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Please CC some photos
ecphotoman
Registered Users Posts: 109 Major grins
I took these pictures of my grand parents and was hoping for some feedback / CC.
#1
#2
#3
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#1
#2
#3
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Comments
1. The first 2 look a tad soft. The blurred portion around his mouth and chin really throws me off
2. The color one the WB seems a smidge off. Not far just a tad too yellow
Other than that I think these are pretty good! I wish I had good pics of my grandpartents but they passed away well before I was into photography
I'm trying to get some good ones since they are nearing 90 now.
I'll give the processing another go for#2. I did notice a that after I was done, I was at f1.8, would 2 or 2.8 have worked better?
Use a wide aperture to achieve a shallow depth of field, and a smaller one to increase the DOF.
Generally if you want a nice clean image try using something around f5.6 or f8.
Reprocessing isn't going to help with the out of focus areas. You need to re-shoot.
If you shoot raw you can easily adjust the WB in post.
Sam
I'd also toss out maybe a bit faster shutter speed if possible. The collar looks to be perfect for focus, but his chin wiskers seem to have blur from movement rather than a DOF issue as they are in the same plane as other facial features and they seem soft (DOF) rather than movement like the chin.
I have to give you props for shooting your folks like this. I find myself taking more and more of mine as they get older.
I do shoot raw, I learned the hard way that jpeg screws you in the end.
Its my first time using a prime and one with that wide of an fstop. I've been a little aperture happy lol, the two lenses in was using preciously only stopped down to f4 and f3.5 respectively.
What's the lowest aperture I should use for a single person portrait?
I'm used to IS lenses that compensate for my jittery hands lol. I should have been able to increase it if I bumped up the ISO a little bit. I want to get these memories of them before its too late. I think I'll reshoot.
Thanks for the great feedback guys.
NOT it you have everything the way it's supposed to be to begin with. RAW is great if you have to tweak, but in a controlled environment where you have everything dead nuts on it isn't needed unless you just like to spend extra time or aren't positive everything is "right".
Seems like it's human nature that when people get their first fast lens that they want to shoot with it wide open. Everybody does it. Not that it's bad, it is a great learning experience to see just what the lens can and can't do.
On a full frame camera, if you want the entire head in focus at least from the ears forward, I would suggest 5.6 and on a crop 4, unless you are going for a special "look". With film and full frame my standard "portrait" setting is 5.6/125.
Keep in mind also, seldom do lenses perform at their optimum capability as wide open as they go. Typically most lenses perform best at 5.6 - 11.
20 years from now, I think you'll be very happy you did.
On my crop sensor would my 35mm prime do well at f2.8?
I'm trying to use only available light, I've been relying heavily on flash and want to avoid it for these. Like you said on a crop f4 would be best? That does explain a lot, before his my go to lens was my sigma 50-200mm it starts at f4 and I've uses it for a lot of portraits. I think that's why I've never had the issues of having too little dof lol. I've been shooting for a few years and I've never had fast glass.
35mm isn't an ideal portrait focal length even with a crop sensor. 50mm would be better. 85mm ideal.
Dang it! I just spent $200 on it too.
35mm is a great lens for many things so you didn't waste your money. Traditional portraits just doesn't happen to be one of them.
Some do indeed do portraits with a bit of an "edgy" feel to them with a 35, but I don't think that's what you're going for.