Having Trouble with my Nifty Fifty

[mamarazzi_squared]

I am back after a long hiatus and now I remember why I went away!

My youngest son just turned two and I have been attempting to capture his "2 year old photo". I have been doing this for my almost 5 year old every year and have continued this tradition with my youngest as well.

Ok, so with that back story, I tend to favor my nifty fifty because it is my fastest piece of glass and I really like to blow out the background. My issue is that when I shoot with it at f/1.8 or even stopped down a bit, it seems to make my subject soft as well.

I purposely manually selected the focal point (by changing the box in the view finder) to make sure that his face would be in focus. I have been trying to shoot at dusk to get the best light and I have my camera on the shoot continous mode.

I have tried to up the ISO a bit to make sure the shutter speed is high enough and tried to shoot with fill flash and without. Any other thoughts?

Also, in Elements is there a way to see my EXIF data? Somewhere else?

I can try to post some sample photos tonight, I just can't access photo bucket from my office.

Thank you!

[mamarazzi_squared]

Ok, here are two examples that have not been processed at all. One it sharp, the other is soft. I have other examples where it is even worse.

Thanks for any advice!

[venchka]

Are you using AI-Servo focus?
Are you using the back button for focus?
Using both should help in following an active child.
Get your shutter speed up as high as possible.

Good luck.

[mamarazzi_squared]

Originally Posted by venchka

Are you using AI-Servo focus?
Are you using the back button for focus?
Using both should help in following an active child.
Get your shutter speed up as high as possible.

Good luck.

I don't think I was using AI-Servo, I will check tonight. I have been resistant to try the back button focus, mostly because it is scary and new (I am a visual learner, it is easier for people to show me how than for me to read about something and then implement it myself), but will investigate that tonight as well.

I did figure out the EXIF data, finally! I swear I was using flash though, and can't see that on the data.

[venchka]

OK, tell us about the EXIF info. f-stop? shutter speed? In camera flash or an external flash?

Don't be afraid to try anything. It's digital. It's free. The delete key will hide all of your learning mistakes.

[SevenAndMe]

Just for future consideration / not a solution to the current 50mm question-

You might look at getting an 85mm/f1.8 lens for this type of shot.
It's very handy indoors and out.

Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Telephoto Lens
About $355

Also, ET65III lens hood.

The 85mm would allow you to get a closer shot without so much background.

Good luck.

[venchka]

Shakes his head.........

[Cornbread]

I'm with Wayne on this one...

I don't see how changing lenses will help someone properly utilize the features on their camera.

[dtscds]

Since the second photo was sharp I think we could probably rule out mechanical failure--unless there is some type of intermittent problem. I have no idea about any of that!
I would look at shutter speed first. You might try using the shutter priority to be absolutely sure your shutter speed is plenty fast to cancel out hand shake. (although, in the posted photo it doesn't really look like hand shake to me.) Are you sure both of these were shot at the same f stop?

BTW--what is this "back button focus" that is being spoken of here? Is it time for me to get out the manual?

[toverman]

It looks like both your shots were at 1/125th of a second and ISO 250. The first (with him standing) was at f/1.8 and the second at f/2.5. They both look fairly well exposed to me.

I would first try a higher shutter speed. With your 30D, you can safely go up to ISO 400 to allow you to go faster. A tripod (even a cheap one) can isolate any movement on your part, if that's the culprit. But the faster shutter will definitely freeze the little guy if that's what you're after, and make negligible any camera shake.

You might also try manually focusing the lens, as the Nifty's focus isn't always spot-on. Mine doesn't autofocus at all anymore, and that means I actually get more keepers than when it used to work.

I have been shooting with the autofocus at the AE lock button (this is the "back focus" option) for less than a year and it is really awesome for a number of reasons (it is Custom Function 4 on both my cameras, I believe). On lenses with USM motors, you have full-time manual focus, even when the lens is switched to AF ... so you can use both to put your chosen subject into focus without touching the shutter halfway and messing it all up. It is also easier for me to recompose a shot ... focus, recompose and shoot. But that's not necessary to get a sharp image.

