in a pub, high aperture, blurry photos

[Arrow]

Hello everybody, saturday i was in a pub with my friends and i had my D5000 with me, so i decided to take some shots of the event.

I have choosen aperture priority with f 3,5 and 18mm focal lenght on a 18-105 lens. All photos have been taken with the built-in flash in TTL.

Result: most of the pics are not sharp: just a little portion of them is in focus. shutter speed was always over 1/60 so there is not a blur effect caused by camera or subject movements.

Ok, i knew that a high aperture leads to a narrow DOF, bu i did not think it would be SO narrow!

So, what aperture is better to use in a pub with very low light when taking photos with flash.

Thank you

[SusanH1970]

Can you post an example with EXIF?

[Arrow]

Thanks for your attention.

Here are 2 examples. (JPEGs are resized to 800x600)


PIC1 EXIF (the one with people)
focal lenght 18mm
F/4
1/60 sec
ISO-800
aperture priority
exposure comp: 0
exposure metering: matrix
focus set on single point

PIC2 EXIF (the one with the bull)
focal lenght 40mm
F/4,5
1/60 sec
ISO-800
aperture priority
exposure comp: 0
exposure metering: matrix
focus set on single point

[SusanH1970]

I'd have bumped my ISO up more and used a faster shutter speed. Also I'd have bounced the flash so the light would be softer. I could be totally wrong, that's just what I'd have tried, lol.

I'm far from a flash expert, I rarely use it on-camera, so hopefully one of the DPS flash gurus will chime in.

[Arrow]

What about aperture and sharpness?
Look at the fruit cup, it's totally not sharp, and also the whole pic with the bull.
How could I avoid this?

[SusanH1970]

Originally Posted by Arrow

What about aperture and sharpness?
Look at the fruit cup, it's totally not sharp, and also the whole pic with the bull.
How could I avoid this?

The lack of sharpness is just the photo being out of focus. Higher ISO and faster shutter speed will help with this.

The larger the aperture you use, the thinner the depth of field you'll have and less will be in focus.

Check this info about the exposure triangle: http://www.digital-photography-schoo...-for-beginners

ETA: I just saw in your original post you said you used the built in flash - do you mean the pop up flash? I've found the pop up flash to be pretty useless, actually.

[Arrow]

es, i meant the pop-up flash

[ElCapitanoAwesomo]

by focus on single point, do you mean you selected only one point of focus? because that would definitely do that to ya. in general, you typically want as many focus points as possible, unless you're going for a certain affect.

[Arrow]

yes, i set the AF on single, and choosen one single point. to focus.

Do you have advices on what i should i have done with my d5000?

thx

[ElCapitanoAwesomo]

well, it'd solve your problem to set your camera to focus on as many points as possible. well, make sure it'll choose more than just a single selected focus point. unless you're intentionally trying to single out an object or person, single focal points are a nightmare.

i just did a quick bit of reading on nikon focus systems. from what i read, right now, the mode you're on selects only one focus point, and you can control that using the dial or bttons. i dont recommend this mode unless, as i stated previously, you only want the focus on one subject. i'd keep it on auto focus mode pretty much all the time, which is the solid box. here's the link describing the various focus modes.
Nikon | Imaging Products | Digital SLR Camera Basics
sorry for the late response, didnt see this, and i hope i helped!