash, but that's another subject entirely.

[baajero]

Originally Posted by Rentham

There probably wasn't as much light as you think. At ISO 4000 you are still getting only 1/13th shutter speed, which is why you have so much motion blur. It may not be a focusing problem at all.

You can get some more shutter speed by shooting at a wider aperture. You're a little more than two stops too slow, so to get to something useable like 1/60th you'd need to be in the f/2.8 area.

You can also add flash, but that's another subject entirely.

Thank you rentham,
I don't know if you know the canon 60d well... but the camera actually refused to go to a smaller number aperture... It's probably a silly question with an obvious answer but do you know why?
Thank you

[baajero]

I just checked my lens...
EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6... So does that mean that maximum aperture I can get is 3.5, I do have shots though with an aperture of 2.8... I'm really confused :s please help

[spcandrew]

Actually that means at 18mm the widest aperture is 3.5. At the long end of the zoom the widest is 5.6. The widest available aperture is dependent on the focal length. I'm guessing when you took the shot that you were at 135mm as the aperture is 5.6. Regardless, if you are at ISO 4000 and it's still only giving you a shutter speed of 1/13, you need more ambient or available light. At ISO 4000, you are going to get quite a bit of noise. At a shutter speed of 1/13, you will get a lot of blur. Generally, if you are shooting at 135mm, you will want a shutter speed of 1/135 or faster unless your lens has IS (image stabilization) in which case you might get away with 1/50.

[baajero]

Thanks spcandrew for shedding some light on this god it gets confusing