Beginner- First NON-Auto Mode pictures

[schweepes]

I am just beginning to learn about photography. And these are my first ever pics taken that aren't on auto-mode lol. Can only go up from here! If anyone can tell me how I can get a baby in focus while he's flying at me that would be great! Thanks a lot


PS - this is James


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[scalesusa]

Are you using manual focus? While manual focus is wonderful to get super sharp images of still objects, set your camera in AI servo mode and use Autofocus. This is basically the same as the green box setting, it works best for something moving toward or away from you. You will have to take care that focus does not track the hand reaching out.


Focus on the eyes!


Also, a smaller aperture will give more depth of field. This will hide minor focus errors. Try f/5.6 or f/8. You will have to increase ISO if in low light, its always a trade off, so try different settings. Make sure your shutter speed isn't too slow, use 1/focal length at the minimum.

[Sheiky]

PS - this is James

Hi James []

I am just beginning to learn about photography. And these are my first ever pics taken that aren't on auto-mode lol

If it's not Auto-mode, how did you make these shots? I asume AV-priority with auto ISO?

set your camera in AI servo mode and use Autofocus

Ditto that. Using the centre point only to focus might help increasing the right spot of the focus area. While all points might hunt at other things than the important ones. At least when I started out, all my subjects where in the middle of the frame due to the centre point, but they were sharp where I wanted them to be sharp. And with all those megapixels you can crop a bit. I found that this method works great for the spontaneous shots.

Also, a smaller aperture will give more depth of field. This will hide minor focus errors. Try f/5.6 or f/8. You will have to increase ISO if in low light, its always a trade off, so try different settings. Make sure your shutter speed isn't too slow, use 1/focal length at the minimum.

I can only see the Exif of the 3rd picture: 18mm f3.5 ISO-3200 1/25sec.


So in this case, it's probably the 18-55 IS kitlens which has been used and it has been used in AV mode with the aperture max opened. Assuming this is auto-ISO, there is no way this shot could have been made any better with a smaller aperture like f5.6 of f8. Unless with use of artificial lighting.


Anyway, keep on practicing, you'll be fine! Shoot a lot and you'll get to know your camera much better and you will get better results every time.


Jan

[ddt0725]

James is adorable! Your shots aren

[schweepes]

Thanks for all the helpful advice! I took these in AV priority. I got a rebel t2i for my bday, and it came with a 18-55mm f5.6 lens, so that

[Sheiky]

I've seen Al Servo in the camera but still don't know what it means lol. More wikipedia tomorrow for me!

Have you now?

I think it may be awhile before I get the manual focus down.

Don't bother with Manual focus for a long time. They didn't invent autofocus for nothing [] Manual focus is better for certain situations, but for the normal day use and especially with moving subjects like your son....don't bother!


Good luck and I hope we get to see great results [Y]


Jan

[Chris White]

<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]Hi schweepes,


<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]welcome to the forum!


<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]

I recently got the 50mm 1.8, so I'll try with the smaller aperture now.

<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]It appears that you are thinking in reverse, 1.8 is a wider aperture than you currently have and it can really try your patience. More on that in a minute, first a quick explanation of aperture settings. The lower the number the wider the lens opens to let in more light. The numbers also do not go in a straight progression. For example, f/2.8 is a wider aperture than f/4.0, but, in fact it (f/2.8) allow in twice as much light as the f/4.0 setting. One major advantage to the wider aperture (lower number, ie. 1.8) is that by allowing more light to hit the sensor you can take pictures in lower ambient lighting with out a flash, or as much flash.


<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]Now to the patience trying part: although there are some tremendous creative uses for the wider apertures, the have a lot shallower depth of field. What this means in the simplest of terms -- for your immediate purposes -- is that even the most minor of out of focus (OOF) will result in a "soft" (less than sharp) picture. You may never be happy with f/1.8 on your T2i because the slightest mis-adjustment between the camera and lens will appear less than sharp focused. Canon knows about these tolerances and the solution they have is in the non-Rebel series cameras -- AF Microadjustment. What this feature does is allow you to dial the exact setting for a specific camera/lens combination. You may need to shot at f/4 or higher to obtain desirable results in your images. What scalesusa was suggesting was to try f/5.6 of f/8 as the smaller aperture, which they are. The down side is that you will need more light and/or higher ISO settings to get yopur images.


<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]

I've seen Al Servo in the camera but still don't know what it means lol.

<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]What the AL Servo does is adjust the focus using an algorithm to compensate for movement, very useful with a toddler. []<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]You should set to that setting if it is not currently your default.


<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]

James is adorable!

<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]Can't argue with that! []


<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]Good Luck,


<span style="font-size: small;"]<span style="font-family: comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]Chris

[neuroanatomist]

Canon knows about these tolerances and the solution they have is in the non-Rebel series cameras -- AF Microadjustment.

The solution is in most non-Rebel bodies. The recently-released 60D lacks the AF Microadjustment feature. The 50D has it, as do all current xD bodies.

<span style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]What the AL Servo does is adjust the focus using an algorithm to compensate for movement, very useful with a toddler. [img]/emoticons/emotion-5.gif[/img]<span style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]You should set to that setting if it is not currently your default.

AI-Focus is another option, which acts like One Shot mode unless the camera detects that the pre-focused subject is moving, in which case it automatically switches to AI-Servo-type tracking.

<span style="font-size:small;"]<span style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]

James is adorable!

<span style="font-size:small;"]<span style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;"]Can't argue with that!

+2!

[schweepes]

Thank you!!!