Help!!!! What did I do wrong here???

[mnchevygirl]

I was trying to take a cute, candid pic of my daughter, her friend and grampa together. I tried to have it so the background was blurred. Obviously I messed up. This happens anytime I have more than 1 person in the photo and I'm wanting to get a nice bokeh effect. Any helpful tips/advice would be great. Here's the image:



Link to larger size
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3356/...e5be55e6_b.jpg

Exif:
Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS
Exposure: 0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture: f/2.2
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: +1/3 EV
Flash: Off

Shot with 50mm 1.8 in AV Mode

[OsmosisStudios]

1/25 of a second is a bit long. What I see here is mainly motion blur from the movement of the people.

[calmaxgan]

I'm certainly no expert (so could be wrong) but my thoughts are that your aperture was open too wide for multiple people on different focal plains. Particularly because the young boy is a fair way behind the other two, so he actually becomes part of your 'blurred background' because the focus point is further forward (looks to be on your daughter).

When you are shooting indoors with limited light, it can be difficult to overcome this, as you need the large aperture to get a fast enough shutter speed - depends how much light you have in the room.

[candleman]

Originally Posted by mnchevygirl

Exposure: 0.04 sec (1/25)
Aperture: f/2.2
Focal Length: 50 mm

as Osmosis said, your shutterspeed is waaay low.
for a 50mm on a 1.5X crop body you need roughly 1/80th second to eliminate most movement. (dependn gopn the speed of your subject) i believe this relates mostly to eliminating hand shake tho'.
f/2.2 is also too shalow to get so many focal planes in focus at once.

crank up the iso, (ot get a flash) and use something like f/5.6
but experimentatiuon will tell.

[mnchevygirl]

Thanks for the great replies everyone. I've had this camera since Oct. and I'm still practicing/learning. So in other words, when shooting multiple people and I want a shallow dof I need to boost up my aperture number. Can I also control my shutter speed in Av mode?

Candleman- I actually just purchased a 430ex flash. I just used it the first time last night, that's definitely gonna take me awhile to learn.

[autofocus]

TV on that camera to control shutter speed. For most people, very hard to hand hold below 1/60 sec unless you have an image stabilized lens. To get more of the folks in focus you probably want to be around F/8 on your aperture...a little flash would help get your shutter speed up to 1/60th. Hope this helps

[candleman]

Originally Posted by mnchevygirl

Thanks for the great replies everyone. I've had this camera since Oct. and I'm still practicing/learning. So in other words, when shooting multiple people and I want a shallow dof I need to boost up my aperture number. Can I also control my shutter speed in Av mode?

Candleman- I actually just purchased a 430ex flash. I just used it the first time last night, that's definitely gonna take me awhile to learn.

the smaller the aperture number the thinner the DOF.

f/1.8 lets in HEAPS of light but has a very narrow DOF.
the largr that number gets, the smaller the opening is (which means less light) however the DOF increases. thats why landscapes are generally shot at narrow apertures, so you have the whole frame in focus (or near to).

so you cant get shallow DOF (like f/2.2 would give) and have everything in focus.
theres the trade-off..
shallow DOF + lots of light (f/1.8).. OR wider DOF + less light (f/5.6)

if you dont like that, or cant get a shot, just bring everyone to the same distance from the camera.. then you can open the aperture up a bit to let more light in.. and thus giving a shallow DOF.

Av being aperture priority? (sorry i'm a Nikon boy)
yes you can.. you choose the aperture you want, the camera calculates the shutterspeed based on your iso.
if your shutterspeed is too slow, just increase iso to suit.

as for the flash . all the best with it.
basically when it comes to flash photography.. throw away everything you think you know about ambient light and start again. that being said.. its allot of fun
you;'ll be in Manual mode 90% of the time before you know it
heres a link to get you started.

Planet Neil is a great resource.. heres a few links Samanax kindly put together on another thread.
http://digital-photography-school.co...47&postcount=5


(wow my typo's are bad..! but i'll leave them just for kicks)

[mnchevygirl]

Thanks again everyone for the wonderful replies.. I know I'm not the greatest yet or maybe ever will be. But I'm having so much fun trying and I absolutely love my camera. Candleman thanks for the link. I tried reading the manual that came with the flash and it just had my head spinning

[wulf]

The background is blurred but not as much as you want. Two things will help.

Firstly, you can get closer to your subjects. As you focus closer and closer, the depth of field becomes even smaller. the problem is that you'd need a different angle to get all three people in the frame, so it might not be a practical solution.

Secondly, try a faster shutter speed and a touch of flash (low powered so as not to overwhelm the image). This means the background will be darker as well as blurred and thus less prominent. It will also help with the problem of holding the camera steady during the exposure.

Wulf

[mechanic1300]

My understanding is that in 35mm photography you need a shutter speed equal to or greater than the focal length to eliminate camera shake.eg 50mm focal length = at least 1/50sec.
However that is 35mm photography. With a digital camera you should multiply the focal length by 1.5 to bring it in line with 35mm (if you are not using a full frame DSLR).
So that would make the minmum shutter speed 1/75 or greater. Just to overcome camera shake.
I would think that is where you need to start firstly. So on Av you should set your camera f stop and check the shutter speed. If you cant then get the right Aperture/ Shutter combination you will have to then alter ISO.
Hope that isn't too confusing.