What have I done wrong .... ?

McShug

McShug

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Hugh
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Went out to the Brighton Pride parade yesterday with my new Oly OMD and the majority of my photos have come out like this:


Untitled by Billie Ruffian, on Flickr


Untitled by Billie Ruffian, on Flickr

I think I have left the exif data intact, and if I remember correctly I was using Continious-AF with sequential shot,

Any help greatly appreciated
Thanks in advance.
 
Your focus point is aimed / set on the background of the image rather than the actual subject in each image before pressing the shutter therefore subject is out of focus and back ground is in focus.

Hope that helps
 
cant read the exif data but check your camera setting see where the focus points are
 
Yep, look at the people in the background and they are in focus. Guessing you haven't selected that and assuming your camera is set to select whatever focus point it feels is best. Saying that, I would have expected the camera to have focused on the Freddy Mercury character?
How close were you to the people that are out of focus as it is possible they were to close for the lens? (unlikely though!)
 
The focus is on the people to the left and behind the main 'character' in both shots. The background (pub?) is also out of focus but that's fine, if you wanted to isolate the main subject.
 
I agree, wrong focus point is the most likely candidate, closely followed by the possibility you had the lens switch set to manual focus. It should be possible to tell from the exif, but as you've got the images set to "private" in Flickr it's not possible to check that.
 
Definitely a focus issue. You were shooting at f1.8 so not much room for error.
I don't know much about the Olympus E-M5 but a quick google brings up two factors to consider.
Firstly with a combination of continuous AF and slow continuous shooting the active AF point is not shown in the viewfinder. Unless you selected the focus point you would therefore be unaware of which was being used. Apparently there is a firmware update for this.
Secondly with continuous AF and continuous shooting the AF only operates for the first shot in the sequence and is held for the remainder.
 
I know I'm probably teaching my granny to suck eggs here, but just because a lens opens up to f/1.8 doesn't mean you have to shoot wide open with it....
 
no, but it helps if you want to get those pesky people in the foreground really out of focus :)
 
i would personally say the focus point is wrong- and due to the focal point being the same in both photos its probably down to the af point being set on one point rather than the multiple the camera is capable of
 
McShug said:
I think I have left the exif data intact, and if I remember correctly I was using Continious-AF with sequential shot,
Click to expand...

I'm wondering if it's been a case of the camera locking onto the nearest thing with a bit of contrast, as the hair in the first pic and the jacket on the second would be tough to get a lock on, especially if the subject was moving. All it would take is a slight movement and the camera would lock onto that guy with the pint.
 
As others have said, this is definitely an issue with focus points. Avoid the temptation to use all your camera's focus points simultaneously when shooting moving subjects, especially when you're shooting with a very shallow depth of field. Instead, switch to a single point; this entirely avoids the problem of the camera focusing on something unintended just as you hit the shutter, provided you ensure that single point is over your subject.
 
tezmed said:
i would personally say the focus point is wrong- and due to the focal point being the same in both photos its probably down to the af point being set on one point rather than the multiple the camera is capable of
Click to expand...

Tend to agree as most cameras I have used would have focused on the man character if I left the camera to it's own devices (especially in the second shot)
 
Thanks for all the replies guys,

I have decided to do a factory reset of the camera as I have been tweaking the camera quite a lot since I got it, and I very well may have done something I shouldn't have. I am out again on Thurs, and hopefully I will be able to see if this works.

I have also taken the points made on board.

Not all my photos turned out bad I managed to get a couple I was really pleased with.
Here's one:
 
Last edited:
amit.t said:
My money is on lens switch set to manual AF!
Click to expand...

:lol:

thats what i thought...i have done it myself and wondered why my stuff was blurred
cheers
geof
 
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