First Portrait attempts

[Colin Southern]

Hi Kris,

Here's the retouched portrait, as promised ... hope you like it! (I made it 1200 x 800px, so be sure to click on the image to see it looking it's best).


Right - having just said that - something else I NEED to say ... I don't know if it's your lens - or technique - or something else, but the focus on that shot was REALLY bad ... and from what I can see above, they all appear to suffer from the same issue. I had to do some seriously nasty stuff to the file to get it looking even 1/2 acceptable (to the point where it was clearly causing damage in other areas of the image) -- so I think it's something we need to investigate further.

[Colin Southern]

Just to give you a comparison,

Here is a 100% crop of a shot I did a few years ago ...



It's taken from this image ...



In comparison, here's a 100% crop from the RAW file you sent me ... as you can see, something is badly wrong ...



(Be sure to click on all of these to see them at 100% size -- important)

[Crovean]

Just to give you a comparison,

Here is a 100% crop of a shot I did a few years ago ...



It's taken from this image ...



In comparison, here's a 100% crop from the RAW file you sent me ... as you can see, something is badly wrong ...



(Be sure to click on all of these to see them at 100% size -- important)

Kris: Your shoot was done @80mm with a 100 shutter speed. If it was about 200 or 250 then it would have been very sharp.( right?, please correct me if i'm wrong)

Colin: Do shoot on a tripod for portraits?

[speedneeder]

The color of the background is not distracting to me at all - it's the sharpness and the brightness of the background. That said, the first one retouched is lovely and if it were my daughter, I'd have to have that one framed and hanging on the wall somewhere

[Colin Southern]

Kris: Your shoot was done @80mm with a 100 shutter speed. If it was about 200 or 250 then it would have been very sharp.( right?, please correct me if i'm wrong)

1/80th @ F6.3 @ ISO 100 for the one I retouched. I could be wrong, but it struck me as more of a lens IQ and/or focusing ussue than motion blur though (keeping in mind also that it is an IS lens that was used, so assuming that it was switched on, the shutterspeed should have been OK)

Colin: Do shoot on a tripod for portraits?

Not usually. My style is to get the subjects moving around, and it just doesn't work with a tripod. In the studio the flashes freeze the motion sufficiently (I shoot at 1/125th using anything from 24mm to 200mm). Outdoors I'm usually using the EF 70-200mm F2.8L IS USM II, so IS helps a lot, although I'll up the ISO without hesitation to keep the shutterspeed up).

[KHarmon]

Hi Kris,

Here's the retouched portrait, as promised ... hope you like it! (I made it 1200 x 800px, so be sure to click on the image to see it looking it's best).


Right - having just said that - something else I NEED to say ... I don't know if it's your lens - or technique - or something else, but the focus on that shot was REALLY bad ... and from what I can see above, they all appear to suffer from the same issue. I had to do some seriously nasty stuff to the file to get it looking even 1/2 acceptable (to the point where it was clearly causing damage in other areas of the image) -- so I think it's something we need to investigate further.

I was using manual focus, and to my eye, the shots appeared to be crisp and in focus when I shot them, so the error could be the lens or it could be a simple fact that my eyes don't perform like they used to. I am a Type 2 diabetic so it could very well be the eye of the shooter rather than the camera itself.

I simply haven't had the time to do a reshoot and put into practice the tips and suggestions in this thread. I work again tomorrow but have Sunday off and will go take some more pictures. On the second set I will take a 50/50 mix of manual focus and auto focus to see if we can determine from there if it is a lens issue or an eye issue.

I greatly appreciate the retouch that you did and the time and effort you put into it. Post processing is something I will continue to practice at to get better.

KHarmon

[Colin Southern]

Hi Kris,

I was using manual focus, and to my eye, the shots appeared to be crisp and in focus when I shot them, so the error could be the lens or it could be a simple fact that my eyes don't perform like they used to. I am a Type 2 diabetic so it could very well be the eye of the shooter rather than the camera itself.

I simply haven't had the time to do a reshoot and put into practice the tips and suggestions in this thread. I work again tomorrow but have Sunday off and will go take some more pictures. On the second set I will take a 50/50 mix of manual focus and auto focus to see if we can determine from there if it is a lens issue or an eye issue.

There's really no way that the human eye is ever going to beat a properly functioning AF -- so I suspect good eyes or bad, at best all it's ever going to be in a lottery for this kind of shot. Why not just use the automation, and make life easier for yourself?

I greatly appreciate the retouch that you did and the time and effort you put into it. Post processing is something I will continue to practice at to get better.

You're very welcome - would be glad to do another one for you if you get a sharper frame to work from.

[KHarmon]

Hi Kris,



There's really no way that the human eye is ever going to beat a properly functioning AF -- so I suspect good eyes or bad, at best all it's ever going to be in a lottery for this kind of shot. Why not just use the automation, and make life easier for yourself?



You're very welcome - would be glad to do another one for you if you get a sharper frame to work from.

It was obviously a misguided attempt on my part to work in manual focus. My line of thinking at the time I was taking the photographs was to focus on the eyes and thought I was doing a good job of it until i saw your 100% crop. Not to mention, part of me misses the old days when I used to shoot a lot of film on my old Minolta X-700. I do agree that digital photography, auto-focus, and all of the other technological advancements since the mid-90's have made photography "easier". I'm not sure "easier" fits but it's the only word that comes to mind. I miss the days when a manually focused shot and what happened in the dark room determined the result of the photograph. I will let the camera work out the focusing issues and I will practice the post processing to make myself better in that area.

KHarmon

[Colin Southern]

It was obviously a misguided attempt on my part to work in manual focus. My line of thinking at the time I was taking the photographs was to focus on the eyes and thought I was doing a good job of it until i saw your 100% crop. Not to mention, part of me misses the old days when I used to shoot a lot of film on my old Minolta X-700. I do agree that digital photography, auto-focus, and all of the other technological advancements since the mid-90's have made photography "easier". I'm not sure "easier" fits but it's the only word that comes to mind. I miss the days when a manually focused shot and what happened in the dark room determined the result of the photograph. I will let the camera work out the focusing issues and I will practice the post processing to make myself better in that area.

KHarmon

Hi Kris,

I've fallen in to that trap too. These days, about the only time I use manual focusing is when it's too dark for the AF to work, and I can focus on point light sources (usually with the aid of LiveView).

I'd suggest just using the one AF point, and make sure it's the one closest to the eyes.

Personally, I enjoy a bit of "the good old days too" (I still have slide rules!) -- but I think I enjoy the automation too (never saw the point in owning a dog, but barking myself) (although many do say that I'm barking mad!).