Photo not as clear....is ISO to low or need to change f/stop?

[jschugardt]

I'm fairly new to photography...I really enjoy taking outside photos but I feel like I'm not getting crisp or clear photos as I would like. Is is because poor light? I did not edit this photo with lightroom or photoshop it is as is. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I appreciate the feedback. Thank you!

Cannon EOS Rebel t2i
f/4.5
37mm
ISO 200

[tomservo51]

What was your shutter speed?

[graciousness]

What's the shutter speed when you took this photo?

In this photo, you did the right thing and took her photo whilst she's in the shade. However, you needed more light on her face to bring out more details. Also, the focus is not quite there due to either camera movement or your shutter speed is not fast enough. Since I can't look at the photo right now to refer back to it (can't see attachments, hence it's better if photos are embedded) I can't tell if it's camera movement that caused the slight out of focusness or her moving.

WIth children, you do need to use faster shutter speed to capture them. I don't take their photos anything less than 1/100 at all even if they're just sitting down.

If you find that you need to get more light on your subjects, you either have to raise your ISO to bring in more ambient light or use fill flash. Sometimes it calls for both.

You do need to be careful that you are holding your camera properly and securely to ensure minimal camera movements.

I'm not a fan of the angle this photo was taken as I found myself tilting my head just to look at her face. I don't mind slight tilts with photos, but not to the extreme where the viewer have to move their head to look at the image properly.

Anyhoo, hope this helps.

CHeers,

Grace

[sk66]

It looks to me mostly like mis-focus. Were you using manual focus?

[jschugardt]

I think the shutter speed was at 1/500 that is the exposure. I'm new to this so not sure if that was what I needed to find.

Thank you for the feedback Grace. Your right about the angle, I was just playing around with angles with the camera. My daughter is quick so there is a possibilty that I may have not been holding the camera the right way in the moment trying to take a quick shot with her standing still. Hard to do!

Thanks again for the feedback, helpful.

[jschugardt]

I was shooting in AV setting on my camera. My little one moves quick so could be!

[graciousness]

Hmmm, now 1/500 is overkill, though, and that will cause underexposure as the faster the shutter speed, the more you lose ambient light with your photos.

When I made my move from getting out of P mode and tried AV, I hated AV. Just didn't like what the camera was using as settings. So I made my move to full manual and that was the only time that I was satisfied with my shots.

It's always tricky shooting children. I highly recommend moving to manual as you do need to control every setting as the scene changes. Shooting outdoors is even trickier as light changes from shade to non shade, etc.

Your f/stop is fine and your ISO. It's the shutter speed that killed it. The exposure would have been better if you shot at around 1/125. If you find that the photo is too bright at 1/125, go up another notch with your shutter speed to kill more ambient light.

I also use fill flash a lot outdoors when shooting children, especially if on a bright day. I use shutter speed to freeze action, plus control ambient light to make sure that it's not too bright. If it's a really bright day, a use really fast shutter speed (starting around 1/125 to 1/250) to cut ambient lighting on the background and then use fill flash on the subject's face. The key, though, is to make sure that your fill flash output is not too strong so that it's obvious you've used it.

What Steve was referring to in regards to the mode you used with focussing is if you used manual or auto focus. If manual mode, sometimes it takes a while to get used to nailing focus right so just need more practice with that. If autofocus, you should look to see where the focus point/points are on your lens and adjust that if needed. I have mine on single focus, centre.

It will take a while to get things right and with lots of practice, everything will come together for you soon enough.

[tomservo51]

It could also be your lens. What are you using? Have you ever taken and sharp pics with it? If so, can you post as an example.

[Mark Engelhart]

Did you crop the image or adjust your composition after the half press on the shutter but before the full press to release the shutter? I looked at the large version and the characters on her shirt were in focus which leads me to believe your camera was told that was what to focus on. I wonder if you possibly have your AFset on continuous. If you set the camera on AF on "S" single mode.(I'm a Nikon guy and it is indicated with "S" for Single, "C" for continuous and "M" for manual ), when you are ready to take the shot set your zoom, aim at the eyes with highlighted rectangle in your viewfinder. A half press on the shutter button will set the focus on the eyes.Then adjust frame for your composition. This will leave the focus sharpest on the eyes. Hopefully I have explained this where you can figure it out.

[Doug Sundseth]

It looks to me like the stray hairs above her forehead are in sharp focus (hard to tell on a small image like this, of course). If that's the case, then it's most likely that you just missed focus on the eyes. (Technique, not equipment.)