Shootingpeople WIDE open at 1.2-1.8 questions

[rusteam]

Hello,
is anyone shoot portraits or models photosessions with lens wide open? I'm talking abt 1.2 -1.8 (especially 1.2)
I have 50 1.2L and when i tried to shoot model at 1.8 she was soft not in focus , but i think this was because i was standing at least 2 meters from her.

Can u please tell if you shooting at 1.2 what you need to do? what should be apx distance between camera and a model and what i need to do if i want ALL her face in focus or for example all her face and shoulders in focus.

How to understand that "safe"distance to achiave sharp focus wihen shooting wide open?


Thank you!!

[zona5101]

depth of field calculator should give you the information you need...
Online Depth of Field Calculator

[autofocus]

There really isn't a set rule as to camera to subject distance..it really is a matter of how you want to compose your shot (full, 3/4, head shot, etc) However, the closer you are to the subject, the shallower the depth of field. Shooting wide open at f/1.2 will offer very very little depth of field especially if your subject is at a slight angle to the camera. It's not unusual when shooting like that to have one eye in sharp focus with the other eye soft. Unless you can be absolutely sure that your subjects head is exactly perpendicular to the axis of the lens will be the only way to get both eyes sharp. Bear in mind though, the tip of the nose and the ears will be soft. Why are you bent on shooting full wide open? Unless you are dealing with bad light there should be no need to do that. A much better setting for a portrait of an individual subject with that lens would probably be ~f/3.2...shallow enough to still help separate your subject from the background, and better chance of sharp focus on the subject

[rusteam]

Why i want to shoot wide open..hmm. I saw pictures shoot at 1.2 and they was really nice.
So you want to say - shooting wide open is not normal practise for portrait photography?

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by rusteam

Why i want to shoot wide open..hmm. I saw pictures shoot at 1.2 and they was really nice.
So you want to say - shooting wide open is not normal practise for portrait photography?

A basic tenet in portrait photography is to have good focus on the eyes, and for all the reasons I mentioned above shooting wide open can make it difficult to attain that.

[zona5101]

given you want to shoot at f1.2... going back to the DOF calculator you would back into your subject distance by your desired depth of field. Say you want from the tip of the nose to the back of the ear in focus...if that is 6" then with a 50mm on a crop body you would need to have the subject at 10' in order to achieve a 6" dof.. You will also have to focus 1/2 way into your 6" depth of field so you have 3" in front and 3" in back of the actual focus point (in other words, your 10 foot point can't be the tip of the nose, it has to be 1/2 way between the nose and ear focus limits)

[SusanH1970]

I shoot wide open (at f/1.8, if I had the 1.2L, I'd probably shoot at f/1.2, lol) all the time. I just loooooove the bokeh from shooting wide open. But, as Vinnie and Bruce both said, it can be very tricky, and it took me a long time to figure out how to get correct focus, and to know which shots I could do it with, and which ones it would better serve me to close down.

These were all shot at f/1.8:

IMG_0831aweb | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

17 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

IMG_8272bwweb | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

When I'm photographing a toddler that moves around a lot, I've found it's hard to nail focus wide open - the tiniest move will throw at least part of the image out of focus - so I usually close down a bit for that age range.

The DOF calculator posted above is a great tool. Understanding how DOF is affected by aperture, focal length, and distance from your subject is most of the battle in learning how to shoot wide open.

[rusteam]

i checked DOF calculator for f1,2 50 1.2 with 5dmarkii.
I GOT THIS:
Subject distance 1 cm

Depth of field
Near limit 1 cm
Far limit 1 cm
Total 0 cm

In front of subject 0 cm (50%)
Behind subject 0 cm (50%)

Hyperfocal distance 7012.5 cm
Circle of confusion 0.03 mm

If i only could understand what it means in practise!! So how far i need to place by object to get her face in focus??

[zona5101]

when are you going to have a subject distance of 1 cm?

on the dof calculator:
select your camera
set the focal length to 50mm
set the fstop to 1.2
PICK a realistic subject distance, say 100 centimeters
then look to the right or the graphic below and note your total range of sharp focus is 2.71 cm. If that range is too small (or too big) then PICK a different subject distance until you get the dof value you want - maybe make a chart or something to take into the field with various camera to subject distances and the corresponding limits of focus.

[autofocus]

Originally Posted by rusteam

i checked DOF calculator for f1,2 50 1.2 with 5dmarkii.
I GOT THIS:
Subject distance 1 cm

Depth of field
Near limit 1 cm
Far limit 1 cm
Total 0 cm

In front of subject 0 cm (50%)
Behind subject 0 cm (50%)

Hyperfocal distance 7012.5 cm
Circle of confusion 0.03 mm

If i only could understand what it means in practise!! So how far i need to place by object to get her face in focus??

You have the subject distance set to 1cm...obviously, you will NOT be shooting from that distance. A lot of help has already been offered here. Let me suggest you first learn what it all means. Until such time, as I suggested above, you should try shooting with your aperture closed down a bit until you get a better understanding of all this. Concerning this question.."So how far i need to place by object to get her face in focus??" ...there is no set distance that you have to be. Just understand that the closer you are to the subject will reduce your DOF and make focusing while shooting wide open more critical