First Post

[jimi1851]

I am new to the whole SLR thing. Honestly, I feel I've had mixed results. I am learning quite a bit from this site. So I am not going to say what I think is right or wrong with the attached photo. This is right out of the camera, except resizing. I'm looking for any constructive advice. Image editing is O.K.

Here is shooting info:
File Name IMG_0968.JPG
Camera Model Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Firmware Firmware Version 1.0.9
Shooting Date/Time 1/20/2010 3:56:42 AM
Owner's Name
Shooting Mode Aperture-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/8
Av( Aperture Value ) 2.8
Metering Mode Spot Metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 100
Auto ISO Speed OFF
Lens EF50mm f/1.8 II
Focal Length 50.0mm
Image Size 3168x4752
Image Quality Fine
Flash Off
FE lock OFF
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode One-Shot AF
Picture Style User Defined 1(Faithful)
Sharpness 4
Contrast 0
Saturation 2
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB
Long exposure noise reduction 1:Auto
High ISO speed noise reduction 0:Standard
Highlight tone priority 0:Disable
Auto Lighting Optimizer 0:Standard
Peripheral illumination correction Disable
File Size 3722KB
Dust Delete Data No
Drive Mode Single shooting
Live View Shooting OFF

[RandyS]

Given the shutter speed, I'd be tempted to guess it's blurred from motion, but it looks more like it's simply not focused.

[crashthenet44]

Why did you leave the ISO at 100 in this shot in such a low light situation? You needed to use at least ISO 400 or ISO 800 to maintain an adequate shutter speed. 1/8 is way to slow to either handhold or use for anything but a static subject.

[jimi1851]

^well Crash, that is a great question. Again, I am very new to this, and I am trying to force myself to learn more about manual settings. I guess I am kind of spooked by all of the posts about keeping the ISO as low as possible to reduce noise. This forum is a great tool for accelerating the learning curve. I REALLY appreciate the help.

[gonzogolf]

^well Crash, that is a great question. Again, I am very new to this, and I am trying to force myself to learn more about manual settings. I guess I am kind of spooked by all of the posts about keeping the ISO as low as possible to reduce noise. This forum is a great tool for accelerating the learning curve. I REALLY appreciate the help.


With your camera you should be able to shoot at a minimum of 400 without noise being an issue. Until you get a little more practice set some basic guidelines for yourself. Dont shoot handheld at less than 1/60 of a second. Dont go below 2.8 on that lens. Adjust your iso to fit your needs. After you make a few really sharp, properly exposed images then you can discard those guidelines and start working on the edge of your gears capacity.

[gibbit1]

Sure, you used a shutter speed that was too slow, but you did a lot of things right here as well. The pose, the side lighting and the expression of your subject are all very good (IMHO). Raise your ISO to 400 and shoot in RAW mode. Then you could underexpose the image by one stop and not really lose anything. You'd then have your 1/60th of a second shutter speed that gonzo was correct in stating that you need, and you could bring up the exposure when you process the shot.

Again, for a newbie you've done well here. Take care of that shutter speed and keep shooting!

[RandyS]

Sure, you used a shutter speed that was too slow, but you did a lot of things right here as well. The pose, the side lighting and the expression of your subject are all very good (IMHO). Raise your ISO to 400 and shoot in RAW mode. Then you could underexpose the image by one stop and not really lose anything. You'd then have your 1/60th of a second shutter speed that gonzo was correct in stating that you need, and you could bring up the exposure when you process the shot.

Again, for a newbie you've done well here. Take care of that shutter speed and keep shooting!

Good post. So often we (as I just did) fail to point out what's correct with a shot.

[drumnut01]

An in-focus image with a little noise is almost always preferred over a noise-free image with motion blur. That camera should be fine with noise up to at least 800 ISO if exposed properly.

