Help with sharpness

[jkt_co@hotmail.com]

Hi all! I am trying to learn about portrait/children photography. I took this photo of my son and I really like the concept, but I feel like the whole right side of the image (his left eye/face) is soft. I selected a single focus point in the camera and toggled it between his eyes.
exif
Canon 7D
50mm 1.4 lens
Manual at 1/250 f/3.2 ISO 250

I would really like to be able to take consistently sharp/crisp photos and that just isn't happening! I've read though many posts here, including the entire "Ask me what you want" post, and there is a lot of great information, but apparently something isn't clicking. Any thoughts/suggestions/tips are greatly appreciated!

[bl4scott]

Is this picture cropped or did you shoot it that tight. The reason that I am asking is your DOF even at 3.2 is pretty shallow. From what I can see it looks like the camera focused on the left hand. Did you focus and then recompose by chance. Have you done any micro-focus test with that lens to see if you can dial in the sharpness a bit?

[gonzogolf]

Using http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html it looks like at 3 ft with those settings your DOF would .13 feet so that means you ave about an inch and half depth of field. There's your answer.

[jkt_co@hotmail.com]

Thanks for the replies!!

I did not crop the image, no. I was pretty close to him.
I have not done any micro-focus testing, I'm not sure what that is but I will look it up . I did not focus and recompose.

Thank you for the link gonzogolf, I am going to d/l a DOF calculator and try again

[gonzogolf]

Originally Posted by jkt_co@hotmail.com

Thanks for the replies!!

I did not crop the image, no. I was pretty close to him.
I have not done any micro-focus testing, I'm not sure what that is but I will look it up . I did not focus and recompose.

Thank you for the link gonzogolf, I am going to d/l a DOF calculator and try again

When you do, run some practice scenarios. A lot of users dont realize how much changing the distance to the subject will change the DOF.

[kur1j]

Originally Posted by gonzogolf

Using http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html it looks like at 3 ft with those settings your DOF would .13 feet so that means you ave about an inch and half depth of field. There's your answer.

1.5 inches should be plenty to get the majority of the face sharp. That is if the lens is focusing correctly. The 50mm isn't the most accurate focusing lens.

Originally Posted by jkt_co@hotmail.com

Thanks for the replies!!

I did not crop the image, no. I was pretty close to him.
I have not done any micro-focus testing, I'm not sure what that is but I will look it up . I did not focus and recompose.

Thank you for the link gonzogolf, I am going to d/l a DOF calculator and try again

How old is your lens? Is it new?

I only ask as I had the same issue as you with my 50mm 1.4. I made a post just like your asking why my pictures were coming out so soft. My lens sporadically focused. It would front focus and back focus depending on how close or how far I was away from the person. Just about everyone in the thread stated that it "user error" and I was at complete fault.

I spent hours taking pictures with this stupid lens but no matter what I tried I couldn't consistently focus correctly (tripod or not). I knew that none of my other lenses exhibited this issue, so I sent it back to Canon. I got it back 2 days ago and according to the repair sheet from canon the AF system was aligned incorrectly (whatever that means). I spent about 30 minutes taking pictures with it and it seems to be focusing correctly.

Also, the 50mm is a soft lens between 1.4 and 2.0 so just be aware of that.

I took this pictures today with the 24-70 f/2.8 @ 70mm f2.8 and mine was cropped some.

http://i.imgur.com/c5fdc.jpg