Too RAW or too usless??

CT said:
AI Focus is pants - don't use it!
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Indeed, I was just about to mention it before reading the rest of the posts, it is pants for static subjects, it's more for tracking a moving subject in say a sports scenario, although slow shutter speeds are the main issue here, never the less AI Servo is constantly hunting and re-adjusting to focus, stick a fairly inanimate subject under it and it goes a bit crazy, 'One shot' is the AF setting you want for portraits :thumbs:
 
Fantastic, thanks to all of you that have replied.

I went for the old 'P Mode' setting in the hope all would be done for me by the camera, but appears that I should have gone for TV and managed the shutter speed.

AI Focus feedback is good, I wont use that again!

ISO setting, never really sure on the best use on this one. I thought you used a lower 200 setting fo less light, but it's the opposite! I know about the noise at higher ISO but it's a great tip thanks.

Oh, and handheld might not be best!

Time for a Flash Gun for Xmas then......

Thanks again.
 
Your shutter speeds are to slow - you can't hold the camera steady enough at these speeds to get clear shot, and also any movement in the subject will result in a blurred shot.

In the second one, you also focused on the towel rather than the kid.

Raise your ISO to improve your shutter speeds, or open the aperture to let more light into the camera.
 
Tomas Whitehouse said:
Indeed, I was just about to mention it before reading the rest of the posts, it is pants for static subjects, it's more for tracking a moving subject in say a sports scenario, although slow shutter speeds are the main issue here, never the less AI Servo is constantly hunting and re-adjusting to focus, stick a fairly inanimate subject under it and it goes a bit crazy, 'One shot' is the AF setting you want for portraits :thumbs:
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Well, as I understand it AI Focus works in single shot mode for static subjects, but if it detects subject movement it switches to a form of servo focus, where it's supposed to be intelligent, anticipating movement direction and speed, so as you say Tomas, it would be useful for sports action in some cases.

Unfortunately, it's never been reliable, I just don't know why Canon insist on sticking with it. It's not available on 1 Series bodies which is really all you need to know. ;)
 
I'd also get into the habit of choosing a single focus point and using the one that's closest to the subject for the composition you want.
 
CT said:
Well, as I understand it AI Focus works in single shot mode for static subjects, but if it detects subject movement it switches to a form of servo focus, where it's supposed to be intelligent, anticipating movement direction and speed, so as you say Tomas, it would be useful for sports action in some cases.

Unfortunately, it's never been reliable, I just don't know why Canon insist on sticking with it. It's not available on 1 Series bodies which is really all you need to know. ;)
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The one redeeming feature it does have is that it won't let you shoot unless it's achieved a lock so it's good for moving subjects in that respect. Of course convincing it to switch to servo is a whole other story :(
 
DB,

Until you get hold of a flash gun, you could always use the built in one. It's not great, but as a fill flash it's not that bad. To make it less harsh, you can create your own diffuser (or sellotape a piece of white paper over it) you can avoid the dreaded red eye and the lighting's less harsh.

Personally would have used the AV setting on these, with it set as wide as possible (lower f number) with a higher ISO - Given the lighting in the second shot, I reckon with a wider aperture plus ISO of 800 you might have managed to get a reasonable shutter speed for a hand-held shot. (One of the more technically able on here will probably work out what you might have got with different settings).......
 
CT said:
Well, as I understand it AI Focus works in single shot mode for static subjects, but if it detects subject movement it switches to a form of servo focus, where it's supposed to be intelligent, anticipating movement direction and speed, so as you say Tomas, it would be useful for sports action in some cases.

Unfortunately, it's never been reliable, I just don't know why Canon insist on sticking with it. It's not available on 1 Series bodies which is really all you need to know. ;)
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A ha, I was getting mixed up with AI servo and AI focus, I forgot there are three options with non 1 series bodies, I blame it on shooting Nikon for the last 2 months :coat::lol:
 
pxl8 said:
The one redeeming feature it does have is that it won't let you shoot unless IT THINKS it's achieved a lock so it's good for moving subjects in that respect. Of course convincing it to switch to servo is a whole other story :(
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See correction. I've certain had my fair share of OOF photos.
 
first shot I'd say the 1/15 shutter speed, when hand held has created the blurriness.

