how do I do this

[PhotoJunkieJen]

Originally Posted by nicotine

That portrait doesn't look that clear to me, to my eye it seems like his clothes are more in focus than his face. But my tips to taking clear, crisp portraits are these:

Keep your ISO down
Be very mindful of your focus points (if using AF)
Slow down, when you are still learning you need to take your time and be mindful of your settings, background, focus, etc. You are not shooting candids or sports so there's no need to rush.
Up your shutter speed a little bit to kill camera shake

Focus points is something I'm justttt starting to study. Would you recommend maybe setting it to a central focus point instead of leaving it up to chance with the AF?

[agresbach]

Originally Posted by PhotoJunkieJen

Focus points is something I'm justttt starting to study. Would you recommend maybe setting it to a central focus point instead of leaving it up to chance with the AF?

i always do this with portraits. reason being in a portrait the most important element you want to be in focus (most times) is the subjects eyes. I was recommended to pick whatever focal point you want to use in the viewfinder (depending on how you want the shot to be composed) and lock onto the inner corner of one of the eyes and that should usually let you get both in focus.....it takes some practice but usually does the trick!

[FGPhotography]

I have a Nikon (D80), how do you select a focus point? This is one of my issues...

Thank you

Originally Posted by ColorMEHappy

I haven't read all the responses to see if someone recommended this, but I select my focus point on portraits, I don't know if your camera is setup to be able to do that, but I always set the focus point on the eyes, typically with anything set at f/2.8 or higher should be able to get the entire face when focusing on the eyes..with the f1/8, sometimes you have to be careful because you may only get one eye in focus, haha.

The next biggest thing is lighting, this particular picture has fill on the right side (left side of his face) they may be using a reflector, it doesn't look like flash.

I also agree though, that the picture has good lighting, but it's not really that clear to me, a little camera shake, they should have set the shutter speed a little bit higher.

[candleman]

mostly good lighting with a quality lens and correct focus

[candleman]

Originally Posted by FGPhotography

I have a Nikon (D80), how do you select a focus point? This is one of my issues...

Thank you

(page 30 of the nikon manual)

set your camera (via the menu) to Single AF point
slide the slider button out of locked (nexto the up/down/left/right button)
turn the camera meter on do af points & settings display
use the up/down/.left/right button to select the af point you want to use.