Question regarding Nikon 35 mm f1.8 lens

[jkentphoto11]

Hey, I am an aspiring photographer and have a quick question for all of you DPS members. I mostly do children photography and my favorite lens to use is the Nikkor 35 mm f1.8 (I have a Nikon D60 by the way). Because a lot of my shots are close-up portraits, I like to shoot AP in the f1.8-3 range, but sometimes I find it difficult to get sharp images. Some of my pictures come out perfectly crisp and sharp, while others are completely blurry. I have tried focusing on the eye closest to me, but because my subject is a quick moving toddler, I often get out of focus shots. Does anyone have any advice for getting sharper pictures with this lens? Thanks so much!

[OsmosisStudios]

Get the kid to sit still.

Sorry, but that really is the best option.

[zona5101]

practice, get good at manual focus? tough work as you are dealing with razor thin depth of field...

[scootermcq]

What you need to concider is your depth of field. If you are 5 feet from the toddler and shooting at f2, you have 1/4" in focus before the eye and 1/4" after the eye for a total of 1/2" in focus. If the kid moves his head 1/4" forward.... bam he is out of focus.

This is why so many are out.

You have two choices. Go with a smaller aperture and give up the defocused background and lower shutter speed or two realize you only have 1/2" to play with and most of your shots will be out of focus with toddlers. Take a crap load of pictures and discard 80%. It is simply the nature of the beast.

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

Or, tranquiliers and OS's suggestion

[dannyrich]

I struggle with this at home. Its easier in the studio as I shoot at f8 or f9 and even then I get images that I would discard.

I have the 35mm and it is a good lens, but you cannot compensate for a moving child.

Sit still or pick your moment, some will come off.

[autofocus]

As Scott mentioned above you are dealing with very thin DOF and critical focus issues. A few questions...is your camera set to single shot focus mode or continuous? If in continuous, the camera will allow a shot to be made even before focus locks in. So, as crazy as it may sound while shooting those quick moving targets, we (wife and I) always keep the camera set to (S) single shot mode. We also select and dial in the focus point we want to use, so center focus point/re-compose does not work well with what we do. (for the same reason of your problem) We also will continue to half press the shutter multiple times allowing the camera to re-focus until such time we like the shot, and then follow through with the shutter. Also, you need to be careful to not quickly punched the shutter as this will also cause some camera shake resulting in focus or blurred images. (not unlike the old BRASS formula on the rifle range..Breath, Relax, Aim, Squeeze, Shoot)

[jkentphoto11]

Thank you all for the great advice! I am definitely going to work more with this great lens and see what produces the best images.