Second shot, the rug behind is sharp but not the child, Id say this one is a focussing issue less than shake.
Was it centre point AF? If it was, and you didnt focus then recompose the shot, Id say it simple focused on the rug since that was whats in the center....
 
Coldyn8w & pxl8 - It was single centre point AF, I always use that setting for portraits...sometimes locking focus on subject (button half down) and moving camera to change composition and take shot.

Learnt a lot from this ta.....I don't know why I didn't try the portrait mode on the camera rather than P to be honest! I wonder what that does!?

yoby - I did try that self made diffuser when he was a baby.....I'd forgotted about it for these!
 
Well my 2p from a newbie was as soon as I saw the shutter speed I thought "that'll be it then". Can't tell you how happy I was when the experts :D thought the same...!
 
Its going to be hard to get a sharp image of a child as they dont stay still long enough.

To get a sharp image it might be worth treating this like taken an action shot and try a shutter priority (TV) on canon camera and try a shutter speed around 1/60 min, I would try 1/100 and work up. Your need to up your ISO to compensate for less light entering the lens or use a tripod. The downside of higher ISO is digital noise.

Center focus point and focus on the childs eyes.

Check this site out: http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/shutter-speed/

Regards,
john
 
dangerous bryan said:
Coldyn8w & pxl8 - It was single centre point AF, I always use that setting for portraits...sometimes locking focus on subject (button half down) and moving camera to change composition and take shot.

Learnt a lot from this ta.....I don't know why I didn't try the portrait mode on the camera rather than P to be honest! I wonder what that does!?

yoby - I did try that self made diffuser when he was a baby.....I'd forgotted about it for these!
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Don't try the portrait mode. All that will do is set the camera up how someone in Japan thinks it should be to take portraits. Even if by some million to one shot this works for you it will prevent you from learning why it is right.

A lot of folks malign P mode, saying with some justification that it does not give you complete control. It has to be said that this is sometimes the case, but it is certainly so if you don't look at all those numbers and symbols around the edge of the viewfinder.

Stick with P mode for now and twiddle the input dial to shift the settings to get a combination of shutter speed and aperture to suit the shot, press the button and if it isn't right on the screen try again. If there is not enough light to hand hold think about using flash, lure the kid closer to a light source (such as a window) or up the ISO. A tripod is an option for posed portraits of adults but pretty useless for kids unless they are glued to the floor.

Concentrate on the fundamentals of how you hold the camera and how you squeeze the shutter release and experiment to find how slow a shutter speed you can hand hold at and still retain acceptable sharpness with each of your lenses and at each point in their focal range. Once you know this you will then not be surprised by camera shake again.

I think that you have made the right decision at this stage not to shoot in RAW. No degree of PP will allow you to rescue shots suffering from bad camera shake or not correctly focussed and until you have dealt with these issues you would just be adding extra complication to the process which you don't need.

On the plus side all of the comments so far relate to the technical shortcomings of your work. All of these can be corrected in time. More importantly you appear to have a good eye for composition and you also have a seriously cute kid to practice on!
 
A RAW file is not an image, it's the raw data from the camera sensor that the camera/your pc uses to create the image. Decent RAW conversion software will allow you to see the changes (i.e. sharpening) you make as you make them, then once you are happy you convert the RAW data to an image format of your choice.

The only problem with your last two shots is a slow shutter speed Bryan, it looks like a bit of camera shake has crept in. A rule of thumb when handholding a camera is 'the shutter speed should never be less than the focal length of the lens' i.e. 50mm lens, shutter speed never less than 1/50th sec. If you need to go slow try and steady the camera on something, tripod/table...
 
Try and avoid P mode. I never ever ever use it.

I'm always in Manual or AV mode.

Play around with Manual till you get used to it and know what shutter speeds to use. The examples above could probably handle 1/200 s, which would remove the blur/bad focus.
 
peterattheboro said:
Try and avoid P mode. I never ever ever use it.

I'm always in Manual or AV mode.

Play around with Manual till you get used to it and know what shutter speeds to use. The examples above could probably handle 1/200 s, which would remove the blur/bad focus.
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With respect, and without wishing to open the whole "never use anything other than manual" debate what is right for you is unlikely to be right for someone who had not realised that handheld shots at 1/15s are likely to suffer from camera shake.

