Why are my back lit subjects soft?

[hoffmanvision]

I've recently discovered that when shooting backlit subjects with my new D300 they are almost always losing

sharpness. I don't remember having this same problem with my D70 but maybe I just didn't notice because none of

the shots on that body were as sharp as what I'm getting today. Lenses with this problem include the 17-35 f/2.8,

50 f/1.8, & Tokina 12-24 f/4. I'm just wondering if there is a name for this problem and whether it's a symptom

of the body, the lens, or my technique. Thanks for your insights!

[ellis_vener_photography]

Flare? how over exposed is your background? is there a light source in the frame?

[hoffmanvision]

The problem I've been having is with brides against a window, so yes the light source is in the frame. When shooting into the sun I've had shots with the typical lens "flare" effects which I often don't mind but on these backlit window shots, where the bright light source is essentially wrapping around the subject, the softness becomes so bad it almost looks out of focus. Here's an example:<div></div>

[hoffmanvision]

Could it be that the auto focus is being fooled by the relatively dark subject against the bright background?

[ShunCheung]

When AF mode are you using on the D300?

 

I would suggest sticking with the Single-shot (instead of Continuous) AF mode and only 1 AF point.

The D300 has 51 AF points, but only the center three columns (when the camera is held horizontally) of AF points are cross type. If you are shooting a portrait, it would be the center three rows of AF points.

Make sure that the 1 AF point you use is among those 15 cross-type ones; they are more accurate.<div></div>

[picturesque]

It is a focus problem, not a flare problem. If it were a flare problem, the edges of your subject would be soft and washed out, but in the middle of the subject, your details would still be sharp. Your sample just looks plain OOF to me. I don't know about Nikon autofocus, but I kind of doubt the autofocus would be fooled by a dark subject against a bright background--metering, maybe, but not autofocus--but I could be wrong. I have heard of a few people who have had trouble with D300 autofocus, primarily because the system was changed and it works differently from the previous models. I don't know the particulars.

[Damon DAmato]

>> It is a focus problem, not a flare problem. If it were a flare problem, the edges of your subject would be soft and washed out, but in the middle of the subject, your details would still be sharp

<br><br>

I'm not so sure it's a focus problem. In my experience, refraction will soften the whole frame in some circumstances. My 50mm 1.8 is particularly sensitive to it. I could be wrong, but in the following photo, I'm pretty sure I was focused okay, because I can't see a plane of focus that's in. It seems to be uniformly soft from the flare.

<br><br>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nohodamon/2515862156/" title="Mara Connor 2 by NoHoDamon, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2111/2515862156_99fcf873d4.jpg" width="400" height="500" alt="Mara Connor 2" /></a>

[amanda_gammill]

It looks like it may be a combination of both. Your ISO looks higher than 400 too. Do you have your ISO set on Auto? With a Max ISO set? My camera does that somtimes. I have the D200 and I set it on Auto ISO max 1600 when shooting just incase my light changes on me quickly the camera will recognize and set the ISO on it's own incase I don't have time to change it. I know that even when I shoot manual it won't go Off. I have to turn it off. The other day while getting lighting settings for an upcoming wedding I would manually set the ISO at 400 and take the shot and when I would review it on the camera seconds later it would say ISO 1600. I am not sure if the D300 does that too, but it is worth looking into.

[picturesque]

Damon--interesting, but impossible to tell from your example. We'd need to see a 100 percent view or something. I would suspect subject or camera motion first before diffraction (I don't even know how that would work?), if you can't find any plane of sharp focus.

[Damon DAmato]

<p>I just came across this thread after quite a while. I meant to say veiling flare, not diffraction.</p>