Help, I'm going crazy

<p>Help!!! I think I'm going crazy! I'm, obviously, a beginner. I got my Xsi almost three years ago, and when taking pics of my girls, people, etc, I did great!! Now, as I SHOULD be getting better, I seem to be getting worse! I'm having lots of problems with noise, even when shooting at 100-200 ISO, bad focusing on faces, so blurry pics, etc! It's really frustrating, I NEED som help pinning down the problem, and fixing it! I've already blamed my camera and my lens, so now I think I'm the only one left to blame! : )<br>

I use a 50mm 1.4 a lot and a 70-200 2.8 IS, once in a while use 17-55mm when I have to. I think one issue with the50mm is focusing on faces of subjects, then recomposing to get subjects in frame the way I want them. I focus on faces, half way hold button down as i recompose. HELP I'm sooo frustrated, and long for clear pics!<br>

I'm posting a pic, I took of some friends. It looks ok at 16-25 %, but 100% is crap, and this is primary example of my problem. On this pic, I had a very slow shutter speed, so I know this is part of the problem with this one, but I have the same noisy, unclear look with others at higher ss.<br>

What do I need to do to nail clarity in faces of full length people as well as nailing exposure down!<br>

Please help!.</p>

<p>Oops, pic didn't post</p>

<p>Now I can't get the pic to post. Grrrr</p>

<p>Hmmm</p>

<p>I'll have to try back later. Everytime I browse, choose an image and hit upload, the browse space goes blank and nothing happens.</p>

 

<p>[[i focus on faces, half way hold button down as i recompose]]</p>

<p>If you are using a large aperture (something I wouldn't recommend to begin with when trying to photograph multiple people), in all likelihood you're moving the camera enough that the faces are no longer in the plane of focus.</p>

<p>[[i'm posting a pic, I took of some friends. It looks ok at 16-25 %, but 100% is crap]]</p>

<p>Unless you're printing these to 16x20" there is no reason to look at them at 100%.</p>

<p>It's hard to judge until you can get a picture up, but I do have a couple of thoughts.</p>

<p>First, and I hope you can take this in the right spirit, I think it's great that you can blame yourself rather than whining about how it's the camera's fault and asking what you should upgrade to that will fix all your problems. The Rebel XSi is a very decent camera. If you're getting noise at ISO 100 or 200, yeah, it's probably not the camera.</p>

<p>Second, noise at low ISO suggests significant underexposure followed by corrective adjustments later. What mode are you shooting in? Do you have any exposure compensation dialed in? Are you shooting RAW or JPEG? If JPEG, what picture style are you using, with what noise reduction setting?</p>

<p>As for the 50mm f/1.4, "focus and recompose" does not work well at fast apertures because recomposing causes the plane of focus to shift and rotate, which will usually move the thing you just focused on out of focus. If you can use the side AF points to recompose less, it may help. Otherwise, focus manually (probably not a lot of fun on any Rebel; the focusing screen isn't designed for it, and you can't replace it with a better one) or just settle for those compositions you can reach with an AF point on your subject.</p>

<p>You don't say whether you select individual focus points or let the camera choose one automatically. In my experience, letting the camera decide which AF point to use often means it chooses the wrong one. When I use AF, I always pick a single AF point myself.</p>

<p>[[the browse space goes blank and nothing happens.]]</p>

<p>Do you host your photos somewhere else (flickr, etc) and if so, can you simply link to them? </p>

<p>I usually have focus point to center point only.<br>

No Rob, I don't.<br>

Let me try this again with posting</p>

<p>It has always let me post before. I don't know why not. I used Av f2.5 on a 50mm 1.4 lens. ISO 100.<br>

So, if noise at low ISO usually means under exposure and I'm in Av, shouldn't camera expose correctly?<br>

Where do I need to go, study, review to nail this?</p>

Try using a tripod. ?

 

Use Av mode just like a light meter. After a few test shots switch to manual.

 

Same with auto focus, switch to manual after a few test shots.

 

I can't help you with the noise.

 

All suggestions are shots in the dark until you post a pic.

<p>Your camera can underexpose whenever there is not enough light - for instance if it is late in the day, you are shooting in a heavily shaded area or are inside. It is possible that there just was not enough light to allow it to be effective. However, without a photo to look at we are kind of shooting in the dark (pardon the expression) here.</p>

<blockquote>

<p><em>So, if noise at low ISO usually means under exposure and I'm in Av, <strong>shouldn't camera expose correctly</strong>?</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>No, not necessarily.<br />The Lighting Scenario might not being completely understood by the Metering MODE you have selected.<br />The person could be very fair skinned and taking up nearly all of the frame. <br />You could have an exposure compensation set.</p>

<p>Av Mode is only at the control of the camera's TTL Light Meter – and also: You<br />You choose the exposure - the Camera and the meter, just advises you.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p><em>Where do I need to go, study, review to nail this?</em></p>

</blockquote>

<p>Not very much use running elsewhere at the moment, as the problem hasn’t been identified.<br>

You are probably making a good start here but as mentioned an example with the EXIF attached would be good.<br>

If you are having difficulty posting in this thread - upload it to your portfolio or supply a link to it, elsewhere. </p>

<p>WW</p>

<p>I'll try again, and then post in profile on here</p>

<p>Ok, Here is link to pic in portfolio. <a href="../photo/14086901">http://www.photo.net/photo/14086901</a>. Also, pardon the error, but I took this pic with my T2i, Not my Xsi. :O</p>