P mode allows you to choose the shutter speed or aperture you want with one dial and the other value will be altered to match. I fail to see how this materially differs from AV (choose the aperture and the camera chooses the shutter speed) in any important respect or indeed from manual mode other than the fact that when you really know what you are doing you can over or under expose without using the exposure compensation button.

Of course there are circumstances where AV, TV and manual have their place - I use manual and AV a lot but then a lot of my kit doesn't have anything else, manual really comes into its own in the studio or where one has time to take incident light readings.

I am curious as to your rationale for suggesting that P mode should never, ever be used particularly for someone who is just learning and wants to take pictures of kids?
 
One observation that I've noticed about the DSLR I've just got (not a Canon) is that the autofocus can be a bit too clever at times and depending on the aperture that's being used you can end up with something that is in focus not quite where you intended. My camera has a method of selecting the autofocus point manually (or rather nudging the camera to use the autofocus point that the user wants to use).

It really is worth playing around on static objects and examining the photos to see where the focus point really is. Then you can work out when the autofocus is likely to work and when it's not.

Coming from a manual focus system some time ago then going onto compacts, which are almost always in focus, it was a bit of a surprise to me to find how much though you sometimes have to put into the fosussing on a DSLR when it has an all singing all dancing multi focus selector and one that changes from fixed points to track moving subjects.


Good luck - I like the pictures its a shame that theyre not quite sharp. Practice makes perfect and I've spent more time pract8icing recently than taking 'proper' photos.
 
I've seen a lot of blurred images here and there; the sort of images that a simple P+S would have gotten away with. It's seeing a blurred image like this that turns people away from DSLR's... after all, why spend all this money on a better camera if your photos become worse?

So, here's an alternative way of starting out, but don't feel you have to take it as gospel, I'm no Ken Rockwell....:

1. Set your camera to ISO 1000, or 1600, or whatever you can get as high as. The images out of a DSLR at ISO 1600 still better nearly every P+S; you're going to work down from ISO 1600 to ISO 100 when the light gets better, not the other way around.

2. Set your camera to a single centre AF point. Then, set the camera so that half pressing the shutter release locks both the focus [AF] and the exposure [AE]. Some cameras have an AF/AE lock button, which does exactly this; your choice...

3. Remember the basic rule - '1 over your focal length' - so at the 18mm end, 1/30th [or thereabouts] is a slow as you can handhold. At 55mm, let's say 1/90th is as slow as you can handhold [got to allow a little for coffeeshakes...]

4. So; you now can't make the ISO any higher, so don't worry about it. Set up your shot, half press that shutter button, and look at the metered shutter - is it handholdable?

If not, then you only have two choices: improve the aperture [which, if you're at the maximum aperture already, you can't - at least, not with that lens], or improve the light [Flash, windows, lightbulbs, move outside etc etc.]

Don't be afraid of high ISO - it's not ideal, but you'll prefer a grainy shot in sharp focus to a mess of blur - I know I do...
 
Bingo!

Thanks for posting the examples with the metadata, that's really useful. Not that difficult to sort either :)

As the others have said, it's the shutter speed.

As a rough rule of thumb you need to get the shutter speed as a reciprocal of the focal length. So if you are shooting at 55mm, you need 1/50 sec to be assured of a sharp piccie. That's an old film rule and with things like IS you can go a fair bit slower these days.

The way to fix it is to increase the ISO. That will, in turn, give you faster shutter speeds and sharper pics.

As an example I was shooting my stepdaughter at home yesterday and was up to ISO 1600 to get shutter speeds over 1/100 sec.

Go and have fun :)
 
If you like taking available light indoor portraits then get a large aperture lens like the 50mm f1.8 which will let more light in and help those shutter speeds (though you will still need to up the iso).

I've left your images alone but some (the exif ones) are oversize for the forums 800 pixel limit......
 
RobertP said:
If you like taking available light indoor portraits then get a large aperture lens like the 50mm f1.8 which will let more light in and help those shutter speeds (though you will still need to up the iso).
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Good point Robert. :clap:

The 50mm f1.8 (otherwise known as a nifty) is a cracking little lens for that and is rather affordable. (Mine cost all of £20 on ebay!)
 
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