My recommendation is to try to figure out how to make your images as sharp as possible with what you've got. But I can add support for the 85 f/1.8 as an awesome lens for shooting kids and moving objects. Depends on if you like that focal length.

[mamarazzi_squared]

I am not an expert at back-button focus, but have read about it before so I plan on doing research tonight and giving it a go.

The EXIF Data is as follows:

Sharp Photo -
F/2.5
1/125 Shutter
Focal length - 50
ISO 250
Metering Mode - Pattern
Flash mode is blank so I am not sure what that means, I did have the external flash mounted to my camera and it was on, although I am not sure if it fired.

Soft photo:

f/1.8
1/125 shutter speed
focal length - 50
ISO - 250
Metering mode - pattern

Is the soft photo focused in the wrong spot? I just don't get what happened here and the shutter speed should have been fast enough to comensate for camera shake, right?

[venchka]

My money is on a focus problem-not in the right place. We can't tell diddly from these little JPEGs. Look at the image at 100%. I bet you find something in focus. Remember, at 1.8 the DOF is probably less than 1 inch. Turn the ISO up until you can't stand the noise then back off until it's tolerable. You have to juggle ISO, shutter & f-stop to get a comfortable balance. I would aim for f/2.8 with at least 1/125 shutter speed (faster is better). Compositionally, get closer. Turn the camera vertical if you can. frame tight-son and trike. Save the landscape features for a different photo. Try to keep the trees from growing out of his head.

[ramblinray]

The soft photo looks like it was back focused. The sharp photo has a much wider depth of field. You can see this by looking at the grass around the trike. While you may like the time of day for the lighting, earlier would have made the available light brighter and allow for a faster shutter speed. Manual focus may be the solution if you don't have a problem with subject and camera motion. Practice taking shots in manual focus for a while and see if that improves your percentage of keepers.

[L Stegall]

At f/1.8 and f/2.5, you do have a very shallow depth of field to work with -- especially trying to shoot a moving target like a 2 year old -- and my guess is the softer focus is due to the focus being off (even ever so slightly makes a big diff at those f/stops). Try shooting in aperture value (AV), which allows you to set your f/stop and the camera will calculate shutter speed for you. I'd try various f/stops between f/3.5 - f/8 for starters. It will be much easier to capture him sharply as he moves around.

My other tip to to fill more of the frame with him. Who cares about the trees behind him -- get in close and get him on that tricycle filling the frame. He's got such an expressive little face. Shoot him with the camera down at his level, then higher up and lower down. Fill the frame, but don't just stick him smack dab in the middle.

[mamarazzi_squared]

Originally Posted by L Stegall

At f/1.8 and f/2.5, you do have a very shallow depth of field to work with -- especially trying to shoot a moving target like a 2 year old -- and my guess is the softer focus is due to the focus being off (even ever so slightly makes a big diff at those f/stops). Try shooting in aperture value (AV), which allows you to set your f/stop and the camera will calculate shutter speed for you. I'd try various f/stops between f/3.5 - f/8 for starters. It will be much easier to capture him sharply as he moves around.

My other tip to to fill more of the frame with him. Who cares about the trees behind him -- get in close and get him on that tricycle filling the frame. He's got such an expressive little face. Shoot him with the camera down at his level, then higher up and lower down. Fill the frame, but don't just stick him smack dab in the middle.

I 100% agree about filling the frame with the subject, etc. In this case, I really wanted to the entire trike in the photo though, so I had to go a touch wide to not crop any of it out. My issue with the bigger apertures are that they don't blow out the background and that is something I normally really like. Normally my photos are majority subject filled with little background detail.

It seems like back focusing is an issue I am struggling with a lot, despite moving the focus point around to really focus on his face. Any other suggestions on getting the RIGHT focus point?