[jimi1851]

I appreciate the time and consideration from everyone, as well as the great tips and encouragement. I tried the shot again, lighting and composition are a little different (ambient light through window). Other than that, I bumped the ISO to 400 which gave me a 1/400 shutter speed. I'm much happier with the sharpness. (before anyone mentions it...I TRIED to get him to do something about the raggy hair)

[gonzogolf]

This one is much nicer exposure and sharpness. I still think your depth of field is a bit shallow as his eye is in focus, but the nose and side of his cheek are a bit soft. Some people like that, but I prefer just a tad more depth.

[jimi1851]

This one is much nicer exposure and sharpness. I still think your depth of field is a bit shallow as his eye is in focus, but the nose and side of his cheek are a bit soft. Some people like that, but I prefer just a tad more depth.

Thanks Gonzo. Considering it gave 1/400 shutter speed at Av 2.8, I would be able to bump the aperture a little tighter while still getting a pretty quick shutter. I'm learnin', I understand the concepts (for the most part), but lack the experience.

Thanks again for your help!

[gonzogolf]

Thanks Gonzo. Considering it gave 1/400 shutter speed at Av 2.8, I would be able to bump the aperture a little tighter while still getting a pretty quick shutter. I'm learnin', I understand the concepts (for the most part), but lack the experience.

Thanks again for your help! Keep in mind that one stop of shutter speed equals one stop of aperture. So decreasing your shutter speed to 1/200 would allow you to get the same exposure at f4.

[stsva]

I was going to suggest that the first shot might be due to the 50 1.8 being notorious for not always focusing well, but the second shot seems to point more to the first shot's slow shutter speed as the culprit. The second shot would have been better if you'd had some kind of reflective material (like a big white sheet of something) to his left to reflect some of the light onto that side of his face.

[rw2]

The hair is fine makes for a more natural shot. Just did a little bit of editing.

[jimi1851]

^ I like the edit. What did you do?

[rw2]

I use PSE to edit. I made a new layer changing the blending mode to screen to lighten the picture reduced the opacity of that layer to 70%. Flattened the image. Ran noise ninja. Created a new blank layer changed it's mode to overlay and used this to dodge and burn. Mainly lightened the eyes. Flattened the image. Duplicated the image. On the bottom layer I ran unsharp mask. Amount 70, radius .9, threshold 0. Applied a layer mask to the top layer. Used that to revel the sharpened eyes and mouth. Cloned out the blemish on his right cheek.
Hope that helps.

[djvkool]

I reckon that pic would a killer in high pass mono

[jimi1851]

WOW...That was a mouthful. I have PS and have been working with it a little (I got the "Dummys" book to help). So most of what you explained is not completely foreign to me, though I lack the hands-on experience. Needless to say (but I will), what you outlined above is incredibly helpful!
One thing I have not heard of is noise ninja, is that part of PSE or separate software?

[jimi1851]

I reckon that pic would a killer in high pass mono

O.K. I'm not familiar with that.

[gonzogolf]

Jimi, the photoshop dummies book is awful. I love the dummies books generally, but in the photoshop book they spend way too much time on it as an image generator rather than its photo applications. If you have any free time do a google search for photoshop tutorials. You will find lots of tricks and techniques. Plenty of youtube videos. Its not as systematic as other methods but once you learn a few tricks you start to understand how they can work together. Also if you want some fun, do a search on youtube for "you suck at photoshop" :)

[jimi1851]

^ I'm about 1/3 of the way through the book and I have noticed that there hasn't been much useful info yet (other than making me familiar with some terms). Thanks for the honest input, I'll do more web serching :)

[rw2]

WOW...That was a mouthful. I have PS and have been working with it a little (I got the "Dummys" book to help). So most of what you explained is not completely foreign to me, though I lack the hands-on experience. Needless to say (but I will), what you outlined above is incredibly helpful!
One thing I have not heard of is noise ninja, is that part of PSE or separate software?
Noise ninja is an add on. It works with in PSE. It is a program you have to buy.