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[Csboi]

Hello everyone, I am currently using canon 450D with 18-55mm kit lens and 50mm f1.8 lens. Just came back from friend's birthday party, and checked my pictures and had this on my face. Hmm the problem I see from my pictures is that I don't really see sharpness from the picture. As compared to some of the other portrait shots by other Clubsnap-ers in the forum. And I must say that I did not read the camera's manual but just to shoot immediately. So I don't really know some of the camera functions. Maybe some of the 450D users can share a bit on the functions?

Some of the things I encountered are, like when I take groups of people, like say 4-5. I will find it a bit tight to fit in my frame. Thus I moved back and they fit nicely into my frame. Maybe with slight angle, not shooting directly straight at them. But when I focus and captured the photo, only to realize that only the person in front or nearer to me gets focused and the others got blurred off, something like bokeh. If I am not wrong, it should be something to do with Depth Of Field (DOF), but if I increase the f-stop, I will lose light right? Thus I can either flip up my flash, or decrease the shutter speed or increase ISO right? But the composition just doesn't seem to look right. In that case what do I do? Is Post Processing (PP) the only way to achieve the type of composition that I desired? In fact I realized that mostly all of my photos, the objects are not sharp enough and the colours are not really vivid. It's really depressing to encounter such things. I see from some of my photos, like the face of the person I am taking is clear but as it goes down to the hands which appears slightly behind than the body is slightly blurred off. Is it the case I set my f-stop too low? I set them at about 1.8-2.2 if I did not remember wrongly.

I really hope someone can share something that would solve or help me with the situation I am currently in. Many thanks and much appreciated.

P.S. Sorry if this is really waste of your time. Thanks for viewing. Have a nice day ahead.

 

[edutilos-]

Pls post some pictures to show more clearly what you are talking about, keeping the EXIF intact - this will help to address your issue.

By the way, when you are shooting, your lens is wide open, what you see through VF is DOF of the maximum aperture of the lens.

What does composition have to do with ISO speed or use of flash - I'm not sure what you mean there. Are you talking about lighting instead?

Anyhow, P&S cameras tend to give more contrasty and saturated output compared to DSLR, this is just a fact of life. You can tweak your in-camera settings to pump up the contrast/saturation if you do not wish to take the time to PP your photos afterwards.

If part of your picture is in focus but the rest is not, then it just means that the DOF is too shallow. As you already say, you should stop down more to use a smaller aperture, but you would need to correspondingly adjust either ISO, use a slower shutter speed, or add more light by use of flash.

Best to post up the pictures with metadata (EXIF) intact, it will help us advise better.

 

[tecnica]

post some pictures first?

f1.8-2.2 for group shot is really suicidal, considering the thin DOF and you are trying to keep everyone in focus.

for a group of 4-5, i normally will go wider angle and stop down to at least f5.6.

 

[Csboi]

Hmm I am not sure how to attach a photo, can anyone show me? Thanks.

 

[Prince Photogenic]

need some photos to see bah..

but for the group photo, you must have used a wide aperture (i think might be f/2 if only one if clear). I usually stop down to f/7.1 or f/8 for groups. Yes, if you close down your aperture, less light passes through so you need to adjust your shutter speed or ISO. If you have a flash and you are allowed to use, it'll help too.

For colours, i suppose PP will help you but i find P&S has nicer colours, though dslr allows you more freedom of PP-ing it later..

Hope what i just said made sense and helps. =)

 

[Octarine]

Hmm I am not sure how to attach a photo, can anyone show me? Thanks.

Can you please read the sticky threads? Thanks.

 

[Csboi]

IMG_2813 by Csboi, on Flickr

 

[Csboi]

It's something like the above picture. I think it's due to the f-stop right? If I didn't remember wrongly the f-stop is quite small. Should be 1.8 or 2.2

 

[Csboi]

Can you please read the sticky threads? Thanks.

