Focus on the eyes?!?!

[SandeeWig]

Originally Posted by hassson

Hey SandeeWig,

In my canon XSi, I use the live view for tricky focus shots, this is where you can zoom into the scene but not actually zooming in, so yes it make sense

...

I hope this is what you meant by zooming in w/o actually zooming.

Good luck

Hi Hassson! Thanks so much! That is EXACTLY what I meant by zooming w/o actually zooming! Good to know others understood what I meant.

I did finally figure it out (jdepould also mentioned how to do it) and have been playing with it to try to get it down. Can be tricky handheld, but I'm getting there! The IS helps!!

Thanks again for your input. Your directions were spot on!

[leorolim]

Hello!
First I'm a XSI noob also
So don't take my word for and advice, more so an idea for an experiment.

The XSI has and A-Dep mode, or Automatic Depth of Field Mode. In that mode the camera tries to calculate the furthest and nearest points in the framing and tries to focus them, calculating an ideal depth of field.
I have used this mode. It is quite tricky to master, and it may be difficult to work with in low light because of the small apertures sometimes needed for the ideal dof.

I have used it with an Canon 50mm f/1.8 mkII and got nice results, although the mode is recommended for landscapes

For the best results you have to shoot portrait orientation, with the focus point on the left on one subject and the focus point on the right on the other.

Because A-Dep calculates the dof with the top focus point on the furthest subject and the lower focus point on the nearest subject.

Well, I hope at least you now know what that A-Dep stands for.

[djtrev]

Originally Posted by SandeeWig

Coming from a P&S with the widest aperture setting of f8, I'm not really used to being able to open up to f22. Plus I was using a flash most of the time anyway, so should've known to go to a higher f-number.

Hi SandeeWig

I just joined this forum just to correct what you said here.

The f-stop, or aperture size, is actually an inverse ratio (f/N). That means that the bigger that N gets, the smaller the aperture is. It is saying Aperture = f/N where f is the focal length of the lens. So:

f/1.8
very wide aperture
lets more light in and allows faster shutter speed
decreases depth of field so you have to be better with your focus

f/22
the opposite to all of those things above

Now that that's out of the way, this thread was originally about getting the eyes nice and sharp. The biggest problem with this is that eyes are attached to people and people move around. There are really 2 types of photograph you're going to take:

1. Set-up shots
For these setups you will probably be directing a still subject, have decent lighting and therefore:
- use a tripod
- use lower ISO settings to minimise noise
- slower shutter speeds (less than 1/100) are ok because the subject isn't moving
- use live view and manual focus to get it spot on
- take a few shots at different apertures and pick the best later on

2. Action/candid/on the move shots
You will often have poor light, the subject is moving around (especially when photographing kids) and you have little time (seconds) to get the shot the way you want it.
- try and get higher shutter speeds to prevent motion blur
- use higher ISO settings to get the higher shutter speeds (I usually use 800 or 1600 when photographing kids indoors)
- with these things in mind, "stop down" your aperture (make the aperture smaller, i.e. the N number bigger) so you don't have to be as precise with the focus and will allow for more movement, but don't sacrifice shutter speed (try to stay above 1/100) -- I usually use f/2 - f/2.5 or sometimes down to f/3.2-f/4, also because cheap fast primes like the 50/1.8 aren't that sharp wide open
- use high-speed continuous mode if your camera has it (on my 40D it can do 6 fps) and take shots in bursts of 3-10 which will increase the chance one of them is good
- keep re-checking your focus (half-press) between bursts, or use an autofocus tracking mode if your camera has it (e.g. AI-SERVO on the 40D)
- use autofocus and pre-select your focus point according to the framing you want, but remember, the center AF point is usually the most sensitive/accurate and being in focus is more important than good framing (you can always crop to make it more interesting later)
- anticipate the moment: the further you can see into the future, the more time you will have to setup the shot and get it the way you want it.

Oh – lastly, these tips are the way I work, and I use Aperture Priority mode (not A-Dep mode) -- if my shutter speed is too slow, I will open it up a bit.

Hope this helps.
J

[Swisstony10]

I've only skimmed this thread, so I'm not sure if this has already been mentioned yet. I noticed the official portrait photographers on a cruise ship taking posed pictures in a certain way, and a little while ago I asked a photographer who was taking pictures of my band (who I noticed was doing the same thing) what the trick was.

He composes his shot first, then just before he focuses, he points the centre AF point at the subject's eyes and uses that to focus, then reframes his image as it was before pressing the shutter button the rest of the way.

I've started doing that whenever I take pictures of people standing still now - get them posed and frame the shot, half-press to auto-focus on the eyes, reframe without letting go of the button and then complete the shot - it's made a surprising difference to the standard of my posed shots, even when they're just intended as quick snaps of friends/relatives.