I should do what I'm told!!!

[Tri Danimal]

I was asked to take out the trash then to call the cake caterer to check on the status of our wedding cake order. Well being the great helper I am I kept playing with my camera. I noticed she was staring at me and then I quickly captured her angry face. What do you guys think? How can I get better? thanks.




F-Stop: 1.8
Exposure: 1/50
Iso: 1250
Focal Length: 85mm

[dem]

Focus on the eyes?

I cannot get my head around the way the focus plane crosses her face. Three areas are in focus: the lips, the left eyebrow (but not the eye?!) and the right temple. The plane that passes through these three points is supposed to be parallel to the sensor but it is not. Did you add some blur on the forehead in post? It is either that or something is wrong with the lens...

[Shadowman]

What do you guys think? How can I get better? thanks.

You answered your own question in the caption. Regarding the image, Dem has given a starting point, also when taking any shot once you are sure you are in focus, take multiple shots as additional expressions can be captured, the initial reaction of your subject and whatever follows.

[Geoff F]

Looks like a very shallow focus depth. Her hair, beside the ear, is sharply focused along with the tip of her nose and part of her lips. The eyes must have been just behind the point of best focus which is a pity; but still a good expression.

[Tri Danimal]

Unfortunately, I can not remember how the camera was focusing. I do know this was taken on an A7iii however, it was not my A7iii. I am currently trying to understand the affects of the different focusing methods.

Dem,
I thought I was focusing on the eyes, maybe I was slightly off. Yes I did a very slight blur on her forehead, on Sept 15th she will become my wife, and she does not like some sun spots on her forehead so I blured them out. The PP was done on the basic windows photo editor that comes with the computers. I havent pulled the trigger on photoshop just yet.

Shadowman,
Thanks for that tip. I will definitely try to capture a series of photos next time. She's such a trooper for putting up with shenanigans so often.

[skitterbug]

on Sept 15th she will become my wife, .......She's such a trooper for putting up with shenanigans so often.

Congratulations to you Daniel and to your 'soon to be' partner! Married life is definitely filled with lots of "give and takes".... enjoy.

ps: I like the expression you caught in this photo of her!

[dem]

I thought I was focusing on the eyes, maybe I was slightly off. Yes I did a very slight blur on her forehead, on Sept 15th she will become my wife, and she does not like some sun spots on her forehead so I blured them out. The PP was done on the basic windows photo editor that comes with the computers. I havent pulled the trigger on photoshop just yet.

It is often best to focus on the eye nearest to the camera. In your shot the focus plane runs right between the eyes and, with the depth of field of only an inch or so, neither eye is actually in focus. This only becomes noticeable when the image is examined closely. But hey, that's what photo forums are for.

There are free options to photoshop available: Gimp, RawTherapee. I use Fast Stone for culling and basic adjustments.

[xpatUSA]

It is often best to focus on the eye nearest to the camera. In your shot the focus plane runs right between the eyes and, with the depth of field of only an inch or so, neither eye is actually in focus. This only becomes noticeable when the image is examined closely. But hey, that's what photo forums are for.

There are free options to photoshop available: Gimp, RawTherapee. I use Fast Stone for culling and basic adjustments.

Those are what I use too, Dem. I would recommend FastStone Viewer to start with; the others have a pretty steep learning curve.

FastStone does appreciate a small donation - I usually cough up $10 each time I download their latest version ...

[rpcrowe]

I find that focusing on the eye closest to the camera is the best way when the two eyes are not in the same plane of focus.



I was under the impression that eye focus with the A7iii would focus that way. I know that my 6D2 (using face detect and dual pixel CMOS AF in live view) picks out the closest eye to focus on.

When the two eyes are equidistant from the camera, they should both be in focus...



When the head is straight up, it is pretty easy to see the plane of focus. In the above (shot wide open with the Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens) the plane of focus is right at both eyes with the nose falling a bit OOF and the ear quite a bit OOF.

However, when a head is tilted down or up, the plane of focus can be quite different. If you would consider having a clay model of a head that is straight up and looking towards the camera, using a knife to slice the clay would emulate the plane of focus. If you tilted the head down and then sliced the clay, the plane of focus would be quite different.

[JBW]

Perhaps let her get just a wee bit madder the next time.

[DanK]

I may have missed it, but I didn't see information on the aperture. What aperture did you use?

People often write about using very wide apertures for portraits to get a very narrow depth of field, but that often doesn't work for faces at an angle. I generally start at around f/4 with a FF camera, and I often go narrower.

[rpcrowe]

I agree with Dan. In fact, the 70-200mm f/4L IS is one of my favorite portrait lenses. Using long focal length, you can use selective DOF to blur the background even with f/4 or even f/5.6 apertures...

However, there is something that I also like shooting with an 85mm at f/1.8 or wider. I really wish that I had an f/1.4 85mm lens. But "we shoots with whats we has"

[Tri Danimal]

First off, holy crap, all the responses are very impressive and constructive. Thanks a ton for all your comments I don't know who to respond to first, I'll just go in order.

Dem,
I just got a photoshop (I'm sharing a license with a friend) so I'll try to learn how to use that one. I know the learning curve is steep so I might try one of your suggestions to get started.

Rpcrowe,
Do you know if there is a tool (app or camera add-on) that can help me visualize the "plane of focus"? I'm okay with studying it in post if it can help me see what I can work on.

DanK,
F-Stop: 1.8 Exposure: 1/50 Iso: 1250 Focal Length: 85mm

[rpcrowe]

I don't know of an app but, here is an explanation

https://www.tested.com/tech/photogra...g-plane-focus/

If you have a head of some type - a manikin or a toy - and have it in front of you on a table.

The plane of focus is two dimensional rendition of the focus of your camera. The camera is only at its sharpest focus at one distance. The depth of field is the amount of variation from that one point of critical focus that is acceptable. That depends on how large you desire to enlarge your image and the distance away from the image that you are viewing it.

Now if you take a piece of stiff cardboard and place that so that it is parallel to the sensor of your camera, you could then (I suspect) visualize what the plane of focus would be. Moving the head around, I think you could visualize where the plane of focus would cut through the head. In the same vein, moving the camera would cause the plane of focus to cut through the head at various places. Perhaps moving the camera around and tilting it, (while following that movement by moving the cardboard to keep it parallel with the sensor) might give you an idea where the plane of focus would cut through the head...