June 29, 2011
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~Calling All Photographers~
Educate me.
I got a 50mm lens. Supposedly it should give amazingly clear shots. BUT. So far, it’s driving me crazy. It’s finicky and only has one tiny focal point.
Here’s my question. I’ve kept it on F1.8 because I love the light for indoor photos. Is that the reason for the limited focusing?
Avery’s right eyeball and cheek is the only thing that is remotely in focus.
And here, Emma’s pinky,G, A, A#, and B are the only things really clear.
Help.
~stacey
Comments (14)
the higher the aperture, the wider the depth of field. so, if your Fstop is set at 1.8, your depth of field will be very shallow. if you set it higher, more of the subject will be in focus.
i love my 50mm lens, and most of the time i use the
program mode or the Manual setting to take pictures. in the program mode, the aperture and shutter speed are set automatically. however, it can be shifted while in that mode as well. i also watch my ISO’s pretty closely….
if this makes sense….i’m not a ‘photographer’ and i almost cringe to answer this because i know many more people out there know their stuff professionally…i, however, i just love my camera! =)
what camera do you have?
Hi, my name is parla, and i have enjoyed reading your blog for a while now! you do a wonderful job!
i am not a photographer, and at this point in time i don’t actually even own a dslr, but i do have a good bit of experience w/ them…
if you have your aperture set at 1.8, i’m guessing you are allowing your camera to automatically adjust the shutter speed.
aperture is all about focus. when you have your camera set at a low aperture, only a small portion of your photograph will be in focus. aperture actually has relatively little to do w/ lighting.
shutter speed determines how long your camera allows light in during the shot, thus by adjusting your shutter speed, you can change the amount of exposure.
if you set your camera on manual, and play w/ it for a while, you’ll be able to figure out how to adjust both the aperture and shutter speed to get the focus and the lighting that you want
hope this helps!
-parla
if anyone can give picture advice its rachel…she always does such beautiful shots. that looks like a great camera…although i’m sure frustrating when you are trying to get it to work just so. i hope that you are able to get your focus issues figured out so that you can continue to capture beautiful pictures to go along with your beautiful words you post on here!
I don’t understand the technicalities of the camera but I just fiddle around until I discover what I like. I should take notes of what I do! Oh, and I should read the Nikon D80 Digital Field Guide (by David D. Busch) because it explains things better than the manual thhat came with the camera! Have fun learning! I LOVE the photo of your daughter!
@foreveranoatneygirl_n2Hisown - your love of…and ability with…your camera is so evident!
and you are tossing words like aperture and isos around so casually! i know that they ARE camera words…but…
i knew that the title left me out…but if stacey’s here? i’m coming over!
SoMeDay i am going to understand ^^^ !
and btw, have fun learning more about what you are already good at.
looking forward to great fourth of july pics!
There are 2 ways to control the amount of light entering the camera, the size of the aperture and the length of time that the aperture is open. With wide apertures (low numbers on the f stop) the light rays entering the camera are from many angles meaning that only the ones in the middle of the lens will be in focus giving you a shallow depth of field while small aperture settings will only allow a few light rays in but almost all of them will be in focus giving great depth of field. You should be able to achieve what you would like by using a different f stop with a longer shutter speed.
@down_onthefarm - oh stop. No don’t. Keep going. No really, stop. heh heh.
I love you Cindy Lou Hoo.
@down_onthefarm - I’m just gonna’ have to come to PA……or wherever you are. Just have to plan that one of these months. My wheels are turning.
turn those babies! and come on over. or up. which way is it again?
and gasp. laughing! i haven’t been called cindy lou in so long!
you have reminded me of someone precious that i grew up with who would sing that to me…
he died when i was pregnant with jared.
i know that i am interjecting something rather sobering sounding, but really.
thinking about chris and how much we all loved him feels like something special tonight.
What you’re experiencing is called Bocha. This is where the focal point of the shot is clear and all else fades to varying degrees of blur. It is principally used in outdoor photography but can be used indoors as well.
I have a Nikon D90 with a Nikkor 50mm and a Sigma 70-200mm lens, both f1.8. I have some shots that demonstrate bocha in my photo’s, but I believe I privatized all my photos. When you zoom in with a 50mm lens, you will get rather intense bocha, or blurring of all but the focal point of the shot. Try letting the lens stay normal, (not zoomed) and just get a little closer and the problem should go away.
50mm is a great lens for portraits, it is most like what the eye sees. What you want is to get close enough to get the face in the shot, but have a little extra around the subject that is allowed to blur, or bocha. It makes for some very dramatic shots.
Most people who graduate from a point an shoot to a real camera experience some difficulty in getting the picture to turn out just the way they want. Indoor shots are all about lighting, if your camera has a foot on top of the pop up flash, consider getting a professional flash for it. Don’t point the light at the subject, but rather raise it to a 45 degree angle which will soften the light the subject receives. Most camera’s will do the math for you if you get an external flash that mates with it.
the piano shot is great! and even better in monochrome. since we dont know what setting you have your camera on (manual, program, aperture,shutter or??)your question can only be half answered, but the first commenter said it best. the more your lens is open, low f stop, the less depth of field (dof) you will have and thus limiting your in focus area. stopping down (higher f stop number) equals a smaller opening and increases your dof. but you will have to adjust your shutter speed or use a flash to keep the correct exposure and not have any blurring. it might be good to get a book on the camera you have as that will help you use your camera to its best not matter which lens you use.
Wow, learned a lot from the comments, but whether intentionally or not, both of those shots are beautiful. I’m far behind you on the learning curve. I just use a pretty good point and shoot and am playing around with the settings to get used to what effect each has on a picture, but I enjoy going through the blogs of other (real) photographers to see what I can learn and just to enjoy the beauty of their work. The kids who are learning along with me, have asked for a DSLR, but I don’t think we’ve fully exploited what we have, so until then, we’re having fun with what we have.