<p>So in addition to the questions above, how would YOU shoot this pic, to achieve the clear faces, AND get them in frame like this. Using 50mm 1.4 lens</p>

<p>Also in details about the pic, it says f/2, in camera RAW it says f/2.5 I shot it at f2.5 AV 100 ISO</p>

<p>The dog is perfectly sharp.<br>

Did you move a step when taking this picture? How do you focus exactly? Maybe it suffices just to work in a different measuring mode with more fields involved? And use a different aperture - try ISO 400 and f5.6 which should still be OK to filter out the background.</p>

<p>No, this was part of original post regarding focusing on faces, but having to recompose to fit in frame like I wanted.<br>

I focused on faces, halfheld button down and recomposed, but that's not getting me the results I want. How would you do this, Focus on faces, and then recompose frame ?</p>

<p>One moment: you had the shutter button half pressed? That may be your explanation! Try again without doing this.</p>

<p>I just got myself a camera with which I can assign the focus spot to somewhere other than dead centre as with previous cameras. If your camera can do this and I expect it can at least to some extent it may remove the need to re-compose after finding focus. I was taking a photograph of my own eye with the LCD swung around to face me and with the focusing rectangle positioned where I wanted my eyeball I positioned myself so my eyeball was over the rectangle. Taking half trigger the camera found focus, I saw the confirmation of focus achieved and completed full pressure.<br>

Your camera appears to have 'selective focus' which is what I think I was using [ M4/3 G3 with a stylus to mark the focus point I want on the LCD, it also has a very small area if one wants it, a bit smaller I think than what my DSLR gives me, a rather earlier Canon than yours ]</p>

<p>It would be simpler for you since you are working from behind the camera and don't have to use the LCD but I hope you follow my idea, used for the first time with my new toy :-), of offsetting the focus point to where you want to achieve sharp focus .... I didn't do all THAT well with the camera which brings me to my second point, I completed the process in editing by applying sharpening to the shot. I'm not all that sure I got it becuase there is a reflection, a sharp reflection, of the window and outside on my eye to confuse things. </p>

<p>But I cannot think of anything more hazardous than focusing wide open with even f/2.8 let alone f/1.8 and then re-composing. I suggest you provide yourself with adequate lighting and work at what, f/5.6 ? , if you want the shots to work ... at least until you have built up your confidence and then try again working at the large apertures the 50mm gives you.</p>

<p>The other approach if you must use the 50mm is to manually focus on the camera's screen which is why you bought a DSLR in the first place, probably not really, but it is a reason many quote as an advantage of the DSLR over other types as they want to manually focus instead of using AF.</p>

<p>Monika suggests but doesn't make it clear, following the re-compsition you took half trigger again and I assume the camera immediately refocused to whatever its focus point was seeing and undid the earlier bit of getting the focus point you wanted. In this case you use AF to find the focus you want, then switch off AF or 'lock focus' somehow, and the recompose. My bridge camera has a switch on the lens to do this but you I think need to investigate 'AF Lock' ..[. I'm not sure how one takes a photo without going through half trigger becuase these electronic devices are very fast in their reaction to commands,]<br>

Another way these cameras can upset us if AF is in continuous focus mode and alters focus as the subject moves or we move the subjects to another point of the viewfinder. </p>

 

<p>The camera will not expose incorrectly if it can do it correctly. You need to research how much depth of field you have when working at various apertures ... www.dofmaster.com judging from the picture of the dog and couple ... I would have expected the people to be sharp and the dog not.<br>

Working in Av mode you need to watch the shutter speed the camera is selecting, it is a trap many have and continue to fall into. camera picks a slow shutter speed which people cannot cope with or blurrs the subjects though their movement or camera shake.<br>

A bit far fetched perhaps but if somehow the EV setting of the camera has been set to under-expose the camera will give the correct exposure according to its instructions but not what you want.</p>

<p>No matter what kind of photography you do or end up wanting to do, no matter how wonderful the technology in the camera, there is no substitute for knowing the basics about photography, even if like me, the primary concern is not about "image quality".</p>

<p>If you think you have plateau'd and you can't improve, you should go back to the basics. Now, I know opinions vary about this, but there is no better resource for this than reading Ansel Adams' "The Camera" and "The Negative", even if you're using a digital camera.</p>

<p>If you did a focus-and-recompose with large aperture, it is very possible that you shifted the plane of focus enough to put the dog in focus and the people out of focus. This is assuming you're using One Shot AF and not AI Servo. </p>

<p>Further thought as to why the dog is sharp and the people soft.<br>

In the crude diagram the circle indicates the point of focus as the camera rotates about itself, you didn't move but the camera first when you took focus was pointed at their heads ... then to get all of them in it tilted down and the dog rather than the people was at the focus point.<br>

If you are going to work at a wide aperture with little depth of field then you should avoid "working at a comfortable height" and lower the camera to level with the mid point of the photograph you want. Comfortable working height is a favourite expression of mine to describe the behaviour that is easy for us when standing with camera to eye. 'Red' is what you did and 'Green' is where the camera could have been to minimise apparent focus shift.<br>

So knelling down for the shot or using a smaller aperture are two answers for you. There would still be some focus error when kneeling but you have halved the potential error. <br>

I wonder too if you are not over-sensitive to noise, without a 100% crop [ make a maximum 700 pixel across crop out of your picture at 100% and post that] to show what you feel is too much noise.</p><div></div>