Focus issues

[lindy_c.]

I am just starting up my own business doing children's portrait photography.

I am using 100% natural light. Just purchased a 50mm 1.4D AF Nikkor Lens.

Shooting with a Nikon D50 body. Love the DOF i am getting. However.....

 

These kids are in constant motion! So many focus problems! I want to achieve

a very sharp focus image as well as have the shallow DOF. Any suggestions???

[mrstubbs]

Glue! :)

 

Johny: "But Mummy...Mummy! I don't want to run around in circles!"

 

Mummy: "Shutup! or i'll nail yer other foot to the floor!"

 

Without changing any thing else? A higher iso will give you a faster shutter.

[thierry nguyen cuu - nomad]

To overcome your main "problems" you need fast focusing and fast shutter speed.

 

The D50 wouldn't be my main body for the job, but as you already have it, what you can do is to raise ISO (introduction of another problem: noise) to have a fast shutter speed while keeping the aperture wide open.

 

Think to put the camera in continous focusing mode ("C" focusing position) and shoot a burst of shots each time.

[giggles]

It is very difficult to get a sharp focus shot with a 50 1.4 when shooting an active child. I only use that lens when I am certain my subject will remain still or if I shoot pretty open but then you lose the great DOF you enjoy. I use my 18-200VR lens 90% of the time and LOVE it. The DOF is not as good but it is very easy to get nice crisp photos of active children.

[lindy_c.]

Emily,

 

What does the VR stand for? Also, what is the widest aperature you can get with that lens?

 

Thanks to the rest of you for all suggestions so far. I will up my ISO. However, what is the highest ISO I can go to before running into too much noise. Hate, hate, hate noise!

[giggles]

VR stands for vibration reduction. It helps stablize the lens. I love it when shooting weddings or full length shots.

 

I believe the aperature on the lens is 3.5-5.6. Someboady please correct me if I am wrong.

[lindy_c.]

Thank you, thank you!

[beauh44]

Hi Laura, VR lenses are quite helpful if the *photographer* (or camera/lens) moves a little, but won't help at all if the *subject* moves - and I suspect that's more the problem. However, if you routinely shoot hand-held, without a tripod, VR lenses can help keep your end of things "steady"... but again, it won't do anything at all if your subjects are bouncing off the walls.

 

My .02 cents would be to gradually learn flash photography as opposed to or in addition to, natural light. One great advantage of flash is that it can "freeze" subject motion - which sounds as though it'd be very helpful in your case. This isn't something you'd have to encorporate into your work overnight, but as I said, gradually, as you get comfortable with it.

 

In the mean time, you could obviously try to provide more natural light (closer to the source such as a window, door, etc), use reflectors to bounce more of the available light and shoot at a higher ISO value to get faster shutter speeds.

 

There have been great strides in reducing noise in the current crop of DSLRs. Nikon's new D3 is amazing in that regard - but expensive, obviously. However, you can get excellent results with software (like Neat Image) that gets rid of noise and works with Photoshop.

 

Anti-noise software can soften things up a little but with proper sharpening techniques applied afterwards, most of that can be fixed.

 

Print-size comes into play with regards to noise too. If you seldom make bigger than 8X10s you can get away with a lot more noise than if you're making 13X19s and sometimes (some) noise can look good, especially in B&W images as it can resemble film grain.

 

But I still think that investing a few hundred bucks in a decent strobe (Alien Bees 800W would work fine), a softbox and a reflector would go a long way to sharpening up your shots. Once you're comfy you can mix natural light and flash for the best of both. Good luck!

[trebor_navilluso]

Laura:

 

I too prererred natural light for years. Eventually, I had to give in and embrace flash. I live in CT and we just don't get many sunny days here. Most often it's just grey and very flat light.

 

So, I learned how to emoploy flash and make it look like natural light as best I could.

 

One method is to use very large sheets of tracing paper as a diffusor. cut some cardboard frame and tape it on. Shoot two flashed through it and you get the appearance of a large window light. You can apply tape accross it to creat the illusion of window pains in shadows and reflections.

 

Think outside the box.

[bluphoto]

I'd agree that your best bet might be to employ flash and make it appear as natural light - ie sort out a softbox and maybe tape it up to look like a window.

 

Natural light is free and easy, but you don't get anything for nothing in this world, I'm afraid.

[lindy_c.]

You are all awesome! Thanks for the advice. I guess I am going to have to learn flash. Can someone briefly explain how a soft box works.

And what if I am moving in and out of different rooms of a house?

[bob_osullivan]

Laura:

 

There are lot's of "mono light" kits on B&H site. Check them out. A soft box is usually part of the kit. It will come with 1 or 2 lights, stands, cords, a carry case and a wire frame box with white fabric covering it that the flash shoots through.

 

The idea is to get the light source to be larger and closer to the subject. This is because a smaller farther light creates harsh shadows as the light is all coming from a similar angle, like the sun on a clear day. A larger closer source creates softer shadows and more flattering light becuse the light hits the subject from multiple angles. You can experiment with this using a flashlight and a piece of tracing paper. Stand a doll up point a flashlight at it directly from across the room and look at the shadow. Now place the tracing paper between the flashlight and the doll. Leavfe the light where it is but move the paper closer to the doll. You'll see the closer you get the softer the shadow. That's what a softbox does. It makes the harsh bare flash larger and thus softer.

 

Before you spend money on all this, you can get a similar effect by bouncing the flash off the ceiling. The entire ceilibn becomes the light source. Or you could use a camera mounted flash with a diffuser like the Gary Fong lightsphere. These items are all on B&H and Adorama, so check them out.

 

Ultimately the mono lights with softboxes will probalby yeild the best results for what you are doing.

[lindy_c.]

Bob!

Thanks!

I will check the mono light kit out.