Haha found it. :bsmilie:

 

[kei1309]

it's the depth of field. it's quite thin. notice that the girl in front.. her ears are starting to get blur

 

[Csboi]

need some photos to see bah..

but for the group photo, you must have used a wide aperture (i think might be f/2 if only one if clear). I usually stop down to f/7.1 or f/8 for groups. Yes, if you close down your aperture, less light passes through so you need to adjust your shutter speed or ISO. If you have a flash and you are allowed to use, it'll help too.

For colours, i suppose PP will help you but i find P&S has nicer colours, though dslr allows you more freedom of PP-ing it later..

Hope what i just said made sense and helps. =)

Hmm that means for photos to be Post processed, it must be taken in RAW format right? That means I will have to take photos in RAW format all the time?

 

[Csboi]

it's the depth of field. it's quite thin. notice that the girl in front.. her ears are starting to get blur

Hmm yes I did notice it, so to solve it I will have to turn my f-stop higher? Like maybe instead of 1.8, I change to around 3-5?

 

[Octarine]

Hello everyone, I am currently using canon 450D with 18-55mm kit lens and 50mm f1.8 lens. Just came back from friend's birthday party, and checked my pictures and had this on my face. Hmm the problem I see from my pictures is that I don't really see sharpness from the picture. As compared to some of the other portrait shots by other Clubsnap-ers in the forum. And I must say that I did not read the camera's manual but just to shoot immediately. So I don't really know some of the camera functions. Maybe some of the 450D users can share a bit on the functions?

Do you really think with your approach of unknowingly snapping around you can achieve the same results as CS members with years of experience and careful preparations? Secondly: if you don't know what a camera is doing then you cannot control it and you end up in wild guessing and results you did not intend. Wild guess from my side: beside the silly wide open aperture you have used Auto AF selection - with the result that the AF points used are all over the place but not where you wanted it. Simple: a camera cannot read your mind. Use the controls and settings to tell the camera what to do.
But, unfortunately for you, this would require you to read the manual, read the sticky threads here, read other tutorials about the very basics .. in short: your homework and your brain work is needed.

 

[Csboi]

IMG_2828 by Csboi, on Flickr

I think same for this picture as well right? The stationary on the table is focused but the girl is blurred.

 

[Csboi]

Do you really think with your approach of unknowingly snapping around you can achieve the same results as CS members with years of experience and careful preparations? Secondly: if you don't know what a camera is doing then you cannot control it and you end up in wild guessing and results you did not intend. Wild guess from my side: beside the silly wide open aperture you have used Auto AF selection - with the result that the AF points used are all over the place but not where you wanted it. Simple: a camera cannot read your mind. Use the controls and settings to tell the camera what to do.
But, unfortunately for you, this would require you to read the manual, read the sticky threads here, read other tutorials about the very basics .. in short: your homework and your brain work is needed.

Alright I will take note of it. Thanks

 

[bonrya]

For me... I'll-
1)use a flash
2)bump up aperture to at least f4-5.6
3)bump up iso

Try one or all. Either way, f1.8 for portraits ESP more than one person not in the same plane will give you this problem...

Suggest you read up a little more on aperture and how controlling it can benefit you.

 

[kei1309]

IMG_2828 by Csboi, on Flickr

I think same for this picture as well right? The stationary on the table is focused but the girl is blurred.

i believe you got pwned by the stationery. both in the picture and in your english

 

[Prince Photogenic]

i think something might be wrong with your focal point as well.. what is your AF setting?

 

[intrance]

IMG_2828 by Csboi, on Flickr

I think same for this picture as well right? The stationary on the table is focused but the girl is blurred.

where is ur focus point?

my 2 cents.. if u dont want to read the manual, then u should spam the shutter in Auto mode only.. and hope for the best..

 

[Csboi]

i believe you got pwned by the stationery. both in the picture and in your english

Haha oops. Too tired after the event. Thanks.