Self portrait problems

[bagofscraps]

I've been having a go at self portraits of both myself on my own and with some or all of my children. The problem I've been having is that it almost always lacks sharpness.

I'm not sure whether my settings are wrong or whether there's a way to get the camera to focus where I want it to and would be grateful if you would take a look at the image below and see if you can see where I'm going wrong.

The camera was set up on a tripod about 6' away, and we were sat about 2' in front of a black background. I used a remote control.

I acknowledge that 7 month old twins are not the easiest of subjects to hold while trying to do a self-portrait! The ones of me on my own are sharper, but still not perfect. And I was sat still!

There are a couple of other examples if you have the time to look on my flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/bagofscraps/show/

I know a mod is going to tell me off for not including EXIF data, but I've searched and searched and don't know how to find it! Please could someone also tell me what I need to do?

The critique I'm looking for is really about sharpness, but if you want to comment on anything else, that's fine. I can take hard crititcism as long as it is useful and will help me improve!

[indigoboo]

Here's your EXIF for this one

Camera: Nikon D80
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/4.8
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 640
Exposure Bias: 0/6 EV
Flash: Flash fired, auto mode, red-eye reduction

You can find it when you are looking at a flicker pic by a link that says "taken with a (whatever camera you have) - more properties" This is located on the right underneath the sets that a photo belings to.

[mhuk05]

"Aperture: f/4.8" will give you a shallower depth of field than f/8 - how shallow will depend on your lens. Have you tried a different aperture setting? But if the issue is lack of focus caused by movement you'll need to go the other way and have a larger aperture e.g. f/1.8 and a faster shutter speed.

Does the photo lack any sharpness before you post-process it?

[inkista]

Wow! Love the photos. And fixing the sharpness issue should be a breeze, since you're using a flash.

When using a remote, don't forget that you still have to use a half-press, just like you would on the camera shutter button, to set the autofocus and metering, before taking the shot. You may want to set the camera to use a single autofocus point out the matrix just so that you know where it's going to be aiming when you autofocus.

Using a smaller aperture (f/8-f/16) will give you more depth of field. Since you've got a flash working for you, this should be possible, even at lower ISO. You may also want to shove the ISO down to 100 to reduce noise, and up the shutter speed to at least your max sync speed (probably 1/200s) to make sure that motion blur isn't causing a problem. All the underexposure of the ambient probably isn't going to cause a problem since you're going for a black background, anyway.

Are you using an external flash unit? Or the built-in flash?

[Nathan deGargoyle]

A liitle noise reduction on the skin and sharpening on the hair may give you what you want.



Done in gimp with unsharp mask and greycstoration.

[Nathan deGargoyle]

And having just gone through your slideshow I have to get much closer to my grand-daughters!

Some wonderful shots there,

[bagofscraps]

Indigoboo - thank you!

I've tried bigger apertures and faster shutter speeds, but always seem to end up over or underexposed. I know I often forget about ISO, so that's something I really should try and remember more!

I try not to use a flash if at all possible, but neded to for this one. It was the built in flash. I do have an external one, but haven't quite got to grips with it yet. I think I may have changed some settings and I need to work out what I changed and how to change it back!

Yes, it did lack sharpness SOOC.

I had no idea about only doing a half press with a remote! I will definitely investigate that!

Thanks for showing me how the image could look with a bit of editing! I've never tried noise reduction before. That's something else I should take a look at!

Thank you to everyone who has left advice. It's great to see what other people think - it's certainly given me a lot to getting on with!

[WooD]

Bagofscraps......now thats an off the hook screen name!

I think you did a killer job on your self portrait. I like your original version way better than the edited version that was posted.

Inkista gave some good advice. Follow along with that next time, and I bet you'll be happier, even thou I think you got a priceless shot this time.

[navy.wife_2004]

oh wow! I did not know that, I did not know you had to hold the remote button half way down then press like on the camera, I guess it makes sense, haha... I'll have to remember that.

Originally Posted by inkista

Wow! Love the photos. And fixing the sharpness issue should be a breeze, since you're using a flash.

When using a remote, don't forget that you still have to use a half-press, just like you would on the camera shutter button, to set the autofocus and metering, before taking the shot. You may want to set the camera to use a single autofocus point out the matrix just so that you know where it's going to be aiming when you autofocus.

Using a smaller aperture (f/8-f/16) will give you more depth of field. Since you've got a flash working for you, this should be possible, even at lower ISO. You may also want to shove the ISO down to 100 to reduce noise, and up the shutter speed to at least your max sync speed (probably 1/200s) to make sure that motion blur isn't causing a problem. All the underexposure of the ambient probably isn't going to cause a problem since you're going for a black background, anyway.

Are you using an external flash unit? Or the built-in flash?